Drinking

A Love Story

By: Caroline Knapp

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

Fifteen million Americans a year are plagued with alcoholism. Five million of them are women. Many of them, like Caroline Knapp, started in their early teens and began to use alcohol as "liquid armor", a way to protect themselves against the difficult realities of life. In this extraordinarily candid and revealing memoir, Knapp offers important insights not only about alcoholism, but about life itself and how we learn to cope with it.

©1996 Caroline Knapp (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

The Big Picture of Alcohol Dependence

I find memoirs of female alcoholics interesting, (For some reason the male alcoholic memoir seems to have been done to death). This however, is a really good one for getting a big picture of alcoholism over a long span. Knapp is billed as a high functioning alcoholic and we really see how at first things seem under control and then over time start to decay around her. I like how you can go from reading about alcohol in that infatuated way at first and then come to the end and see how really it is no fun at all. I feel like the author has missed something if their alcoholism memoir makes me feel like drinking. I also like that this isn't a book full of a long list of embarrassing episodes that make you cringe. There was more to her decision that she was an alcoholic than repeated embarrassing mistakes. Not to imply that she doesn't make many bad decisions, only that there is more to her than that. Often addiction memoirs fall flat when the author gets to the recovery period and begins making many general statements - in this case she talks a lot of women and the negative impact of sexuality and men. It annoyed me at first, but I had to realize that at that point she was generalizing from her discussions with other female alcoholics and not necessarily implying these things applied to the better adjusted non addicted members of society. I found it interesting also how at first she talks about a certain amount of denial because to her alcoholics have alcoholic family members and dysfunctional family situations and she's from an upper class family, but over time we discover with her that she is indeed part of a dysfunctional family with alcoholics after all. It made me sad to realize that she only lived a short time after writing this memoir. It was such a long road to gaining this control over her life and having finally done it she had so little time to enjoy it.

excellent story. excellent narrator.

excellent writing. you learn what it feels like to be an alcoholic. the narration is superb.

If you’re not sure - read this!

By far the best book I have ever read about alcoholism and how we as women have a totally different set of issues then men. I could relate to almost every word. Her honesty, courage and strength are truly inspiring! She is obviously a great writer and I hope she writes another one. I pray for her and her continued sobriety!

Gripping, shocking and very touching !

Honest story with deep inside. Gives you an in depth insight about alcoholism and the possibility of recovery. Very informative and raises the awareness of how twisted this addiction is.

Very Interesting

This book held my attention from start to finish. It is well-written and well-narrated. I highly recommend Drinking: A Love Story.

Powerful Message

This book tells a story of an alcoholic from the perspective of an alcoholic. Those who think substances are just fun and games should read (listen) to this book.

The Courage of Sobriety

This book is an absolutely incredible account of the nature of alcoholism and addiction; the causes and dangers of using substances to numb and detach, leaving a hollow person completely out of control of their own life. It is also a hopeful and uplifting story of the redemption that comes from finding the strength to truly embrace sobriety and begin living more purely and fully. The narrator gives an incredible performance that captures both the reckless abandon, fear, depression, and despair felt by the author but also the liberation that comes from truly beginning life again without the crutches and shackles of addiction. I consider this a necessary read for anyone whose life has ever been touched by addiction, which is to say, basically everyone.

Hardxore

Love her honesty, and I love how she made beautiful sections kept it interesting, with each chapter being something different topic wise.

A must listen for those aiming at sobriety

Much of Caroline Knapp's book tells the story of how she stumbled her way into alcoholism. It is beautifully written and is done so in such a way that you feel like you know her. It is really so sad that she passed away from lung cancer less than 10 years after this book was published. However, I am glad that she made it to the point of enjoying a sober life for a number of years. I am grateful that she wrote this book that uses her own personal story to explore the reasons why we drink, the impact is has on our lives, why it is so hard to stop, as well as the benefits of stopping once you finally get there. Caroline Knapp was so brave to share her story, especially at the time that she did, when quit-lit wasn't the genre that it is today and most people were not speaking out about it. A must-read for those getting on the sobriety train or considering it.

How relatable the story is.

She kind of got into the weeds with her boyfriends. I was listening to hear more about sobriety.