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caitie711's review against another edition
5.0
A compelling mixture of history, myth, and personal stories examining our individual and societal judgements of intoxication. Whether romanticizing drunken genius, demonizing junkies, weaponizing addiction, or battling our own inner demons, our relationship to intoxicants of all kinds are explored with a deft hand.
If you or someone you've known or admired has struggled with addiction, this is a great resource, with further resources and recommendations throughout.
If you or someone you've known or admired has struggled with addiction, this is a great resource, with further resources and recommendations throughout.
jennystout21's review against another edition
5.0
An epic account of the author's own struggle with alcoholism, entwined with a deep dive into the tradition of writers who drink--and their stories both pre and post-getting sober. I can't recommend this book enough. It's beautifully written, clear-eyed, and honest.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed Leslie Jamison's memoir/history of alcoholic writers/ideas about "sober genius" - and I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was most interested in all the parts that took place in my town (look, there's The Foxhead! Java House! I know where that bakery is!). There are a lot of personal stories in this book and I think Jamison does all of them justice.
That said, I do think that Jamison doesn't quite make her point - that getting sober doesn't stifle creativity. Her examples, Carver aside since I've never really liked Gordon Lish and I'm with Carver on Lish basically rewriting Carver's stories, are almost all writers who really failed at sobriety or never managed to capture the magic again while sober (Berryman, Rhys, Jackson, etc.). But she doesn't focus very much on Denis Johnson, also an Iowa alum not got famous not only for his writing but for how spectacularly wasted he could be. But he did clean up, and become a writing teacher, and continued to write - he was sober (I think, I'm not solid on timeline) when Tree of Smoke won the NBA and his last collection of stories is stunning. I wonder if she had at all been given an early copy of Denis Johnson's last story collection since he died last May as he finished that collection and she would have been finishing the final draft of this book. I think it would have helped her thesis that getting sober doesn't kill genius.
I think also she could have put more of her Author's Note - where she talks about how AA is not the only way and that medication-aided sobriety is also a good and necessary thing - into the body of the book. Because it comes off a bit as AA is the only way. It's the focus since AA worked for her, and a lot of the writers she researched did AA, too, but the book maybe needed a broader treatment focus.
That said, I do think that Jamison doesn't quite make her point - that getting sober doesn't stifle creativity. Her examples, Carver aside since I've never really liked Gordon Lish and I'm with Carver on Lish basically rewriting Carver's stories, are almost all writers who really failed at sobriety or never managed to capture the magic again while sober (Berryman, Rhys, Jackson, etc.). But she doesn't focus very much on Denis Johnson, also an Iowa alum not got famous not only for his writing but for how spectacularly wasted he could be. But he did clean up, and become a writing teacher, and continued to write - he was sober (I think, I'm not solid on timeline) when Tree of Smoke won the NBA and his last collection of stories is stunning. I wonder if she had at all been given an early copy of Denis Johnson's last story collection since he died last May as he finished that collection and she would have been finishing the final draft of this book. I think it would have helped her thesis that getting sober doesn't kill genius.
I think also she could have put more of her Author's Note - where she talks about how AA is not the only way and that medication-aided sobriety is also a good and necessary thing - into the body of the book. Because it comes off a bit as AA is the only way. It's the focus since AA worked for her, and a lot of the writers she researched did AA, too, but the book maybe needed a broader treatment focus.
jackieh346's review against another edition
5.0
I've read many memoirs but I really, REALLY enjoyed this one. The Recovering is a cross-over between memoir, literary criticism, and addiction. The memoir brings an element of interconnection: how many of us are tied together by some sort of addiction or know someone who has an addiction. Drawn by aspects of the author's life, and relating addiction to many conflicted writers, such as: David Foster Wallace, Jean Rhys, John Berryman and Raymond Carver. I was enticed by the addiction stories of John Berryman, Jean Rhys and David Foster Wallace especially--since I have read a lot of their work. This memoir shows how addiction touches so many lives and it is not a private problem.
danapcass's review against another edition
2.0
There’s a great book in here — somewhere. There is no earthly reason for this book to be nearly 500 pages long. Jamison’s tic is writing something once in plain language, writing it again as analogy or simile or metaphor, and then, in case you didn’t get it the first two times, wrapping it in a third layer of abstraction. Repeat, ad nauseum, until you’re just flipping through the pages to finish the damn thing. It’s a shame, because the metaphors are occasionally brilliant, as are her cultural critiques, but by the end I felt like I was digging myself out from the bloat. (I was crawling up through layers of soil to the light. I was clawing my way out of the grave. GET IT????!)
wesleyboy's review against another edition
4.0
Took a little while to really get going, but is a solid and moving recovery story. At the same time, it’s an interesting look at creativity and addiction.
katdid's review against another edition
4.0
She's so good. I really felt like writing her a fan email while reading this; she makes anything seems possible, writing-wise. Also I was kind of shocked to do the maths and realise she's older that I thought (mid/late thirties as opposed to mid/late twenties like I imagined).
julianabauerle's review against another edition
5.0
i love this book & emphatically recommend it to anyone who thinks “maybe i should check out this book”
bookgqbook3's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
lindseyjones's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0