Rating: 
Summary: Living Life With Greater Lucidity
Review: A Drinking Life is really an autobiographical memoir. Hamill is the son of an Irish immigrant and finds that the culture of drink is part of the culture of being a man. However, he also watched his father, who was a fall down alcoholic through his life growing up, and thus recalled the pain it imposed on his family's life.In the course of telling his story, Hamill reveals that he was a person who was constantly going from place to place, all over the world. What exactly he is searching for, he never really reveals. But eventually, he does come to grips with the fact that the Drinking Life is detrimental to his continued existence. One of his greatest lines in the entire book is in his introduction when he states, "But life doesn't get easier when you walk away from the culture of drink; you simply live it with greater lucidity." The book is a fine example of someone who eventually realizes that life is "better" if not easier, without his addiction. The book is an inspiring story and I recommend it to all observers of social behavior.
Rating:
Summary: Living Life With Greater Lucidity
Review: A Drinking Life is really an autobiographical memoir. Hamill is the son of an Irish immigrant and finds that the culture of drink is part of the culture of being a man. However, he also watched his father, who was a fall down alcoholic through his life growing up, and thus recalled the pain it imposed on his family's life. In the course of telling his story, Hamill reveals that he was a person who was constantly going from place to place, all over the world. What exactly he is searching for, he never really reveals. But eventually, he does come to grips with the fact that the Drinking Life is detrimental to his continued existence. One of his greatest lines in the entire book is in his introduction when he states, "But life doesn't get easier when you walk away from the culture of drink; you simply live it with greater lucidity." The book is a fine example of someone who eventually realizes that life is "better" if not easier, without his addiction. The book is an inspiring story and I recommend it to all observers of social behavior.
Rating: 
Summary: AN APT TITLE FILLED WITH INTERESTING STUFF
Review: A highly rewarding read is what this book offers. One of the reasons I enjoy reading of another's life is to see the twists and turns that occur in the course of events. Most of the time (never always) the route is circuitous before a life's occupation is finally realized. In this case Pete Hamill is talented from childhood due to a creative brain and the ability to draw. This lead to many many adventures and the final destination of author. What a trip! Everything is well written and his amours are something to behold. I coudl not put this book down and read it quickly.
Rating:
Summary: AN APT TITLE FILLED WITH INTERESTING STUFF
Review: A highly rewarding read is what this book offers. One of the reasons I enjoy reading of another's life is to see the twists and turns that occur in the course of events. Most of the time (never always) the route is circuitous before a life's occupation is finally realized. In this case Pete Hamill is talented from childhood due to a creative brain and the ability to draw. This lead to many many adventures and the final destination of author. What a trip! Everything is well written and his amours are something to behold. I coudl not put this book down and read it quickly.
Rating: 
Summary: Living with drinking, not a drinking life
Review: Admittedly, Pete Hamill's A Drinking Life has its moments. His descriptions of his native Brooklyn can make even this Canadian boy feel nostalgic. There is no doubt that Mr. Hamill's life has been an interesting one. Interesting, but certainly not defined by his penchant for alcohol. While the title would seem to promise some sort of examination of his own alcoholism (if that is what his thirst can really be called), it is gradually reduced to a tone of deep melodrama when Hamill reveals himself as not really addicted, just kind of thirsty. In the final ten pages, the author boasts that he simply "gave up" booze: never went to AA, never sought any kind of help, just quit. Such ease of recovery forces readers to wonder whether drinking was in fact the defining activity Hamill claims it was, or simply one in a series of selfish actions.
Rating:
Summary: Pete Hamill's Gritty Look At His Youth
Review: Along with Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" and Dennis Smith's "A Song for Mary", Pete Hamill's "A Drinking Life" is one of the finest memoirs written by an Irish-American writer. Although Hamill's writing is not quite as lyrical as his friend McCourt's, it is still just as vivid and mesmerizing. Hamill offers gritty, vivid prose describing his rebellious childhood in South Brooklyn (today better known as Park Slope), and how he aspires in his twenties to become a bohemian artist. He depicts his tumultuous life in New York City in the 1950's and 1960's with the keen eyes of the veteran journalist that he is, never once wallowing in self pity. He also describes brief interludes of salvation that he finds in Mexico and Europe. Along the way we follow his ongoing struggle with alcoholism while it shatters his first marriage. How Pete Hamill finally triumphs over his demons is a conclusion readers will find worth waiting for.
Rating:
Summary: A Restless Journey Across Several Decades
Review: Along with Malachy McCourt's "A Monk Swimming," Hamill's book is an essential 'growing-up-NYC' book end. They both tell of the restless yearning and wanderlust that two jaded Irish-Americans have as they search for kicks, enlightment, familial acceptance, and redemption. Both are somewhat long on heartache, the loss of female companionship, and post-alcohol remorse. But both works move along nicely without resorting to smaltzy over-sentiment and pathetic self-pity. In "A Drinking Life," Hamill interjects enough touching and comedic passages into the narrative that the reader forgets all the heartache that Pete's father put the Hamill family through. It's only after you are deep into Pete Hamill's own adulthood that the irony hits like a shot of cheap bourbon -- Pete has essentially "abandoned" his family, like his father did many years before. From there, Pete accepts his own missteps and rights the ship for a respectable journey into comfortable middle life. A breezy read and a grand book.
Rating:
Summary: Anything but dry!
Review: As an avid reader of all types of books, both fiction and non-fiction, I have come to appreciate an extraordinary work. On the strong recommendation of radio personality Don Imus, I recently purchased and read "A Drinking Life", by Pete Hamill. This is an extraordinary work. Written with the grit, honesty, and street-smarts that have become his journalistic trademark, the book is often touching, occasionally hilarious, and always straight from the heart. Hamill is truly one of the gifted writers of our time. I highly recommend this courageous, witty, gritty memoir, a helluva good time. And a treasure. I would be shocked if anyone read this book and did not become an instant fan of Mr. Hamill. (Add a star if you grew up in, or currently reside in any of the New York City boroughs).
Rating:
Summary: I Thought I Had Left New York!
Review: Every time I read a book by Pete Hamill it's as if I never left New York. Here I am, once again, transported back in time to Brooklyn. It's been fourty years since I was there but after pete's latest book, who knows? Hamill vividly again paints his pictures about growing up in Brooklyn for his readers to get easily engulfed in. Putting down a Hamill book about his sorted drinking in the dumpy brooklyn bars is impossible for this reader. there were lots of credible witnesses to his insane drinking life in Brooklyn and I'm one of them. Stepping up a notch and moving his addiction to across the east river didn't stop the patterns of his compulsion and his story of those events and times will have you gripped in his clenching writing style. This book is a must for Broooklynites from the fourties through the nineties. Pete Hamill loves New York for a lot more than the bars he hung out in but they play a major role in his life and times. Then, there were the people he drank with, wrote about, fought with and equally conquered and lost. A master writer with a drinking problem taking on people, some not worth the effort, results in a very powerful book that bites and chewsat you with love and humour.
Rating:
Summary: Written from the heart and speaking to the reader's soul
Review: Everyone has something that changed their life. This book is that thing for me. Written with fantastic flow and clarity, Hamill tells his story in such a way that the reader can intimately relate to his struggles, and achievments, gains, and lossess. Growing up in a rural setting did nothing to dampen the impact of Hamill's New York life. This book is about growing up, and self-realization, and listening to your heart. I read it once, 3 years ago, and I look at it one the shelf and it conjures up feelings, and sounds, and smells from the time in my life when I read it.
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