Comments on: A Million Little Pieces

By: Terrance

Terrance — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 12:19:25 +0000

Oh, I told you years ago, though I don’t recall in how much detail. However, it’s perfectly understandable if you blocked it out.

By: the aforementioned Scott

the aforementioned Scott — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 04:56:49 +0000

Yikes. Well, you’re still my friend, and we’re both alive, though it is a bit harrowing to know the story in full. (Or perhaps you told me and I blocked it out.)

That and my paternal grandfather and namesake was killed by a drunk driver who was, it should be noted, a University of Georgia student.

But if you were foolish, so was I, and again we can both talk about it after about a decade and a half.

By: Terrance

Terrance — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:03:46 +0000

That was kind of a barrier to me with Frey’s book. Because I fall into the "high bottom drunk" category, there were levels of experience that I couldn’t relate to directly.

And it’s easy to slip into feeling like you’re not really an addict because you didn’t lose everything, wrap your car around a tree or fall off a fire escape and land face first, though I think it’s not for other addicts/alcoholics to tell someone that because they didn’t fall far enough.

That’s why I like the metaphor of a ride or a journey. It’s like being on a train. We’re all headed for the same destination if we’re addicts on the addiction train. Some of us get off the train sooner that others, and some stay on until the final stop. But we were all on the same train, headed in the same direction.

By: PhoenixRising

PhoenixRising — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 03:24:37 +0000

I really liked Dry but my alcoholic spouse felt it was way, way too depressing. (Then again, she had such a high bottom that more typical 12-steppers tell her she’s not really an alcoholic because she hasn’t suffered enough.) So it sounds like Frey’s book is not going to be a hit gift for her either.

I’m encouraging her to write her story, not necessarily for publication but because there are days when the reality of how different our lives were, and how miserable she once was, feel so far away that they might have happened to some other drinker in some other family. I like to remember, but only because it reminds me of her strength and character.

I enjoyed Caroline Knapp’s memoir–yeah, the drunk one, not the dog one–but can’t recall the title.

By: Terrance

Terrance — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 15:23:50 +0000

I just finished reading Dry on the train this morning. Quite an arresting book, and I think one that I can relate to a bit easier than A Million Little Pieces. Maybe it's because Augusten Burroughs is gay, so there are things he experiences that just resonate a little better with me. I'll look into Smashed, as well.

By: keri

keri — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 05:47:08 +0000

I have not read " A Million Little Pieces," but I read "Dry" and it’s shocking to see so much of one’s self in a character at times so pitiful. I’m currently reading "Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood," which touches on gender in relation to addiction in a way that Dry was unable to do for me. I’d highly recommend.

By: Music

Music — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 00:42:31 +0000

I read A million little pieces. Such a sad wonderful book. I went through it really quickly because it was so arresting I could not put it down. I want to read it again but it evoked so many emotions in me I don’t know if I want to go through all of that again as I read it.