A bestseller in its native Canada, Drunk Mom is a gripping, brutally honest memoir of motherhood in the shadow of alcoholism.
Three years after giving up drinking, Jowita Bydlowska found herself throwing back a glass of champagne like it was ginger ale. It was a special occasion: a party celebrating the birth of her first
child. It also marked Bydlowska's immediate, full-blown return to crippling alcoholism.
In the gritty and sometimes grimly comic tradition of the bestselling memoirs Lit by Mary Karr and Smashed by Koren Zailckas, Drunk Mom is Bydlowska's account of the ways
substance abuse took control of her life—the binges and blackouts, the humiliations, the extraordinary risk-taking—as well as her fight toward recovery as a young mother. This courageous memoir
brilliantly shines a light on the twisted logic of an addicted mind and the powerful, transformative love of one's child. Ultimately, it gives hope, especially to those struggling in the same way.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
“An intense, complex, and disturbing story, bravely and beautifully told. I read Drunk Mom with my jaw on the floor, which doesn’t happen to me that often.” —Lena Dunham
“While the title suggests a simple autobiographical autopsy
of motherhood marred by alcoholism, Bydlowska’s memoir delivers far more—a
human portrait of the disease.” —New York Times Book Review
“Fearless and troubling, and so very humane, Bydlowska
explodes the cutesy momoir genre. You’ll read it in one sitting.” —Katrina Onstad, author of Everybody Has Everything
“This is quite simply not just another addiction memoir. It’s
something truly special. I felt this book. It carries the reader. It whispers.
It really is can’t-put-it-down great!” —Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, author of I’m Kind of a Big Deal, and Other Delusions of Adequacy
“Jowita is matter-of-fact, funny, fearless, and irreverent
as she lifts the veil to chronicle what it means to be a young mother when both
baby and mother have their own bottles—the shame and the inner voices, as well
as the joy and relief. This book is for anyone who has ever struggled to make
it through a day.” —Laura Albert, a.k.a. JT LeRoy, author of Harold’s End
“[A] gifted writer, and a courageous one…Without glibness,
without self-pity, knowing that she risks being judged, Bydlowska tells her
story…Luckily for those reading her story, she possesses a wickedly dark sense
of humor.” —Gazette (Montreal)
“Maternal tippling is a trendy topic on ‘mom’ blogs…But
these chirpy, jokey accounts don’t touch the dark spiral of addiction Toronto
writer Jowita Bydlowska relives in this riveting account…Bydlowska is an
evocative, talented, and gutsy writer who appears willing to confess all…Bydlowska
writes of watching other upscale stroller-pushing moms and wondering: do they
hide mickeys in their diaper bags too? With this bracing book, others will now
be asking that question as well.” —Maclean’s
“This is a memoir that pushes at boundaries—what is private,
what should perhaps be kept private, what we need to know, what we don’t, what
is insightful or just exhibitionism. One of the most talked-about books of the
season.” —Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“Bydlowska eschews the touchy-feely language of recovery…The
cool yet raw efficiency of Bydlowska’s prose, a testament to her successful
journalistic career, repudiates indulgence of any kind. This detachment is what
makes Drunk Mom both a painful yet paradoxically
effortless read.” —Literary Review of Canada
“To understand this story in the guise of an addiction
memoir is to misunderstand its worth…Instead, this book is fresh within the
context of a parenting memoir, one of a particular kind: a counterculture
parenting memoir…[It] stands as an uncommonly perceptive chronicle of what it
means to be an intelligent, urban parent trying to hold on to the rest of her
life. As a writer she’s got some chops.” —National Post (Toronto)
“A compelling, raw look at her struggle with alcoholism, the
addiction that swallowed [Bydlowska] after the birth of her son.” —Elle (Canada)
“Drunk Mom is a
stunning, harrowing read. Why harrowing? Not just because of the dramatic
story, of a new mother at the edge of her tether. And not only because of
Jowita Bydlowska’s skill as a writer, and the crisp, original way she tells it.
What’s most harrowing about Drunk Mom
is that you can’t stop reading it—this, the dark, now-told tale that lurks in
the shadow of every seemingly normal family.” —Ian Brown, author of The Boy in the Moon
“A brave, brilliant, and scathing self-portrait. Full of
energy and insight. If Frida Kahlo had been a writer, she might have been
compared to Jowita Bydlowska.” —Patricia Pearson, author of A Brief History of Anxiety—Yours and Mine
Jowita Bydlowska was born in Warsaw and moved to Canada as a teenager. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Salon and the Huffington Post. She lives in
Toronto with her son and his father.
Titles by Author
Details
Details
Format:
Retail CD
Format:
MP3 CD
Available Formats :
Retail CD, MP3 CD
Category:
Nonfiction/Biography & Autobiography
Publisher:
Blackstone Publishing
Publisher:
Blackstone Publishing
CDs:
7
CDs:
1
Runtime:
8.35
ISBN:
9781481503624
ISBN:
9781481503617
Audience:
Adult
Language:
English
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