Drinking: A Love Story

Drinking: A Love Story

Introduction

The book Drinking: A love Story is a very helpful book for women who have been an alcohol addict for some time and want to get over this disease. It is about a woman who had been an alcohol addict for the past twenty years and this addiction had increased so much that for her it was the most important relationship. She used alcohol as a way of protecting herself from the fears and worries. She felt that for all her destructive relationship she needed the drink as a reward for getting through the day. She was so addicted to alcohol that she could not keep promises to her friends and family regarding alcohol. She was an active alcoholic and felt that her unhappiness could only be removed by consuming alcohol and forming the liquid armour around herself. Then a number of incidents changed her and she was able to recover and come out of this relationship through rehabilitation and attending the meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous.

About the Author

Caroline Knapp was an American Columnist and writer whose bestselling memoir was Drinking: A Love Story which described her own battle with alcoholism. She grew up in Cambridge and graduated from the Brown University. She used to write columns for Boston Phoenix with the name “Out There” which had the fictional character Alice K in it. These columns were placed together in 1994 in her first book called Alice K's Guide to Life. Her book Drinking: A Love Story remained best seller on New York Times for many weeks. Her other books include Pack of Two, Appetites, and The Merry Recluse (www.goodreads.com). In April 2002, she was diagnosed with lung cancer due to which she died on June 3, 2002 in Cambridge.

Summary of the Book

This book is about a woman named Caroline Knapp, who starts drinking and soon becomes an alcoholic. Her drinking habit reaches to the point that she cannot live without consuming alcohol. Her alcohol consumption increased so much that she felt that her most important relationship was with alcohol. She was in love with how alcohol made her feel and gave her the strength to deal with various worries and fears of her life. She couldn't keep the promise that she made to her friends and family regarding her drinking. All this changed when she fell down crossing the street while carrying two children. She was drunk at that time and she realized that her drinking could have killed the children.

After three months, she got into rehabilitation which finally resulted in her giving up drinking. She started using Alcoholic Anonymous for support and assistance to help her to become abstemious and clear-headed. She also learned to love people and not alcohol. The requirement for escape and protection that was catered by alcohol was ultimately replaced by facing problems honestly and with social skills. This book also describes her struggle with anorexia which is an eating disorder in which the person imposes immoderate restriction ...