![](https://image.librarything.com/pics/fugue21/magnifier-left.png)
![Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood von…](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/0143036475.01._SX180_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
Auf ein Miniaturbild klicken, um zu Google Books zu gelangen.
Lädt ... Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood (Original 2005; 2005. Auflage)von Koren Zailckas
Werk-InformationenSmashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood von Koren Zailckas (2005)
![]() Keine Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. ![]() Zailckas takes us on a wild ride from excess and hedonism to anger and abstinence. While I recognize that she is trying to study the sociology of alcohol use (and abuse) among women, she instead paints a sad portrait that strangely glorifies her college years. Zailckas has eulogized her heavy drinking as a college student and decides after graduating that the only response for a woman in her early twenties is to abstain altogether and instead to direct the energy that was previously spent on drinking into anger toward the alcohol industry as a whole and the "drinking culture" of the middle class. Again and again, Zailckas assures us that she "is not an alcoholic," which undermines her message, and pats herself on the back for having her last drink at twnety-two. What is the message here? Zailckas' memoir is not particularly well-written and her thesis is confused at best. Yes, underage drinking is a problem, rape culture is a problem, white male corporate oppression is a problem, but Zailckas' problems are a result of her victimized mentality. For a better organized memoir of a drinking woman, please see Caroline Knapp's "[b:Drinking: A Love Story|73965|Drinking A Love Story|Caroline Knapp|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388202057s/73965.jpg|1045053]." Booktalk: [Cite teen stats on drinking.] Koren's first taste of alcohol came when she was 14 and her friend got her to try Southern Comfort. At 16 Koren had her first blackout and her stomach pumped. In college, Koren and her friends drank almost daily at a regular string of fraternity and sorority parties, or by getting into bars with fake ID's. Tequila shots, vodka, beer--you name it, Koren drank it. She was sick and hungover a lot of the time, even in class, and it was never pretty. (Read p242 Through the fog--every time I threw up.) Now after six years of drinking, Koren is depressed and bored by it. She realizes that drinking was the easiest way to avoid dealing with her problems. Now she's got to find her way out from behind the bottle or spend the rest of her life SMASHED. I actually only made it halfway through before I put the book down. I actually should have known from the tone of the Introduction that I might not like it but the opening few chapters were engaging so I read on. The statistical information (complete with footnotes) folded into the narrative was jarring. I could find little empathy for her character and in fact lost all connection when this self-described "loner and misfit" inexplicably becomes a cheerleader. I'm honestly glad that Koren has found her way to the other side of her "drunken girlhood" but I just didn't care enough to see her through her entire journey. Aside from the fact that Zailckas writes beautiful prose, I enjoyed Smashed because she
"Smashed" too often feels like a travelogue, each horrific adventure tinged with a bit of gee-whiz at the thrill of it all. Like a fine wine... this story would have benefited from the passage of time. This may be one of the best accounts of addiction, let alone the college experience, or even what it means to be an average teenage girl in America who inexplicably hates herself. AuszeichnungenPrestigeträchtige AuswahlenBemerkenswerte Listen
From earliest experimentation to habitual excess to full-blown abuse, twenty-four-year-old Koren Zailckas leads us through her experience of a terrifying trend among young girls, exploring how binge drinking becomes routine, how it becomes "the usual." With the stylistic freshness of a poet and the dramatic gifts of a novelist, Zailckas describes her first sip at fourteen, alcohol poisoning at sixteen, a blacked-out sexual experience at nineteen, total disorientation after waking up in an unfamiliar New York City apartment at twenty-two, when she realized she had to stop, and all the depression, rage, troubled friendships, and sputtering romantic connections in between. Zailckas's unflinching candor and exquisite analytical eye gets to the meaning beneath the seeming banality of girls' getting drunk. She persuades us that her story is the story of thousands of girls like her who are not alcoholics-yet-but who use booze as a short cut to courage, a stand-in for good judgment, and a bludgeon for shyness, each of them failing to see how their emotional distress, unarticulated hostility, and depression are entangled with their socially condoned binging. Like the contemporary masterpieces The Liars' Club, Autobiography of a Face, and Jarhead, Smashed is destined to become a classic. A crucial book for any woman who has succumbed to oblivion through booze, or for anyone ready to face the more subtle repercussions of their own chronic over-drinking or of someone they love, Smashed is an eye-opening, wise, and utterly gripping achievement. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
Aktuelle DiskussionenKeineBeliebte Umschlagbilder
![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)616.861092Technology Medicine and health Diseases Diseases of nervous system and mental disorders Substance abuse, drug abuse AlcoholismKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:![]()
Bist das du?Werde ein LibraryThing-Autor. |