If alcoholism was a choice, this book would certainly dissuade you from ever picking up a drink. Augusten had the fancy apartment and high paying job but he was also downing a bottle of scotch a night - minimum. Fortunately for him, his employers stage an intervention and it's off to the Pride Institute - a GLBT rehab. As he says after a moving testimony from a fellow patient "That's the reason to go to a gay rehab. People appreciate the drama." Throughout his rehab and subsequent attempts to remain sober, he never spares us his nasty thoughts or his judgements. Of the closet case, Mormon boss who attempts to sabotage his sobriety, he says "I wish Rick would get gang raped by a bunch of Muslim garbage collectors.
He struggles with feeling "...I'm a drunk that doesn't get to drink. It seems unfair. Like keeping a Chihuahua in a hamster cage."
He manages to remain sober, and attend his AA meetings although he thinks that "It seems easier to make friends in bars. I have to keep reminding myself these AA people are exactly like bar people - they are bar people - except their bars have all been shut down. And I have to admit, this makes them less interesting to me."
He manages to remain sober for quite awhile even though he becomes involved with a crack addict. Eventually, it's the death from AIDS of an ex-lover which sends him free falling of the wagon. He endures months binging on booze and coke repeatedly pissing the bed only to sleep in it again the next night and be haunted by hallucinations of spiders. He certainly doesn't make alcoholism in any way attractive.
The strength is must have taken him to stop drinking not just once but twice is amazing. He presents most things in a humourous way but the horror of the events is still clear beneath the presentation.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Source copy: own it
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