This is a tough one to review. I really liked reading it, but in the end, it felt as though the exposition was finally wrapped up, and now I was ready for the story. But actually, the book was over. Not that there isn’t enough movement in Eileen, it’s just that the narrator tells us very early in the book that this is the story of her final days trapped in her terrible and sad life as she was raised – or more accurately, grew […]
There is some strange alchemy associated with gratitude.
This one hit me hard, and I have to admit I’m still processing a lot of it. Drink is part memoir, part investigative journalism, written by Ann Dowsett Johnston, a former editor at “Maclean’s” magazine (Canada’s “Newsweek,” if I may), the story of one woman’s family history and journey of alcoholism, and also an examination of the dangers of (mostly Western) society’s portrayal of the ideal woman and her relationship with alcohol, with is generally supposed to be empowering, equality-driven and rewarding, but has been […]

