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wcmills55's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
todougherty's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
carriebee's review
4.0
I am sober. I’m not as early in my sobriety as Dennis Monk, the main character in Michael Deagler’s Early Sobrieties, but I can definitely relate to many of the experiences Dennis encounters in his first year of sobriety. After his parents ask him and his brother to move out the novel follows Dennis as he moves from couch to couch in Philadelphia, making sobriety his sole focus.
The structure of the book feels a bit like short stories; they are firmly connected through Dennis and a few recurring characters, but each chapter places Dennis in different situations and settings as he inches closer to the one year sober mark. Normally I might be put off by this style but it brilliantly fed into the unmoored feeling of being newly sober. The feeling of separating yourself from the thing you have centered your life around (in this case alcohol) is so well represented by Monk’s movement from place to place, never settling anywhere, just drifting around trying to find somewhere to anchor. At the same time, it creates a sense that a steady anchor isn’t necessary because really all that matters is the present.
I sometimes talk about books that have the ability to evoke not only thoughts but feelings and this one does both. Undoubtedly some of the feeling for me comes from a personal connection to the story, but I’m sure some of it is more universal. The depths of emotion Deagler pens faithfully depict the highs and lows of life, which is the gift many get when they decide to stop using their substance of choice and feel their feelings. It’s definitely been that way for me.
I appreciate that this depicts a journey to sobriety outside of the 12 steps which is often centered in recovery stories. It reinforces the fact that journeys to sobriety are as individual and different as the people taking them and regardless of the path there are still shared threads of common experience. It also depicts the reality that sober people still have to figure out how to exist in the world; just because a person changes doesn’t mean the environment they exist in has.
For me this is a book about living. Not living the grand lives we may have dreamed of as a kid but the lives that reality gives us and finding peace in just one day. One of my favorite passages out of the Alcoholics Anonymous “Big Book” has to do with acceptance being the key to problems. And I loved walking along with Monk as he moved toward acceptance and settled into the new life he had been given through sobriety. Whether you are an addict or not there is something beautiful to be found in these pages. I would definitely recommend this one.
Thank you Astra House Books and Netgalley for the gifted ARC.
The structure of the book feels a bit like short stories; they are firmly connected through Dennis and a few recurring characters, but each chapter places Dennis in different situations and settings as he inches closer to the one year sober mark. Normally I might be put off by this style but it brilliantly fed into the unmoored feeling of being newly sober. The feeling of separating yourself from the thing you have centered your life around (in this case alcohol) is so well represented by Monk’s movement from place to place, never settling anywhere, just drifting around trying to find somewhere to anchor. At the same time, it creates a sense that a steady anchor isn’t necessary because really all that matters is the present.
I sometimes talk about books that have the ability to evoke not only thoughts but feelings and this one does both. Undoubtedly some of the feeling for me comes from a personal connection to the story, but I’m sure some of it is more universal. The depths of emotion Deagler pens faithfully depict the highs and lows of life, which is the gift many get when they decide to stop using their substance of choice and feel their feelings. It’s definitely been that way for me.
I appreciate that this depicts a journey to sobriety outside of the 12 steps which is often centered in recovery stories. It reinforces the fact that journeys to sobriety are as individual and different as the people taking them and regardless of the path there are still shared threads of common experience. It also depicts the reality that sober people still have to figure out how to exist in the world; just because a person changes doesn’t mean the environment they exist in has.
For me this is a book about living. Not living the grand lives we may have dreamed of as a kid but the lives that reality gives us and finding peace in just one day. One of my favorite passages out of the Alcoholics Anonymous “Big Book” has to do with acceptance being the key to problems. And I loved walking along with Monk as he moved toward acceptance and settled into the new life he had been given through sobriety. Whether you are an addict or not there is something beautiful to be found in these pages. I would definitely recommend this one.
Thank you Astra House Books and Netgalley for the gifted ARC.
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