Drinking. A Love Story by Caroline Knapp

It is crippling. Drinking I mean. About fifteen million Americans are ruled by alcoholism a year. That is a ton of booze hounds! But wait...

Is booze hounds politically correct? I think not. How did this "name" come to be? Alcoholics do not choose their lives. Sometimes they just can't control it anymore. Drinking is their release and comfort. It is often used as a prescription for a cure. Why should they be treated as if they were mutts?

All of these questions are answered in the novel Drinking. A Love Story by Caroline Knapp. It is her memoir, recounting her days with the weight of a 7 and 7 on her shoulders. It explains why she became an alcoholic and what it did to her and everyone around her.

Throughout the entire novel, Knapp speaks in first person. I realize it is a memoir but it was still pretty damn powerful. I felt like I was reading her diary. She spoke of family and work and sex with such truth. Her words were raw and her stories were real.

Caroline didn't tell anyone she was an alcoholic. She was a successful journalist living in New York and hid her addiction perfectly. She would sneak off from family gatherings and say she needed to use the little girls room; except every time she took a detour to her purse and took a swig of whatever booze she happened to have at that time.

This is just the beginning of her trickery. Over time, she would find new things to do and new ways to sneak a shot.

This memoir details the struggle with not only the addiction but life itself and how to deal with it. I found this memoir to be one of the best I have read. I always thought that overcoming an addiction to alcohol was simple if you worked for it. I never realized how confining it is. I never realized that most alcoholics hide behind the drinks because it acts like armor to intruding emotions. Drinking. A Love Story really opened my eyes and has helped me understand the truth behind the addiction.