Rating: 
Summary: A must have book to understanding alocholics.
Review: I couldn't put this book down. Caroline Knapp did a terrific job in explaining the plight alcoholics have in finding freedom.
Rating:
Summary: A must for any female alcoholic.
Review: I picked up this book and was unable to put it down. Being an alcoholic in recovery, I find it is very helpful for me to be able to relate to others with the same disease, especially the female alcoholic. The alcoholic isn't just "a worthless person" or the "bum in the bar." Books like this will help educate people who believe the disease is a lack of "self control" or the alcoholic should "just quit." The disease is the alcohol, not the alcoholic is the disease, and any person who has the desire to turn their life around truly can. Not everyone goes straight (or gets it right) the first time. I would rather climb Mt. Everst than be an alcoholic, recovery is ALOT of work! Caroline Knapp has put into words and shared her truly personal story of what so many alcoholics feel, I admire her courage, and the strength it took for her to write this book, and "share" what all to many people are afraid to talk about. Being alcoho! lic is as painful as it gets (other than childbirth)This book will be a must for me to share with people who don't understand, or with someone who is "having a bad day."
Rating:
Summary: In reading this I discovered I wasn't alone
Review: I first picked this book up during a late-night visit to a bookstore and began to cry as I read her descriptions of her love for wine - for I felt the very same things and also had hidden my addiction from everyone (even my husband) for 15 years. I wasn't alone. I learned so many things about myself and saw my previous life in such a different light after reading this. I'm now sober (God willing forever) and continue to remember her conclusion that it wasn't that she drank because her life was terrible, but that her life was terrible because she drank.
Rating: 
Summary: Could this be me?
Review: I enjoyed the book and still refer to it. However, I agree with other reviewers about the repetition. I remember reading the book and getting into it, but at the same time thinking "She's repeating herself...she just said that 2 pages ago, etc." I think that it could have been edited and reworked a little.For example, I was very interested in the relationship between alcholism and anorexia and would have liked to see this explored a bit more. For me, the book was an eye-opener. It provided me a way to look at my own drinking habits with a different, more critical eye. I have recommended this book to a friend who is probably mid- to late-stage alchoholic and who is basically subsisting on cigarettes, coffee, and beer. She' not eating much anymore. I'm hoping that she can see a glimpse of herself in Caroline as I did.
Rating:
Summary: I understand now
Review: Caroline Knapp helped me understand the reasons behind my father's drinking. I would love to send a letter of thanks to her. This book did it for me. It changed my attitude, my understanding and my life. Annette D. (Jasond@pitnet.net)
Rating:
Summary: I saw myself in Caroline. Couldn't stop reading!
Review: Addiction. That's what we have. "Couldn't stop reading" till there is no more to read. Get it? No more to read or drink! The path that we are on will bring us nothing but THE END! Caroline Knapp has showed me that there is NO MORE TO DRINK! The Bar is CLOSED! Forever. If the bar (or the nearest liquor store) isn't closed, I am in terrible trouble. But it is CLOSED! It has to be for me. The addiction is all in our minds, no? I have to admit that I drank throughout her whole book. But I can quote word for word, her whole story. It was that wonderful and enlightening. It is my story...and everyone who has had addiction to something. Applause for Knapp's honest and raw story! Caroline, I will read your book over and over and over, it reminds me of what I am and that there is hope for me. Thanks again for your wonderful honesty.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on alcoholism I've ever read.
Review: I have alcoholics in my family and a personal interest in the whys and hows of alcoholism. I've read a lot of books and stories about and by alcoholics but I've never before gained the insight Knapp provides. I could never understand why someone would want to inflict such horrible pain and sickness on herself. Knapp makes me understand, and even empathize. This book is a must for any friend or family member of an alcoholic, especially a woman alcoholic.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Intentions, but too wordy
Review: This is one girl's struggle with alcohol. Putting this experience into words has been a catharsis for her. Anyone who has had problems with the bottle will see a lot of their own behavior in these pages, but I got bored with all the aspects of her personal life, i.e., relationship with dad, boyfriends, teachers, mother, sister, etc. In the end, the book comes off as indulgent and lightweight. If you really want to gain some insight as to what is truly going on inside the head of a hard-core alcoholic, I suggest you read Jo Coudert's "Alcoholic in Your Life."
Rating:
Summary: My personal story professionally and clearly written for me.
Review: It is always a surprise when I read someone else's story of what it was like for them as a practicing alcoholic, and my life jumps off the page. But no one else's written account of the pain, isolation, denial and dependency from using alcohol has ever effected me as Ms. Knapp's did. To be able to put into words the emotions, feelings, and memories of being an alcoholic, as Ms. Knapp did, is a talent that is beyond my understanding. She will probably never realize how much her book helped me and so many others stay sober, at least one more day, by reminding us how bad it really was. At the end of my drinking, alcohol was the most important relationship in my life. Thank you for reminding me that I am not the only one who ever felt this way.
Rating:
Summary: Like too many drinks, the book ultimately loses its impact.
Review: Drinking offers an insightful account of a woman's battle with alcohol. Knapp has a wonderful ability to capture a moment and a feeling and to eloquently express the "miraculously" transforming powers of alcohol as well as the excessive, mindless, compulsively uncontrollable drinking that ultimately destroys the drinker. She is particularly effective, for example, in describing the death of her parents and the role that alcohol played, how it got her through it, how it numbed the pain, how it led to her "bottoming out," and, finally, to recovery. She needed a better editor, however. While the book is fascinating at first, it becomes repetitious and self indulgent. I kept thinking to myself, "Enough! You said this already... several times." Over and over, she repeats the insights she has gained about the impact of alcohol and, like too many drinks, it loses its impact. One more thing, four times the author, a writer and a graduate of Brown university, writes, "Like I said..." She should ha
|
