About book Smashed: Story Of A Drunken Girlhood (2006)
I first read this book as a sophomore in college, when I was grappling with some alcohol issues spurred on by having an older group of friends, attending a university with liberal drinking rules and "thoughtful" punishments for underage drinking, and the thrill of living on my own in a tolerant, safe environment where I could experiment at will. My mom gave me this book to help me process my own actions and determine what drinking meant for me, in my life. I read it a second time, recently, as I reevaluate the impact drinking has on my adult life, and attempt to finally transition away from unhealthy college-level drinking. So, I do have an investment in this story. I believe the narrator's story is one worth telling, and I believe the overarching issue of binge drinking and the dangerous level its reached on college campuses is something worth talking over and over about. I understand that, like it or not, binge drinking often has much more disastrous effects for young women. I also understand that alcoholism in women is something women are often hesitant to address or talk about, because it's a problem that is seen as inherently masculine. So I get it. I get where the author is coming from. But reviews of this book that emphasize the extent to which she blames her environment are right - she started and began to enjoy drinking to get drunk at a very young age, so it seems surprising that the level of drinking she found in college came as a shock to her. I agree that society does young people a disservice by failing to address the issue of binge drinking, but I don't know that her complete indictment of her friends, men around her, her sorority, the college environment generally, the alcohol and advertising industries, and society as a whole, is well-supported. I have been able to reconcile many of my actions and behaviors by taking responsibility for them, but her tone sometimes becomes preachy and she veers dangerously into slut-shaming, especially when talking about the other actions of girls from her sorority, whom she blames harshly for their alcohol-induced behaviors, while letting herself off lightly by saying she was only influenced by those around her. What made me saddest about this story was not that the author decided to stop drinking or that she felt she drank too much, but that throughout the entire story, she struggled so much to make genuine girlfriends. She seems to blame this both on alcohol and on the perceived quality of the women around her, but I think this might have been a more interesting exploration for the author to make than that of her drinking problem.That said, this kind of drinking and the ramifications that come from the behavior are shared experiences among many girls, and the story is valuable for that reason. The writing style is accessible. I do wish the narrator would have possibly explored taking more responsibility for her actions and addressing her problems without blaming others and going cold turkey. But I do think the exploration of problem drinking that isn't alcoholism is a valuable way of exploring the way that binge drinking can change lives before it ruins them. The author seems to suggest that there is no way to live within the culture in moderation - that the only way to be healthy is to isolate one's self. I don't know if I agree with that, and I wonder if the author's relatively young age at the time of publication influenced her attitude (which can come off as naive or bratty) and her choices. I wonder what this memoir would have been like had it been published several years later, once the shock of early adulthood wore off. I would recommend this book to young women entering college or young women who feel intimidated or isolated by the social scene on large universities.The author was clearly very influenced by studying with Mary Karr, and when I read the book the second time, I wondered if, in writing a memoir about her own drinking, she was trying to echo her mentor's successes.
This book is 333 out of 340 pages of self-loathing and misery with an sad attempt at a happy ending/after school special-style lesson found in the last 7 pages. In between choking fits of laughter over the overly-dramatic stare coming from the author's picture on the back, I became annoyed---more than usual.Were it not for the author's poetic descriptions, I never would have bothered to finish this pointless story.It's a memoir from a white-bred adolescent female binge drinking through highschool and her sorority days. Since her story merits no interest, the book's content became a description of how lovely gin,whiskey, vodka, rum and beer tantalize the senses. Her talent for description turned the book into a 330 page drinking ad. (The last 7 pages of which she chose to reprimand these ads with the volatility of a stifled sneeze)With the amount of alcohol Zailckas speaks of having consumed, she still sounds like a child. I appreciate her honesty in admitting to all those embarassing moments high on alcohol and pot, but she should have stuck to writing poetry about dried flowers and broken fingernails. All the childish intensity glaring from her ridiculous picture on the back of the book can't improve the drolling story which only inspired me to pour those stiff drinks and "breathe the sugary smell of hard alcohol" while "a buzz comes on like sweet music".She employs women to embrace 'real anger' yet she unwittingly sells booze throughout the book and sells depression right alongside it. She has her thoughts twisted between over-dramatizing her suburban rebellious childhood and trying to prove a cause.The result is a whining, draining, waste of time that I could have spent getting drunk--but now she's taught me how.
Do You like book Smashed: Story Of A Drunken Girlhood (2006)?
Alcohol abuse as a feminist issue? Author Koren Zailckas begins her harrowing memoir of nine years of binge drinking with a dedication to her mother, for first making her "mindful of women's issues." Truly, Zailckas makes a good case that binge drinking (and its consequences whether drunk or sober) is societally more objectionable for women. Indeed, the reader will walk away from Smashed thinking all eighth-grade, white, suburban females are destined to a desperate life of blackouts and hangovers. Though the author eventually sees the error of her ways, methinks she doth protest too much about the spectacles she made of herself while drunk, and not enough of the "good life" she had after sobriety.
—TheSaint
I hate this girl. I think she was melodramatic and obnoxious and I don't know what her problem was. I found all of her "statistical" references to be preachy and I found a lot of inconsistencies that bothered me. Her college experience didn't seem all that different from a lot of people I know, so I don't know why she got to get a book deal out of it. I also don't know how she suddenly found so much clarity after quitting drinking for like a month. I think she is reaching big time in a lot of her observations and assumptions. Frankly, I hope I run into her in NYC I can tell her she bugs me and I hope she never writes another book. Oh and that she needs to get over herself.
—Caitlin
During my time reading this book, my opinions would often change. This is a story about a girl, middle class, white, from a "normal", decent upbringing who starts to drink heavily at 15 and continues for about ten years. Sometimes while reading this, I found myself thinking "why am i reading this? it isn't that interesting. I mean, this is no different from the experiences of many young girls in mainstream culture, and in many ways similar to those of my own." but that is exactly why this is an important book, because Koren's experience is so common. I like that she finds way to introduce statistics and information into her memoirs, giving it the feeling of carrying a message in hopes of changing our society to recognize teenager drinking and the effects that comes with it for girls, such as date rape, depression, eating disorders, etc. These issues are so common but are often ignored and thought of as unimportant. Koren is a "regular" girl with no past history of abuse of mental illness, but it is that which makes this story important, because it poses the question, why are so many "normal" girls being self destructive with alcohol at such a young age?
—Korinna
