The Voyage of Spectacle

Melissa’s Reading List

  The Dissident by Nell Freudenberger

  Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

This Booker and Nobel Prize winning novel is a seriously life-altering work.  In 220 short pages and a very sparse writing style, Coetzee covers just about every depressing topic imaginable constantly driving home the fact that there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.  Not exactly the feel good story of the summer, Disgrace reminded me of the Hobbesian state of nature … solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short … on so many different levels.  A truly marvelous book. 

  The Secret History by Donna Tartt

  Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum 

Interesting and entertaining, and so incredibly different from anything we are experiencing … thank God.

  Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende   

   The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri 

   The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 

   The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

  Smashed — Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas 

Usually, the redemption stories of recovering alcoholics start with “I had it all” and end with the AA-infamous, watershed moment called rock-bottom.  The before picture is fairly normal, secure and nice … loving spouse, amazing kids, great job, mortgage, friends, dinner parties, etc.  Conversely, the reflective turning point is heart-breaking and so abusive to self and others (those loved, acquainted, or totally unknown), that you must cheer for that change-inducing moment of clarity ( i.e. “Finally he/she gets it!”).  The sequence of events in between paint a decline where relatively small defeats steadily accumulate into exorbitant loss.  That’s when you realize that rock-bottom is not nearly as shocking as all the little wrongs painstakingly accrued and stockpiled over some agonizing period of time.

I may seem flip and I apologize for that in advance.  Alcoholism is real, and really really bad.  Unfortunately for Smashed, Koren’s alcohol abuse story has none of charming and cringe-inducing characteristics of your typical alcoholic experience.  Truth be told, she’s not even a very good alcoholic.  I know it sounds crass but she graduated from Syracuse in 4 years; she got a coveted job immediately in New York City; she pissed off her family, but definitely stopped short of permanently alienating anyone; she remained financially solvent, disease- and DUI- free, and she’s not exactly on the liver transplant list.

In fact, I would venture to say that alcoholism is really the least of her worries.  Koren might even agree with that statement since in the foreward, she adamantly claims only to be an “alcohol-abuser” and not an “alcoholic.”  Her evidence is that she is not physically dependent on alcohol, and that she doesn’t drink alone.  I personally might suggest that she take a look at step 10 of the 12-Step Program (“take a personal inventory and continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear”).   More importantly, both of her non-alcoholic proclamations are severely and repeatedly contradicted throughout the book.

For me, what really stands out in Smashed is Koren’s immaturity.  She hasn’t sufficiently experienced life, so she is not fully capable of experiencing the loss that her alleged alcohol abuse brings.  I get the sense that she just never found anything that she felt passionate about, or that came naturally to her, so she just gave up and started to toss back martinis.  At the tender and confusing ages of 15 through 22, Koren is so hard on herself, so incredibly judgmental, that I just want to jump into the book and scream … “It’s okay, just take it easy, you’ll get there, be patient, life’s a process.”  She’s very quick to attribute all evils to liquor, simultaneously blaming excessive consumption to external forces, as well as her own internal dialogue. 

Along with the fairly benign story, Koren adds plenty of scathing social commentary, with supporting facts from credible sources (well, if Ivy League says I binge drink, it must be true), about the various institutions that “teach” us to drink alcohol until we throw up.  Without sufficient loss, and coupled with the fact that Koren denies full-fledged alcoholism (that is to say, she is indeed physically and mentally capable to consume alcohol responsibly), is it fair for her to pass so much judgment?  I think not.  While reading a naive portrayal of the alcohol advertising industry, or a fluffy commentary on women’s social patterns, I frequently asked myself, “What the hell does she know?  She’s not even 30 years old.”

Not only does she judge society (and business, and advertising, and government, and education, and media, and parenting, my god, name it), she also judges her peers, and mercilessly I might add.  All the sorority girls are drunk idiots (or non-drinking prudes who outwardly hate the drunk idiots).  All the college boys are totally wasted, even the ones who are nice while sober turn into menacing, ass-grabbing, drunken slobs at midnight.  Even at her first job, co-workers and superiors alike are blatantly hung-over, unshowered and unkempt, stinkingly proud of a huge night out.  Nobody in the book drinks responsibly. 

Is being drunk, in and of itself, an inherently bad thing?  And conversely, is there inherent virtue in restriction?  My opinion is no, and no.  One big lesson I’ve learned from so much foreign travel is that the moralistic hang-up on having a few pops is a uniquely American phenomenon.  The rest of the world is not at all afraid of adult beverages, and the rest of the world does not judge others in their tendency to imbibe.  Should I be disgusted, and if so, to what end?  

  The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

  Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer 

  White Noise by Don DeLillo

  Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart

  The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

After suffering through Fortress of Solitude, I decided to create my own Fortress of Solitude with a best-selling, page-turning, mystery novel.  Plus, The Thirteenth Tale was the best offering in the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport news stand.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book as it held my attention through a very long flight to the cricket semi-finals in Jamaica (is this a pro or con?).  Much like Da Vinci Code or The Historian, The Thirteenth Tale has some suspenseful moments further highlighted by short chapters and rather blatant foreshadowing.  Also similarly, The Thirteenth Tale tends towards supernatural overtones to create mystery instead of relying on the plot’s drama alone.  All this being said, I liked this book, and I even liked the ending (even if nauseatingly tied up with a bow), which is more than I can say for Da Vinci Code or The Historian. 

  The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough

  The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

  Life of Pi by Yann Martel

  Three Junes by Julia Glass

  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

 Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem