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A review by itsolivia
The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath by Leslie Jamison
5.0
The deal: A 544-page mix of memoir, literary criticism, historical archive, and reporting on alcoholism and the stories we tell around it.
Is it worth it?: For most people, I highly doubt it—I’m fairly confident that this is not the book for you if you are not 1. sober (or have even the tiniest shred of desire to get sober) and 2. a writer or someone with a limitless fascination with analyzing writers/writing. This is not a recovery memoir. It’s long and dense and academic, part poetic drunkalog, part archive of writers and writing. All that being said, this ___ me. Right now I don’t really have the word to put in the blank, since I’m realizing what I reach for is often the language of destruction, like “gutted” or “destroyed” to really emphasize resonance. “The Recovering” is not that. Rather, it’s closer to the feeling you get when someone shares an experience, a strength, a hope that’s somehow you and not you and exactly what you need at exactly the right moment. It’s tempting to live in that feeling (and this book), loitering in the glow of seeing ourselves reflected back, pretending that clarity is the same as salvation. But the sobriety we’re talking about here isn’t just self-knowledge and sheer will in isolation.
Pairs well with: I went to link aa.org and whew the meeting finder continues to be the specific kind of endearing disaster that could only belong to an organization that’s self-supported by a bunch of alcoholics. DM me if you’re looking for something more specific or just to chat or whatever < 3. (Sidenote - Jamison also has a great author’s note about harm reduction and other modes of recovery that should not be skipped, and arguably even read first)
A
Is it worth it?: For most people, I highly doubt it—I’m fairly confident that this is not the book for you if you are not 1. sober (or have even the tiniest shred of desire to get sober) and 2. a writer or someone with a limitless fascination with analyzing writers/writing. This is not a recovery memoir. It’s long and dense and academic, part poetic drunkalog, part archive of writers and writing. All that being said, this ___ me. Right now I don’t really have the word to put in the blank, since I’m realizing what I reach for is often the language of destruction, like “gutted” or “destroyed” to really emphasize resonance. “The Recovering” is not that. Rather, it’s closer to the feeling you get when someone shares an experience, a strength, a hope that’s somehow you and not you and exactly what you need at exactly the right moment. It’s tempting to live in that feeling (and this book), loitering in the glow of seeing ourselves reflected back, pretending that clarity is the same as salvation. But the sobriety we’re talking about here isn’t just self-knowledge and sheer will in isolation.
Pairs well with: I went to link aa.org and whew the meeting finder continues to be the specific kind of endearing disaster that could only belong to an organization that’s self-supported by a bunch of alcoholics. DM me if you’re looking for something more specific or just to chat or whatever < 3. (Sidenote - Jamison also has a great author’s note about harm reduction and other modes of recovery that should not be skipped, and arguably even read first)
A