This memoir of a battle with alcohol was a far better read than James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" and followed an account familiar to that of some of my friends and acquaintances.
The stories in "Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood" were reminiscent of scenes from MTV's "The Real World" and others were horrifyingly similar to horror stories I've heard during my years at ASU.
Koren Zailckas, the author of this captivating memoir, takes us on a fast-forward trip down memory lane from the first time she sipped alcohol.
Zailckas was 14 years old and an ordinary girl from New England. The next thing she knew, she was in college and "smashed."
The story resolves at her last drink eight years after her first encounter with alcohol in a bar in New York when she was 22 years old.
At 24 years old, Zailckas recounts the years of her life through her dark affair with alcohol, and how booze affected her life through high school and college. She vividly recalls nights at Syracuse University at fraternity houses, bars and house parties.
Some of her stories seem like they would make good material for Tucker Max or CollegeHumor, but unfortunately, they are startling and true.
In the story, Zailckas tells of date rape, alcohol poisoning and becoming comfortably hung over, along with plenty of other unmentionable experiences she encountered through college.
Exploiting Greek life, Zailckas gives credit to her sorority for fueling her abusive alcohol habits and underhandedly gives thanks to fraternities for some of her terrifying evenings.
I praise the author for sharing her story and exploring the effects of alcohol on high school- and college-aged students. Some of the things she shares in her memoir are extremely personal and require courage for acceptance.
On a frustrating note, I do wish that she took a bit more responsibility for her ill-minded actions and extreme binge- drinking habits. Zailckas made a very perceptive point in her book for which I award her much praise - she discussed the reaffirmation of gender stereotypes in the presence and influence of alcohol.
I think it was very bright and responsible of the author to acknowledge such a relevant issue and bring validation to the fact that alcohol distorts situations and can lead to very unsafe behaviors - for both men and women.
My criticism for this book is trivial. I do find it hard to believe, however, that so many "black-out" nights can be recalled with such clarity and sensation.
Also, too many of her experiences were cliched with force and lack of likeness. For example, "I hugged the toilet like a life preserver" or, "When I'm wasted, exhaustion drops from clear out of nowhere, like the steel combination safes that flatten people in cartoons." These similes are awkward and borderline comedic, which made the accounts hard to take seriously.
The forced poetry hardly calls for sympathy, but adds to the dramatic effect of the book, because after all, memoirs sell for their drama.
At the end of the book, Zailckas has met a man with whom she wants to live a sober life and, in the end, I really felt bad that such a bright girl wasted some of her most precious years drunk.
Zailckas is lucky she's alive after this riveting and "sobering" tale of alcoholism and drunkenness.
"Smashed" is both a cautionary vehicle of the perils of compulsive and excessive drinking as well as a heartwarming, coming-of-age story.
Reach the reporter at: Jessica.Douglas@asu.edu.
