Reviews

In an excellent reading of her memoir about her love affair with alcohol, Knapp describes herself as a "high-profile alcoholic": she appeared to function normally, even when drunk. Her parents were educated professionals. In her formative years, "cocktails at 7" was a ritual in Knapp's undemonstrative household. By age 14, she had begun experimenting with alcohol as a means of suppressing painful emotions. Life's lessons were deferred by alcohol, though eventually, as a successful journalist in Boston, her drinking and other self-destructive behaviors began to take their toll. The death of both parents, a messy love life, and a deteriorating social circle all lead to a personal crisis, AA, and, finally, sobriety. Knapp quotes some of the physiological and medical research on addictive behavior. She immerses the listener in the culture of alcoholism and the thought processes that allow that culture to continue. A valuable addition to audio collections.‘Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Ed. Lib.

Freelance journalist Knapp began drinking in her early teens and continued unabatedly until she "hit bottom" in 1995 and checked herself into a rehab at the age of 36. During that time she managed to graduate with honors from Brown and have a successful career as a journalist, and few people suspected she had a problem with the bottle. Here she recounts the years of denial that helped her rationalize the blackouts, innumerable hangovers, broken relationships and family tensions characteristic of the alcoholic's story. Knapp interweaves her personal history with factual information about alcohol abuse, including frequent references to the AA meetings she's attended. Here's a confession utterly devoid of self-pity, an extraordinarily lucid and very well-written personal account of a common addiction that is filled with insights as well as a comprehensive treatment of the subject. The text reproduces a questionnaire for alcoholism made up by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. First serial to the New York Times Magazine and Cosmopolitan; Literary Guild selection; author tour. (June)