The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath Hardcover – April 3, 2018

This is the fifth "alcohol memoir" I've read, after (in order of personal preference) Caroline Knapp's "Drinking: A Love Story", Koren Zailckas' "Smashed: Growing Up A Drunk Girl", Sarah Hepola's "Blackout" and Lisa Smith's "Girl Walks Out Of A Bar." I also have to mention that I am not an alcoholic, and the primary reason I am reading this genre of writing is because of a prurient interest.With that disclaimer out of the way, I have to say that I couldn't connect with Leslie throughout this book. She is too intelligent for her own good. She portrays herself as the ultimate high-functioning alcoholic, able to jump back and forth between her research on alcoholic writers, to debunk the myth that being under the influence can create work that is far superior to that produced when sober, and her own escapades with alcohol (her first love) and her other love, Dave, not to mention the other lovers she found throughout her own travels. Her primary intention throughout the book is to explore the "aftermath" of intoxication, the recovery period of sobriety, and to see if that sobriety can allow her to produce literature and written work that is (if not at the same level as if she were drunk) better than that produced when she is drunk.But that word, "aftermath", has such a negative connotation, yet when you explore the "aftermath" as Leslie portrays it, I saw nothing but a desert. Intoxication provided such beautiful moments for Leslie - the hardcover version of this book is 534 pages, and most of the bookmarks I placed are in the first half of the book, highlighting her drunken, beautiful adventures and moments. The "aftermath" was focused on her trying so hard to justify her claim about recovery leading to more insight than alcoholism would, so much so that there is one section where she's asking her students about the best part of a story about a drunk, and she keeps on switching students until she finds one that says the recovery part was most interesting.I won't spoil the work with details, but I will admit that the reason why I gave a star to Leslie's book (memoir? dissertation? Although I find it hard to believe that a faculty would actually want to read about, let alone approve, her drunken adventures) is her analysis of the writers that drank, such as Jean Rhys, Berryman, Johnson, Carver and Jackson, amongst others. She is determined to analyze these writers (and some would say, spoil the plots of these works) in an effort to see that their sobriety will allow them to be more creative than when they were drunk.The other star was given solely because of her drunken episodes in the first half of the book, because it is far better to read and experience than the sober part. I opened this review with a question she quotes from Charles Jackson, in "The Long Weekend." Why did you ask why, Leslie? Why don't all of these ladies who write these books simply acknowledge that they are all drunks, and that they should take relief in it? Most of the bookmarks in the second half of this book are about her desire to relapse ("More. Again. Forever.") and if she had relapsed a second time, and for good, I probably would have given this a higher rating. I hope that she does relapse a second time, that she takes comfort in her first love, who never abandoned her and never sought the attention of other women like (supposedly) Dave and the other men did, while alcohol will always remain faithful and be there for her, to and at the end.At this point, I am looking for the alcoholic version of the Charlotte Gainsbourg character in "Nymphomaniac", who (SPOILER) attends a sex addict meeting and stands up and proclaims that she doesn't want to "recover", she wants to keep indulging in her sex addiction, to the end, and to hell with all of those who would critique her and seek to help her (why is it that opioid addicts never thank the nurses and doctors and EMTs who rescue them from their addictions?). Where is the alcoholic lady who writes a memoir about her drunken adventures and, at the end, says that she still drinks regularly because "that's all there [is] to it. [I drink]; period"? I have heard of one such memoir, by Cat Marnell ("How To Murder Your Life") and I am anxious to read it in the near future. If anyone knows of other stories / memoirs where the drunk lady stays drunk at the end, because she acknowledges that that's who she is, period, drop a line.

This was a necessary and meaningful read from me but I think from a different perspective than maybe many others and I wanted the author to see this perspective too (if there is one thing I've learned is authors read reviews :)Stephen King once said "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." Reading Jamison has made me a better writer. I have a book due in the self-growth field (I've interviewed Dr. Gabor Mate on my podcast which is what drew me to this book in the first place) and I would generally read 30 minutes of The Recovering and go write. When I did I was much more reflective and approached 1/10th of Jamison's poetic wording. When I wrote ad hoc I'd be about 1/100th. Dividing myself my 100, as it were.I don't think this book, or any book, will speak to everyone. It is hyper-introspective. A critic could call her writing style bumptious at times. But to me it was beautiful, exquisite and vulnerable. I'll never be the writer Jamison is, but I am a better writer for this book and for that I am grateful.Mike SpiveyP.S. Dr. Jamison if you do read this review we'd love to have you on our podcast, you'd be joining Mate, Dr. Anna Lembke., Dr. Judson Brewer and many others who have helped millions. Just let me know I should be easy to find on whatever platform is best for you to reach out. Happy for you and where you have taken yourself as a priority.

"The Recovering" is a lot like hearing a very articulate, very well-researched person who had a difficult time getting sober speak at an AA meeting. If you've never had that experience, speakers are expected to describe "what it used to be like, what happened and what it's like now" - in other words, how they drank, how they got sober and what life has been like since they did. It's both a personal testament and a witness to others that they can get sober if they do what the speaker did.Leslie Jamison interleaves the personal aspects of her drinking career and recovery story with history and research designed to put addiction in its peculiarly American context- both the long association of addiction with moral failure and criminality and its simultaneous, paradoxical association with genius, and the hypocritical ways in which one or the other is emphasized depending on the addict's identity. White male writers who neglect their families to create great art are tortured geniuses, but women who do so are selfish, vain and lacking in a sense of maternal responsibility; black men who are addicts are dangerous criminals, and women addicts of color deserve to be punished.The history is valuable and occasionally interesting, but never quite jells with the personal story which is by far the more compelling of the two. While it takes a few chapters to get rolling, once Jamison begins to tell us about her own recovery, and the different struggle- in her relationships, her writing and her sobriety- that this presents her with, it takes off. For anyone who is, or has loved, an alcoholic, the pattern of her story is a familiar one- but it's told clearly and well, and it's worth the reading because, like every AA speaker's story, it's a promise that hard work, done humbly and thoroughly, can generate unlooked-for rewards.

A difficult but important read of the various approaches and pratfalls associated with recovery from all types of addictions.

Let me start by saying that I seldom read books that do not fall into the category of pure fiction. I am not fond of autobiographies, literary criticism or academic treatises. However Leslie Jamison has achieved an extraordinary mixture of all three genres using her incomparable power over the English language to overcome my prejudices.She tackles the issue of the relationship between the addicts' creativity and his or her degree of enslavement to the addictive substance. She brings to the subject a depth of understanding based on her own experiences, told with an honesty and candidness only tempered by her respect for the integrity and anonymity of the other participants in her story. She adds to this a wealth of scientific and literary research covering the gamut from Ray Carver and Billie Holliday to the abusive drunk in an AA meeting in rural America.A tour de force with no apologies for my use of the cliche.

Elegant, beautiful prose talks us through the difficult, pervasive issue of addiction. An honest, gritty and surprisingly literary contribution to a much discussed topic. Very fresh, original and humble. A+

Excellent book . Very informative about addiction and the recovery process.

This is a talented writer - memorable images and turns of phrase. I bought the book because of a review which mentioned that the writer examines the role and effect of substance abuse on writers and their work. A number of my favourite writers are amongst those and I thought this book might be worth reading. I was not disappointed.