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A review by msand3
John Barleycorn: Alcoholic Memoirs by Jack London
4.0
One thing I can say after reading this book: Hemingway's got nothing on Jack!
This is no melancholy rumination on the dangers of alcohol. It's a rip-roaring autobiography in which booze plays an integral part. Although London claims to desire prohibition, he can't seem to help celebrating John Barleycorn for the entire first two-thirds of the book. We read as London describes getting drunk at ages five and seven. Then onto his days as a teenage oyster pirate, where he practically lives in taverns, swilling whiskey with "fine, chesty, man-grown men." (Seriously. That's a direct quote. His favorite adjective is "chesty.") At this point the reader has to be wondering if London is joking when he says he's in favor of prohibition. Hell, after reading the first half of the book, I was wishing I could visit a turn-of-the-century San Francisco dockside bar and get loaded with characters like French Frank, Whisky Bob, and Spider. And despite all this boozy, manly camaraderie, London insists (almost every other page) that he is most definitely NOT an alcoholic. (Dear God, I can only imagine what he thinks an alcoholic IS!) Only in the final third of the book do we get a brief essay on the social ills of John Barleycorn and the "truthful-lying" of his "White Logic." But by this point, the reader has to find London's conclusion a bit hard to swallow. (Pardon the pun.) Indeed, in the last chapter (spoiler alert?) London claims that despite his desire for booze to be outlawed so as not to poison young people, he still wants to continue drinking! (Only socially, of course. Because, as he emphasizes constantly, he is most definitely NOT an alcoholic!) Is this meant to be irony? Is London serious? Does he really think his manly body (which, by the way, has been ravaged by so many physical ills it's kinda scary) has actually "beaten" John Barleycorn at his own game, as he claims? I don't think it matters. The point is made: alcohol can distort your thinking, damage your senses, and totally ruin your body. But it sure can be a fun ride along the way.
This is no melancholy rumination on the dangers of alcohol. It's a rip-roaring autobiography in which booze plays an integral part. Although London claims to desire prohibition, he can't seem to help celebrating John Barleycorn for the entire first two-thirds of the book. We read as London describes getting drunk at ages five and seven. Then onto his days as a teenage oyster pirate, where he practically lives in taverns, swilling whiskey with "fine, chesty, man-grown men." (Seriously. That's a direct quote. His favorite adjective is "chesty.") At this point the reader has to be wondering if London is joking when he says he's in favor of prohibition. Hell, after reading the first half of the book, I was wishing I could visit a turn-of-the-century San Francisco dockside bar and get loaded with characters like French Frank, Whisky Bob, and Spider. And despite all this boozy, manly camaraderie, London insists (almost every other page) that he is most definitely NOT an alcoholic. (Dear God, I can only imagine what he thinks an alcoholic IS!) Only in the final third of the book do we get a brief essay on the social ills of John Barleycorn and the "truthful-lying" of his "White Logic." But by this point, the reader has to find London's conclusion a bit hard to swallow. (Pardon the pun.) Indeed, in the last chapter (spoiler alert?) London claims that despite his desire for booze to be outlawed so as not to poison young people, he still wants to continue drinking! (Only socially, of course. Because, as he emphasizes constantly, he is most definitely NOT an alcoholic!) Is this meant to be irony? Is London serious? Does he really think his manly body (which, by the way, has been ravaged by so many physical ills it's kinda scary) has actually "beaten" John Barleycorn at his own game, as he claims? I don't think it matters. The point is made: alcohol can distort your thinking, damage your senses, and totally ruin your body. But it sure can be a fun ride along the way.