Drinking: A Love Story

By Caroline Knapp | Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

About the book

Fifteen million Americans a year are plagued with alcoholism. Five million of them are women. Many of them, like Caroline Knapp, started in their early teens and began to use alcohol as \"liquid armor,\" a way to protect themselves against the difficult realities of life. In this extraordinarily candid and revealing memoir, Knapp offers important insights not only about alcoholism, but about life itself and how we learn to cope with it.

It was love at first sight. The beads of moisture on a chilled bottle. The way the glasses clinked and the conversation flowed. Then it became obsession. The way she hid her bottles behind her lover's refrigerator. The way she slipped from the dinner table to the bathroom, from work to the bar. And then, like so many love stories, it fell apart. Drinking is Caroline Kapp's harrowing chronicle of her twenty-year love affair with alcohol.

Caroline had her first drink at fourteen. She drank through her yeras at an Ivy League college, and through an award-winning career as an editor and columnist. Publicly she was a dutiful daughter, a sophisticated professional. Privately she was drinking herself into oblivion. This startlingly honest memoir lays bare the secrecy, family myths, and destructive relationships that go hand in hand with drinking. And it is, above all, a love story for our times—full of passion and heartbreak, betrayal and desire—a triumph over the pain and deception that mark an alcoholic life. 

Praise for Drinking

“Quietly moving . . . Caroline Knapp dazzles us with her heady description of alcohol's allure and its devastating hold.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Filled with hard-won wisdom . . . [a] perceptive and revealing book.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Eloquent . . . a remarkable exercise in self-discovery.”—The New York Times

“Drinking not only describes triumph; it is one.”—Newsweek

Editions of Drinking: A Love Story

Hardcover
ISBN 9780385315517
Paperback
ISBN 9780385315548
EBook
ISBN 9780440334088
Audiobook
ISBN 9780553478327

Read an Excerpt

Fifteen million Americans a year are plagued with alcoholism. Five million of them are women. Many of them, like Caroline Knapp, started in their early teens and began to use alcohol as \"liquid armor,\" a way to protect themselves against the difficult realities of life. In this extraordinarily candid and revealing memoir, Knapp offers important insights not only about alcoholism, but about life itself and how we learn to cope with it.

It was love at first sight. The beads of moisture on a chilled bottle. The way the glasses clinked and the conversation flowed. Then it became obsession. The way she hid her bottles behind her lover's refrigerator. The way she slipped from the dinner table to the bathroom, from work to the bar. And then, like so many love stories, it fell apart. Drinking is Caroline Kapp's harrowing chronicle of her twenty-year love affair with alcohol.

Caroline had her first drink at fourteen. She drank through her yeras at an Ivy League college, and through an award-winning career as an editor and columnist. Publicly she was a dutiful daughter, a sophisticated professional. Privately she was drinking herself into oblivion. This startlingly honest memoir lays bare the secrecy, family myths, and destructive relationships that go hand in hand with drinking. And it is, above all, a love story for our times—full of passion and heartbreak, betrayal and desire—a triumph over the pain and deception that mark an alcoholic life. 

Praise for Drinking

“Quietly moving . . . Caroline Knapp dazzles us with her heady description of alcohol's allure and its devastating hold.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Filled with hard-won wisdom . . . [a] perceptive and revealing book.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Eloquent . . . a remarkable exercise in self-discovery.”—The New York Times

“Drinking not only describes triumph; it is one.”—Newsweek

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Drinking: A Love Story about?

Fifteen million Americans a year are plagued with alcoholism. Five million of them are women. Many of them, like Caroline Knapp, started in their early teens and began to use alcohol as \"liquid armor,\" a way to protect themselves against the difficult realities of life. In this extraordinarily candid and revealing memoir, Knapp offers important insights not only about alcoholism, but about life itself and how we learn to cope with it.

It was love at first sight. The beads of moisture on a chilled bottle. The way the glasses clinked and the conversation flowed. Then it became obsession. The way she hid her bottles behind her lover's refrigerator. The way she slipped from the dinner table to the bathroom, from work to the bar. And then, like so many love stories, it fell apart. Drinking is Caroline Kapp's harrowing chronicle of her twenty-year love affair with alcohol.

Caroline had her first drink at fourteen. She drank through her yeras at an Ivy League college, and through an award-winning career as an editor and columnist. Publicly she was a dutiful daughter, a sophisticated professional. Privately she was drinking herself into oblivion. This startlingly honest memoir lays bare the secrecy, family myths, and destructive relationships that go hand in hand with drinking. And it is, above all, a love story for our times—full of passion and heartbreak, betrayal and desire—a triumph over the pain and deception that mark an alcoholic life. 

Praise for Drinking

“Quietly moving . . . Caroline Knapp dazzles us with her heady description of alcohol's allure and its devastating hold.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Filled with hard-won wisdom . . . [a] perceptive and revealing book.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Eloquent . . . a remarkable exercise in self-discovery.”—The New York Times

“Drinking not only describes triumph; it is one.”—Newsweek

What core themes, tropes, or subjects are explored in Drinking: A Love Story?

Biography, Literature and Literary studies > Biography and non-fiction prose > Memoirs

Where can I read a sample of Drinking: A Love Story?

You can read an official preview of the few pages here https://www.book2look.com/book/9780385315517

Who is/are the Author/s of the book Drinking: A Love Story?

Caroline Knapp

Who is the Publisher of the book Drinking: A Love Story?

Random House Publishing Group

What are the ISBN numbers for the physical and digital editions?

Drinking: A Love Story is available as hardcover(ISBN 9780385315517) and paperback(ISBN 9780385315548) and ebook(ISBN 9780440334088) and audiobook(ISBN 9780553478327)

Where can I buy Drinking: A Love Story online or support local independent bookshops?

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Where can I buy Drinking: A Love Story?