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Enter your email to sign up. Thank you! Although she enjoys the effect the drugs have on her, Alice swears to never take drugs again. This promise to herself is soon broken as she takes more drugs because she is curious and turned on by her first trip.
This leads to her having sex with one of her peers while on a trip and thereby loses her virginity. Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. It traces her life from her first drink, when she was fourteen, to her last, at twenty-two; Smashed chronicles Zailckas' struggle with alcohol abuse, in an effort to explain the binge drinking phenomenon that plagues America's youth.
When Koren was fourteen her friend Natalie found a bottle of Whiskey at Natalie's parents' cabin. This would be her first experience, of many, with alcohol. Later that day she and Natalie went to a birthday party; they took plastic apple juice bottles and filled them with Southern Comfort whiskey for the party. They ended up sharing it with most of the people there. This exposed that she was drinking to all of her friends.
The next year in High School she did not have many friends. One of the few people who appreciated her company was a girl named Billie. It was with Billie that she got drunk for the first time. It was on Halloween. She later wrote to her pen pal, including this experience in her letter. Her pen pal did not appreciate the fact that Koren had been drinking.
She wrote back, "Koren, I got your letter. Do you have any idea how many people die each year from drunk driving? It's 18, There was a senior here who died drunk driving.
Did you know that by the time you graduate from high school at least two people in your class will be dead? Do you really want to take the risk that you will be But these occurred at home or at college, where my drinking felt insulated, and I had the illusion of safety. So she wrote to a distant addiction counselor.
He said that she was an "alcohol abuser" not an alcoholic. Meaning she can stop at anytime. He still recommended the twelve step program with Alcoholics Anonymous. Even after all of this Koren continued to drink for a while because she felt that she needed it to socialize with people. In the end it seems as though there is no real moral or lesson to be learned. Sort order. Start your review of Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood.
Jul 26, Msmeemee rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: anyone who's spoken the word "alcohol". Shelves: biographies , psychology. EDIT: after reading some of the other readers' comments, i have a couple things i'd like to address.
View all 4 comments. Sep 02, Caitlin rated it did not like it. 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 he I hate this girl. I think she is reaching big time in a lot of her observations and assumptions. Oh and that she needs to get over herself. View all 19 comments. Dec 22, Wednesday rated it did not like it Recommends it for: no one without a strong prescription to anti-depressants.
In between choking fits of laughter over the overly-dramatic stare coming from the author's picture on the back, I became annoyedmore 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 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.
Jun 27, Anittah rated it did not like it Recommends it for: people who are currently drunk. Zailckas' writing takes herself far too seriously and attempts to inject poetic turns of phrase far too often. Bottling her parents' alcohol buzz like a firefly? Trying to claim that all women remember their first drink? Her "Woe is me, cautionary tale, this is all so serious, look at how I can weave artsy-sounding phrases into my passages" tone is too heavy, suffocating what otherwise may have been an interesting book with its embarrassingly obvious fumblings towards "gravitas".
With each sentence, I felt like the author was looking wistfully out a window to a great beyond, breathlessly imparting what she felt were pearls of wisdom to an entranced audience.
Might be an interesting book for those intrigued by the specific topic of drinking, but for those who are looking for a good read by a mature and I'm not talking years, here writer, keep looking. I wish she'd waited a few years before writing this -- what she's saying is probably important and she could probably say it well if she grew up first.
View 1 comment. This was outstanding. As an addict, Koren was completely unafraid to be honest with the mess that had become her life. As a College student in the United States, this story has shown me the darker side to a drinking culture out of control.
This was crazy stuff! I read a lot of biography and fiction on this topic, and I am absolutely impressed with the honest voices that show through time and time again. This is interesting This was outstanding. This is interesting. As far as I can tell, I have no family history of alcoholism. In the nine years that I drank, I never hid bottles or drank alone, and I never spent a night in a holding cell awaiting DUI charges.
You can find girls who abuse alcohol anywhere. We are everywhere. I was hugely impressed by this book, and am not entirely happy with these quotes, as I returned my copy to the library, and I am not a fan of reviewing after the fact. Honest, raw and totally self-effacing, I highly recommend this memoir for any of those who are curious, or who have teenagers going through this self-destructive phase.
It is good reading. View all 7 comments. Instagram Twitter Facebook Amazon Pinterest Recently, I read VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, and where some people seemed to see a trashy, bloated novel about fame-seeking women acting self-destructive for no particular reason, I saw a brilliant character study of ambitious women who could not cope with the cognitive dissonance of achieving their ambition while abiding by convention, and self-medicated their ensuing anxiety with sleeping pills and alcohol.
That's kind of how I felt about SM Instagram Twitter Facebook Amazon Pinterest Recently, I read VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, and where some people seemed to see a trashy, bloated novel about fame-seeking women acting self-destructive for no particular reason, I saw a brilliant character study of ambitious women who could not cope with the cognitive dissonance of achieving their ambition while abiding by convention, and self-medicated their ensuing anxiety with sleeping pills and alcohol.
Don't get me wrong - this is definitely a memoir about substance abuse and drinking. Koren chronicles the start of her using from the age of a very young teen, and pushes forward, slowly, into her twenties. We see her at her worst, again and again, because the bar keeps falling.
However, the culture she describes then feels so much more different than it is now, and really made me appreciate how much attitudes have changed over the last ten years with regards towards women, rape, sexuality, partying, and alcohol. That isn't to say that society is to blame, necessarily, when it comes to addiction and other problematic behaviors, but I do think that it can be a facilitator when people with a predisposition for such behaviors find themselves reinforced, again and again, by our cultural norms to engage in these behaviors.
I don't think it's appropriate to say that I "enjoyed" Zailckais's story, but it did move me. Her writing is beautiful I'm a bit amazed by how many people criticized the writing in this book in some of those other reviews - she was in her early twenties when she wrote this book, and she demonstrates a level of self-awareness and reflection that escapes most people in their forties , and features some of the best prose I've ever encountered in a memoir.
The subject matter itself is incredibly disturbing, but necessary. She came here to tell her story, and tell it she does, no holds barred. It's a brilliant snapshot of what it was like to grow up in the 90s and 00s, and is also an intimate portrait of alcohol abuse, told in a way that I think will be really accessible to and resonate well with younger individuals.
View 2 comments. Apr 07, Kelly rated it it was amazing Shelves: to-keep-forever , favorites , From scanning all the negative reviews below, it would appear that I am in the minority with my opinions of this book. I personally found it to be outstandingly well-written, insightful, and unflinchingly real and honest. Koren holds nothing back as she recounts her decade-long love affair with alcohol.
Much like a bad relationship, she clung to drinking in high school and college as if it were her oxygen; though it was clearly damaging to her physically, mentally, and emotionally, she returned From scanning all the negative reviews below, it would appear that I am in the minority with my opinions of this book.
Much like a bad relationship, she clung to drinking in high school and college as if it were her oxygen; though it was clearly damaging to her physically, mentally, and emotionally, she returned to it night after night because she was too insecure to be able to breathe without it. That said, the book has been a pretty depressing read.
Her descripions have evoked memories of all the drunken nights and hungover days I spent during my own twenties, to the point that I have felt almost nauseous at times while reading Smashed sends a powerful message by showing, rather than simply telling, what happens when you regularly abuse alcohol, as so many college students are prone to do.
I'm not sure that it will necessarily deter young girls from binge drinking, because young people are all about the now, and are going to do what they want to do in the moment. Still, if it helps to keep just one girl from falling so far into the depths of alcohol that there is no return serious accident, illness, or death , then it has served its purpose. As for those of us who are already far past that stage, it is nice to be able to read this and relate, knowing that by some miracle we managed to come out safely on the other side.
View all 8 comments. Jul 29, Angie rated it liked it Recommends it for: anyone who works with teens. I completely disagree with the author and the reviewers of this memoir. I was left with far more questions by the end of the book than when I began.
And--where the hell were her parents? They suck repeatedly throughout this memoir. Give me a break. Are they that clueless, or are we not getting the entire story? And speaking of not the whole story--how did she manage to graduate in four years and be able to land and keep a I completely disagree with the author and the reviewers of this memoir.
And speaking of not the whole story--how did she manage to graduate in four years and be able to land and keep a job in the NYC magazine world if she was that terribly blitzed? Is she lying or is the 'Cuse that lame of a university? Finally, it is doubtful that this memoir will help anyone because it makes it seem like EVERY kid in college is getting wasted 5 nights a week, when they aren't. Of course, it is a big problem in college, but NOT as prevalent as Zailckas makes it seem.
If anything this memoir will cause HARM: it validates those who want to get smashed and misleads them into thinking that they are not alcoholics and can still succeed even though they are repeatedly incapacitated by drink. Mar 18, Liz rated it did not like it Recommends it for: no one.
I found this book to be droll, trite, and anticlimactic; more akin to something for a church confessional and less to anything that should sprung on the general public.
Zailckas often brushes against compelling issues of this "drunken girldom": the odd and alienating social structure erected and maintained by many possibly the majority of females in the United States, if not extending beyond.
The author does precious more than flatly recount the multitude of times she found herself drunk out o I found this book to be droll, trite, and anticlimactic; more akin to something for a church confessional and less to anything that should sprung on the general public. The author does precious more than flatly recount the multitude of times she found herself drunk out of more than having "a few too many", draws thin conclusions to account for this behavoir, and then crash right into the next drawn-out, overly-intense tale of binge drinking woe.
Also, a side note, after all of this heavy drinking, shouldn't she have built up a better tolerance? Jun 13, Tara rated it did not like it. Self-pitying and self-righteous and self-absorbed. Poorly written. If I could give it less stars, I would. In the end, it's everyone's fault the author had a drinking problem Feb 26, Leslie rated it really liked it. Having been a college student at a work-hard, party hard university around the same time as the author, I was highly impressed by how well she understands and writes about drinking culture on campuses particularly the female experience.
I think she nails it. I appreciate her debunking many myths about alcohol use among adolescent girls and women. Parents can do everything right not that there is one right way to address alcohol with your kids, but that's an aside , the girl or woman can have Having been a college student at a work-hard, party hard university around the same time as the author, I was highly impressed by how well she understands and writes about drinking culture on campuses particularly the female experience.
Parents can do everything right not that there is one right way to address alcohol with your kids, but that's an aside , the girl or woman can have all the exterior marker of success in school or extracurricular activities, and may go on to graduate school or a good job post-college yet STILL have a severely self-destructive relationship with alcohol.
I don't think we always look beneath the surface of women like this because superficially they seem to be fine, though mentally and emotionally they may be deeply suffering. Koren clearly shows how alcohol abuse permeates the elite college population and the well-off. I work in student affairs and I will encourage my colleagues to read this book.
We are constantly dealing with the issue of student alcohol abuse, but we will not be successful in our efforts to alleviate problem drinking until we understand WHY our students drink and HOW they drink.
I think this book is a great place to start, particularly in beginning to understand some of the hidden patterns of drinking among female students. Feb 15, Korinna rated it really liked it. 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.
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