Exploring the Complexities of Addiction: Caroline Knapp's Drinking: A Love Story

Jan: For anyone it’s an alcohol problem

United Kingdom on Nov 10, 2023

Juleslynn79: Really liked Caroline’s writing, as she shared her story. I’ve now shared this with a friend.

United States on Nov 03, 2023

zita bratt: A must read For alcoholics and their friends and family. A spouse of an alcoholic it covers a lot of the thoughts and issues caused by drinking and really helps understand the disease.

United States on Oct 14, 2023

Kristen Ray: Author is amazing. One of the best for anyone sober curious.

United States on Sep 19, 2023

Ann Fletcher: A great memoire of a woman's struggle with alcohol.
This could have been written in this decade, it's incredibly honest and really sad in places, but not at all preachy or patronising.
I read it in 4 days it was so enjoyable.

United Kingdom on Dec 21, 2022

Briana LaBerge: My headline is stunned because I finished this book last night (only after a couple days of starting it) and was left feeling stunned, on so many levels. Stunned by what this woman was capable to put down on paper, by what she was able to recall and translate into words so flawlessly. Stunned that I found so much in common, and therefore so much peace in the fact that this person exists and found a way out. I have always been fascinated by addiction, since early childhood, watching my own mother toil with just about anything she could get her hands on. The self-loathing and anger that preceded. Day by day, and year by year I have turned into that. I have used drinking for just about every emotion and circumstance that life can throw at you and now that I want out, I am not sure how much of anything has truly been 'dealt' with.

I am one of those women who seem to hold it together, much like Caroline, I have kept steady employment and even managed to impress a person or two along the way. I have raised 2 teenage boys that seem to be finding their way just fine and now an infant daughter that challenges me and keeps me wanting more out of life. More connection. I have a home,...

Canada on Mar 02, 2017

Ick sech Di dat: Ein Jammer, dass es dieses Buch in Deutsch nur mehr gebraucht gibt.

Da ich damit offensichtlich unvermeidliche, teils unverschämte preisliche Exzesse für "top" Exemplare nicht zu zahlen bereit bin, mir zudem der Einband dieses Taschenbuches zusagt, verordnete ich mir - eher notgedrungen - ein paar Englisch-Übungsstunden.

Ergebnis:

Das Buch "zieht" ungemein, hebt sich damit nach meinem Empfinden sehr angenehm von anderen Selbsterfahrungsberichten ab. Was (für mich) schon im, wie ich finde, überrraschenden wie treffenden Ansatz liegt, mit dem die Autorin ihre (Liebes-)"Beziehung" zum Alkohol beschreibt. Also die psychische Ebene. Von genau dieser habe ich in anderen Erfahrungsberichten Abhängiger, bei denen mehr der physische Aspekt im Fokus stand, eben nicht gelesen.

Suchttherapeuten werden bestätigen, dass gerade die psychische Seite die entscheidendere ist: Rein körperlich ist eine Entgiftung in wenigen Tagen überstanden. Die Auseinandersetzung mit den (seelischen) Gründen, die überhaupt erst dazu führten, eine "Liebesbeziehung" mit dem Alkohol einzugehen (und aus dieser auszusteigen und eben nicht rückfällig zu werden), kann Jahre...

Germany on Apr 23, 2015

Patricia: This is a quiet but very powerful book. It is written by a professional woman (journalist) to record her long struggle with alcohol. It gives an amazing, in-depth insight into the thinking and feelings behind such an addiction. She is brutally honest about the ravages of living with an addiction - morning hangovers, always trying to get a drink, driving drunk, passing out, waking up in a strange bed with men and not knowing what happened that evening/night, always trying to sneak a way to get enough to drink. She strictly maintained some rules for herself - like never drinking at work - that allowed her to keep up her professional life and convince herself that she was not an alcoholic, only a heavy drinker. (The amount of alcohol is astonishing.) But what is most powerful in the book is how she manages, in retrospect, to see the WHY of drinking: to quell the anxiety and to stifle uncomfortable feelings. She points that out repeatedly as she examines different stages of her life. And it IS a love story in the sense that she truly loved to drink, particularly in the early years when a drink or two relaxed her and made everything warm and comfortable - no social anxiety, no worries,...

United States on May 05, 2011

Sunflower: I'm always hesitant to read sobriety books that include promoting AA as the only way to stay sober and indeed Knapp was of the same opinion - even going to a meeting and deciding it wasn't for her for a number of years until going back. She doesn't 'bang the book' throughout and is quite honest about some of her compatriots who have recovered without AA.

I have read many books on the addiction subject and where Frey's 'A million little pieces' is sensationalised, this strikes the reader as pure honesty. Knapp writes so well you begin to think of her as a heroine. She does not have the many crazy antics most alcoholics have gone through (although she is a lifelong drunk driver) but she is pointed enough to understand that for her, the cheating lieing and coverups is as bad as any car wreck

This is a fantastic inspiring read.

United Kingdom on Oct 10, 2006

Joe E: As much as I loved this book, I doubt it will impress people who aren't alcoholic or dealing with an alcoholic. Had I read this book in college, I would probably have sympathized with her problems but ultimately thought she was simply flaky and needed to just stop doing the stupid things she describes - not that complicated.

As it is, I read this book when I had become fully aware that my own relationship with alcohol had ceased to be simply "great when it's around - like a good meal" and begun to be compulsive. The absence of a drink became an 800 pound elephant in the room, and I noticed that at some point I had stopped enjoying being sober. For me, that was when I realized I had crossed a line and that drinking was no longer cute or funny. Somewhere along the way, it had managed to insinuate itself as the center of my life, even though I never would have admitted it out loud. My first thought when invited to a social event was whether alcohol would be served. My first thought when going out to a meal in the evening was whether they had a liquor license. I had mentally divided my friends into drinkers and non-drinkers, and I had managed to do so without believing there...

United States on Dec 09, 2004