A review by kirsten0929
The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath by Leslie Jamison

4.0

This kind of book is right up my alley - “memoir plus”, I would call it - and this one didn’t disappoint. Jamison tells the story of her own relationship with alcohol addiction and recovery but weaves throughout that the stories of other famous writers (mostly). She explores not only the individual’s relationship with alcohol and recovery (or not) but also more broadly how the people struggling with both are treated by society and how that treatment has always been unjustifiably dependent on race, gender, and economics. Her descriptions of the struggles of alcohol addiction are vivid and visceral; her tone calm and compassionate. She covers a lot of ground in this one and I found it engaging throughout.