★★★★☆ | Memoir | Audio | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
I listened to the audiobook of this one, which was read by the author himself. I read it for the personal reflections on alcoholism and sobriety, the processes of rehab and AA, and to get another take on life as a recovering alcoholic. He goes through a whole cycle of drinking—sobriety—relapse—sobriety in the book. I was very worried for him before he relapsed, which seemed inevitable, and that worry carried over to myself. Am I heading for relapse as well? Is it truly inevitable?
Burroughs drank to hide some very painful memories and to block out the loss of a dear friend. He didn’t drink for the taste. That’s the lesson here. Look for the underlying pain and address that. Don’t cover it up with booze.
Sober. So that’s what I’m here to become. And suddenly, this word fills me with a brand of sadness I haven’t felt since childhood. The kind of sadness you feel at the end of summer. When the fireflies are gone, the ponds have dried up and the plants are wilted, weary from being so green. It’s no longer really summer but the air is still too warm and heavy to be fall. It’s the season between the seasons. It’s the feeling of something dying. Sobriety