A Quick But Sobering Read

Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola (Grand Central Publishing, 2015, 240pp.)

For most of her life, Texas-born writer Sarah Hepola used alcohol to combat her painful shyness and meager sense of self-worth. She started drinking at age 12 and didn’t stop until decades later, when it threatened to ruin her life, friendships, and career. Her memoir mostly covers the memory blackouts she suffered, but also confronts societal double-standards about drinking. While some “issue-driven” memoirs lapse into preachiness as they strive to push their agenda, Blackout has surprisingly few of these moments. For the most part, it’s a genuinely honest account of how the author dealt with her blackouts, with added commentary on how alcohol affects issues like consent. A quick but sobering read that gives the non-drinking public a glimpse into the mentality of alcoholism.