Smashed: Story Of A Drunken Childhood is Koren Zailckas memoir on her abuse of alcohol from adolescence up to the age of twenty-three. Koren bluntly tells how she started drinking at fourteen and how it stunted her emotional growth, her failed relationships and even a date rape. Koren continued to drink all the way through her college years at Syracuse university up until she got her first job and apartment in NYC. Similar to "Dry" by Augusten Burroughs and Caroline Knapp's "Drinking: A love Story", Smashed is a cautionary tale on the powerful hold alcohol could have over a person.
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The review of this Book prepared by Bobby Blades
Koren Zailckas details her love affair with alcohol in her autobiographical novel. Her first drink, at the age of 14, sends her in a downward spiral of loss and surrender . She begins sneaking behind her parents' backs, losing her close friends, and, by 16, ending up in the hospital to get her stomach pumped.
Alcohol serves as her vehicle through which to make friends, be more outgoing, and do the things she normally would be terrified to do. In college, her social life revolves completely around alcohol. She describes a series of parties, insignificant relationships, blackouts, and a variety of bars she frequents often. She reflects upon the hold alcohol has on her, and what it means to be a less-shy, less uptight version of herself.
The review of this Book prepared by Pamela
