Can Sobriety Be as Interesting as Addiction? A Writer Wonders

Having to create a life while attending a writer's workshop is clearly deeply problematic. The danger is, as a NYT Book Review reviewer once wrote: "Here is another book about writers writing about writers." The Irish author John McGahern once told me: "You Americans want to keep moving, there has to be action in every novel, movement from place to place. The Irish writer wants to be a fly on the wall in the living room. Every day for a year, year after year." Deep psychological and spiritual wisdom may come from just sitting in one place, Ms. Jamison.

I think people are seriously tired of these narcissistic addiction stories, which are almost always from privileged white people because, of course, people of color with addiction issues don't usually have access to publishing contracts since they are more often than not in and out of jail. I completely understand why people with no access to a sustainable, dignified life end up addicted in our country, but I have very little sympathy for privileged white people with too much ambition who end up "in the rooms". AA wants you to believe there is no difference between people like Jamison and a homeless black man who has been shuffled in and out of hopeless situations in an incredibly racist country, but frankly, that line of thinking (very Christian, which is what AA is) is just an insult to the millions of people in our country who suffer from institutionalized racism and classism. For the record, Jamison isn't one of them.

At some point, the rational person, inside the alcoholic, may decide that they don't want to die this way, if they can possibly help it. That's what I did. Life is good.

Fiction writers are often stupefying in their narcissism and self-absorption, but this "effort" seems to have set a new standard. Why is anyone's battle with alcohol any more interesting than someone else's battle with ulcerative colitis or glaucoma ? I'd rather read the phone directory.

*Sigh* Writing is writing, and only a person of boring privilege feels the need to make herself interesting in such a way. A narrative of recovery? Naw, I'll pass.

Another book about a drinking writer. I always want to read these, but as someone on the front lines of the problem, I despair that even after all this time, there is really nothing that works well. Jamison is an alcoholic, and the real problem on Long Island is opioids. I have been unable to entice any of these addicts with anything more juicy than taking drugs. Anecdotally, AA does seem to work well for alcoholics, but what I see amongst the Oxy and Fentanyl addicts is horrifyingly large recidivism rates, NA meetings full of people who are not clean, and despair and hopelessness. Where is the research money for this? Medication (Bupenorphrine, etc. can stop craving, but psychologically it is not compelling for addicts. Help!

First the reviewer states the book should take its place among "recovery memoirs" and not seek to transcend the genre. Then she says the book is lacking for not appealing to a more general audience. Which is it?

There are many interesting ideas to write about with a shot of whiskey; there is nothing interesting to write about with an empty bottle of whiskey.

She and this book sound like a tremendous boring cauldron of narcissism. One reason AA has fallen into disrepute and is being overtaken by contemporary treatment methods is this story, based on the fundamentalist Christian experience which combined with hallucinogens is the basis of AA, of evil evil and then salvation and dwelling in this newfound self. Its just a bore and trite. Time to approach the scientific and psychologically sound methods of dealing with addiction with therapy and medication and realising that we need lots of further research. AA is a crock, so his her story. I much prefer James Ellroy´s accounts of his own experience of Los Angeles AA and NA in the 1980´s, a sex-fest that gave these new friends tips on caddying jobs and dedication to new directions than any religious hooey which this writer murks about in unawares.

The more I read about this author the sadder I get—she’s reveling in war stories, making her entire identity about drinking, giving herself little space to become sober. Grateful that my path to sobriety was different.

Jlafitte -anyone in day to day successful recovery from alcoholism will tell you that it requires a spiritual experience and that addiction is the delusion.

The story of a writer seeking "story worthy" wisdom and insight from self-destruction isn't just narcissistic, it's exhibitionism stacked on top of puerile vanity. It's not a "quest". It's not brave or even curious. And it's "dedicated to anyone addiction has touched", but to what end? Making self-damage seem romantic and literary? Making drinking a career move? Making more addicts?

It appears that the author's project was to transform herself from a drunk narcissist into a sober narcissist. Who is expected to applaud? This is supposed to be "interesting?" Like a modern day Augustine? Maybe, if only insofar as an addiction can falsely appear to be a spiritual practice, and the cessation of addiction removes that deception. Credit to the author for hinting at this purpose.

By her theory I guess Naked Lunch must be the greatest novel ever written. Pretty banal reading if you ask me. The idea that drugs serve creativity is a very bad one. The idea that anyone else might want to read about it is worse. When he was playing with Miles, John Coltrane nearly destroyed his talent with his addiction to heroin. He was soon kicked out of Miles band and the quality of his music declined greatly. Through tremendous strength of will and the help of his wife he was able to quit heroin cold turkey. After his recovery he went on to produce some of the greatest music ever created, and at the same time became a spiritual inspiration for many generations of people, including his own children. Sounds like a damn good redemption story to me. As the father of an alcoholic, I can assure you that addiction and inebriation produce nothing but pain.

I think the practice of hiring full time writers to review other full time writers falls dangerously close to a conflict of interest-----however, if you crave unrestrained throat slashing, open up the new york times book review where fiction reviews are heavily personalized and endlessly hacked by other writers, editors, or even sometime agents! And, the belief that I must be a non-drinking alcoholic to enjoy or identify with this work makes me wonder about elephant hunters, sea captains, or wealthy men staring across the darkness of the Long Island Sound.

Most mind altering substances empower creativity. But at some point one has to wake up one morning and read the unreadable. Writing under the influence is an abstraction of the truth. Just like all the sex that she purportedly was engaging in. I think what may be missing here is a muse. Something all creative achievements longingly ache for. Crumpled up a newspaper into a small ball. Then write about it as it unfolds.

The excerpts of Ms. Jamison's book that appeared in the NYT Magazine did not 'tantalize (me) with all the ways in which they could have been better.' In fact, they blew me away with how good they were. I was happy to see how her writing demonstrated the thesis she hoped to prove, that recovery doesn't kill good writing.

There is no real romance in addiction, but imaginary and from afar.

From the A.A Traditions- Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films. As an A.A member it is always disappointing to see someone capitalizing by discrediting the traditions.

while i am glad that ms. jamison has found sobriety and is entitled to write a memoir about it, she has sadly violated the 11th and 12th tradition of anonymity on a public forum

Sounds interesting. But if you're alcoholic and fortunate enough to have taken to AA, you can hear these stories for a buck, an hour at a time. From people you know for years and years, decades. For the other part of book about liquor and authors, I recommend "The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking," by Olivia Laing, a NYT & Times magazine notable book of 2014. Not putting down her work; always useful to give earthlings an idea of what alcoholism and recovery look like, in the hopes they'll be better prepared to reach out to their loved ones.

I can credit anyone who is prepared to demonstrate to others, through the honest sharing of their own experience, that recovery from addiction to alcohol is possible, and that life can take on bright, vibrant new meaning and purpose. It is less easy to credit them when it involves willfully breaking the A.A. Tradition of anonymity. It may seem in our slick and ironic age that the principle of anonymity is a quaint anachronism. There are powerful reasons why respecting that tradition is critically important, both for one's own sobriety and for others. Anyone wishing to have a deeper understanding can get it by visiting aa.org. It speaks volumes to one's self-regard when they feel empowered to over-ride the collective wisdom and experience of hundreds of thousands of other recovered alcoholics. Time for another 4th and 5th Step Ms Jamison? Certainly, time to have a chat with your Sponsor.

NO.

“The book is dedicated to “anyone addiction has touched.” Really? The problem is addiction not only touches but harms. Alcoholics harm everyone in their live. Often irreparably. Addiction as a blameless disease? Oh, please. I’ll pass on this one.

There’s nothing more boring than a drunkalog...and nothing more interesting than the tales of experience, strength and hope in recovery.

In recent years, many great artists have died from addiction, drug overdoses, accidental drug 'mishaps' and liver disease commonly associated with long term alcoholism and drug addiction - some years after they cleaned up: Lou Reed, David Bowie, Prince, Tom Petty, Denis Johnson. All gone too soon. The list is probably endless - and sad. Johnson in particular addressed the tragedy of his former addiction head on in many great books. What wouldn't we give to have these great artists still among us - and the work they might have done? Romanticizing this waste - by framing addiction as 'fascinating' - even with the best of intentions - is foolish, a game for people who haven't wised up that addiction = illness, broken lives, early death.

More discovery, less recovery.

My grandparents were Southern Baptists, which meant they were teetotalers. No drinking, but also no fun of any kind: no dancing, no cards (grandma once admonished me for playing solitaire in their cabin in Pinetop, "it's gambling" she said. I never could quite wrap my head around how playing cards with myself was gambling but that was the depth of her limited understanding of the things her preacher railed against), and no swimming with the opposite sex. It was a dreary, sober experience. Fast forward to today and I am sober as little as absolutely possible to get done what the world expects of me. My dad is addicted to pain pills he gets from a doctor in Las Vegas. We're the image of the typical American family now, it seems: addicts who espouse the virtues of better living through chemistry. And why not? Plot your lifetime out against the age of the cosmos. It's not even a blip. So, drink up. Now I am an atheist after having served my time in the depths of fundamentalist Christianity. Where's my AA? All the AA/NA stuff I hear about is run by Christians. No thanks. I'll slip into a deep and dreamless sleep before I darken their doors. They go on and on about a 'higher power.' Sorry. I'm far too intellectually evolved to submit to that nonsense. So, drink up. Or don't. You're still a blip on the cosmos.

I wish I could find more people who have realized that they cannot successfully drink alcohol to hanf with. It is a very lonely place in this booze ridden society. Look at marketing and movies and you'd swear one can't live with out it. And the COOL craft beers! I quit cause I could not stop about 5 years ago w/o AA and am ALIVE because of it. We need to be

The author writes: "The more you start to need a thing, whether it's a man or a bottle of wine, the more you are unwittingly - reflexively, implicitly - convincing yourself you're not enough without it." Her book weighs in at 448 pages. I felt her story was quite "enough" and was the story I wanted to read, not tales of famous writers and poets in Iowa or personal histories of anonymous unknown A.A.'ers she met along the way.

In AA we discover that while our lives may seem hugely different from others of us in "the rooms" we discover that our stories are essentially the same--we drank, we became addicted, we destroyed all or parts of our lives. When Ms. Jamison makes her "dedication" at the close of her book. "I wrote this book for all of them--for all of us--or I could say they wrote this book for me", she is expressing exactly that fundamental discovery those of us in AA have experienced. To treat that notion, that huge discovery as "fulsome and simplistic" is also fulsome and simplistic, and shows a basic ignorance of the subject the reviewer has chosen.

This seems like a fair assessment. The trauma in this book felt rushed into publication. I wish the author had waited till she had a few more years of recovery.

Certainly significant and a good thing that Ms. Jamison was able to change her life. It is not easy to overcome addiction. Unfortunately in the U.S. there is a double standard. Educated or affluent or connected people can write books or TV shows or do TED talks etc - and make money and be celebrated for overcoming addiction. But low income people do not have this opportunity. Not only are low income people unlikely to have access to/afford decent medical care and rehab, they are more likely to have struggled finding employment or maintaining housing, etc. This does not seem fair.

I'm so surprised the author would discount the vast archive of great lit about recovery and redemption. I can thoroughly recommend "Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget" by journalist Sarah Hepola. It's a a searing first-person account of a similarly situated young woman struggling with the writing life as an alcoholic. I greatly appreciated Hepola's honesty and introspection. She paced the narrative well. The book would give encouragement to any young person struggling with addiction. I agree that all good addiction stories are equally about recovery and redemption whether or not realized.