Glorious Rock Bottom

By: Bryony Gordon

Narrated by: Bryony Gordon

Bryony Gordon is a respected journalist, a number one best-selling author and an award-winning mental health campaigner. She is also an alcoholic.

In Glorious Rock Bottom Bryony opens up about a toxic 20-year relationship with alcohol and drugs and explains exactly why hitting rock bottom - for her, a traumatic event and the abrupt realisation that she was putting herself in danger, time and again - saved her life.

Known for her trademark honesty, Bryony relives the darkest and most terrifying moments of her addiction, never shying away from the fact that alcoholism robs you of your ability to focus on your family, your work, your health, your children, yourself. And then, a chink of light as the hard work begins - rehab; AA meetings; endless, tedious, painful self-reflection - a roller-coaster ride through self-acceptance, friendship, love and hope, to a joy and pride in staying sober that her younger self could never have imagined.

Shining a light on the deep connection between addiction and mental health issues, Glorious Rock Bottom is in turn shocking, brutal, dark, funny, hopeful and uplifting. It is a sobriety memoir like no other.

©2020 Bryony Gordon (P)2020 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

Impacting story

A well written story about the winding journey of sobriety. Heart wrenching on many occasions, and very telling. It was tearjerking on several occasions. Nicely done

Gems

I've listened (or more accurately, tried to listen) to over a dozen books about female alcoholics. I always quit listening by the time I reach the half-way mark, as I find them dull or too self-indlgent on the author's part. This is the first book on the topic that I have found inspiring. There were so many small pearls of wisdom laced throughout, that I have actually remained sober for two weeks now! The book wasn't preachy, wasn't boring, and most importantly, wasn't full of victimhood. It was just an intelligent, straight-forward telling of one woman's experience. Bottom line: I loved it.

Loved

Fantastic book- I have listened too many books by authors who share their journey with addiction-this book is pure magic!

Awesome

Such a heartfelt, relatable memoir about life in recovery. Will read again and look for more by the author. Thank you!

Helpful

I enjoyed Bryony’s story very much, most particularly because of her radical honesty.
However, I can’t help but wonder if she is bipolar which caused her alcoholism and cocaine use to become so extreme.
Does she suffer from a mental health disorder besides OCD?

Her journey follows so many similar stories of addiction and recovery although I still wrestle with certain demands of traditional 12 Step programs. For example, many people who consume nonalcoholic beer, wine and champagne (and more recently mock craft cocktails) become alcohol free for a lifetime.
Choosing to change any harmful behavior requires an intense desire to do so. It is also deeply personal and does not look the same or follow the same rules and guidelines for every person.
Understanding what’s happening in our brains with dopamine and dynorphin is a great place to start if you want motivation to change.

I have observed that there is a large spectrum of alcohol use disorder from mild to severe so the road to ditching it can also be mildly difficult to severely challenging.

Bryony’s voice becoming nearly hysterical throughout the narration was a bit much, not because it was gratuitous but simply because her high pitched, highly dramatic delivery was unpleasant to my ears.

Overall, still very good and worth the listen.