Smashed

Starred review from December 6, 2004
This isn't just one girl's story of sneaking drinks in junior high, creeping out for night-long keg parties in high school and binge-drinking weeknights and weekends through college—it's also a valuable cautionary tale. At 24 (her present age), Zailckas gave up drinking after a decade of getting drunk, having blackouts and experiencing brushes with comas, date rape and suicide. She weaves disturbing statistics (from Harvard School of Public Heath studies and elsewhere) into her memoir: most girls will have their first drink by age 12, and will have the experience of being drunk by 14; teenage girls drink as much as their male peers, but their bodies process it badly (they get drunk faster, stay drunk longer and are more likely to die of alcohol poisoning); and date rape and booze go hand-in-hand. Zailckas had alcohol poisoning at 16 after a night of downing shots at a party with friends, but having her stomach pumped in the emergency room and enduring a month of being grounded didn't check her desire to drink. Fraternity keg parties led to drunken sexual encounters not-quite-remembered; drinking began to replace intimacy. Alcohol defined Zailckas's adolescence and college years to such an extent that, as she tells it, she lacks the tools to be an adult: she's unsure how to maintain relationships and unclear about sex without an alcohol buzz. Zailckas is unsparingly insightful and acutely aware of what drinking can and does do to girls. She explains that while kids are taught that drugs are always dangerous, alcohol is perceived as an acceptable rite of passage. Her book is deeply moving, written in poetic, nuanced prose that never obscures the dangerous truths she seeks to reveal. Agent, Erin Hosier. (Feb. 7)

Forecast:
Zailckas should reach a varied readership: she's a student of Mary Karr's (
The Liar's Club), which will garner a literary audience, and has also received praise from those who work in the substance abuse field.

April 1, 2006
Zailckass adventures with alcohol started with a drink at age 14; she soon found herself drinking regularly to excess and once to the point of alcohol poisoning. Alcohol helped make her social life easier and helped her deal with her fears, anger, and depression. Only after she graduated from college did she begin to realize the role alcohol played in her life, so she took steps to separate herself from booze and eventually the friendships that came with it. Listeners will wonder how Zailckas survived, especially as she dealt with blackouts and the beginnings of health issues. It is strange to hear the author go from her stories of drunken revelry and the joys of alcohol to lecturing people about how liquor companies encourage alcohol abuse on college campuses and how those companies pander to women and their desire to be cool. Reader Ellen Archer does a fine job with this cautionary tale, which should find a home in libraries affiliated with rehabilitation clinics and healthcare facilities and within collections that focus on addiction.Danna Bell-Russel, Library of Congress

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