Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood. By Koren Zailckas. Viking, 343 Pp., $21.95
Published March 06, 2005
By Carlo Wolff
Koren Zailckas had her first drink at 14, was continuously hammered by 16, had a sexual misadventure at 19, and sobered up two years ago. She's 24.
Her memoir, one of the more garish entries in the burgeoning modern youth confessional, might give you a hangover. It also suggests that now that Zailckas has purged herself of her all-too-lurid and remarkably packed past, she might well write good fiction.
Considering how she squandered her memory, she has an eye for detail - and statistics - to justify her cautionary tale.
"In the past decade alone," she writes in the preface, "girls have closed the gender gap in terms of drinking. I wrote this book because girls are drinking as much, and as early, as boys for the first time in history - a 2001 study showed 40 percent of college girls binge drink."
Among the no-nos Zailckas describes in Technicolor: Syracuse University, where you might not want your kid to go unless he or she hooks up with an inspiring teacher; sororities and fraternities; alcohol advertising, which Zailckas claims undermines every effort to gain emotional strength, particularly in women; and a society that treats alcohol as far less harmful than illegal drugs.
Writing "Smashed" was clearly therapeutic for Zailckas, who quit booze without Alcoholics Anonymous. That she found a good man may have helped, but her will and pride were paramount. God knows she went through self-imposed hell before she saw her way clear.
"It is my first blackout," she writes after waking up in a hospital, her hair matted and arms bruised, her co-dependent friends eager to clarify what happened.
"I will never again experience one so comprehensive - I passed out on the dock in a puddle of my own vomit. I imagine it was mostly liquor because my dad told the doctor I didn't eat dinner that night. Before that, I pulled my shirt up over my shoulders to show my bra to someone's brother because, knowing I was slipping into oblivion, he'd asked me what color it was."
Carlo Wolff is the author of Cleveland Rock & Roll Memories and a long-time book and music critic. He works full-time as a business writer at Penton Media, specializing in articles about the hotel industry.
- Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood. By Koren Zailckas. Viking, 343 Pp., $21.95
- Published: March 06, 2005
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- Section: Books
- Writer: Carlo Wolff
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This book review has been selected for Advance.net. You'll be able to find this and other Blog Critics reviews at such places at Cleveland.com's Book Reviews column.
23 year old male from ireland, i was on the verge of having a problem.
Started reading and running to take my mind off 'going for a pint'. Picked up Smashed saw the picture of Koren and she looks so familiar.
Add a DUI, a nite in a holding cell to the book and it could be my about me.
2nd book ive read outside collage, very good stuff....
I think this book relates to a lot of people who read it. I've read a few reviews and I'm no longer surprised to hear "this sounds just like my life". I'd even have to agree to that. For the first part of this story, I thought it all sounded just like everything I went to. Although I think reading the story let me see what could happen to me, and also, what probably happends when I'm drunk, I'll probably continue to drink until I go through the realization that Korene when through. I know it sounds bad, but I haven't taken it as far as she did.
I'm still debting if I liked the ending. In a way, it finishes well, but she makes it seems like drinking is a girls problem. She mentions how girls should stop when she should really be talking to everyone.
All in all, it was a pretty good story and very well written!
I'd recommend it to friends, especially my drinking buddies.
I am a Dad of a 14 year old girl. Last Friday night a trip to hospital by ambulance for alcohol poisoning was a huge wake up call. Sad, but I had read Smashed, and also had discussed the dangers of alcohol with my daughter. My daughter did not know the boy who supplied the water bottle had used Everclear. There were three other girlfriends there too. It was a nightmare. We did not offer her a beer. Instead she owes us 50 hours of work to include working for charity. She lost our trust, but we want to help her earn it back. Your story will continue to help us look forward and make plans. Your courage for telling about your relationship with alcohol can only help us. Thanks. It would be neat to have you meet my daughter and her three friends. We hope you are enjoying life in a wonderful way! Smile, you made a difference in spite of yourself.
I am a current college freshman and was made to read this book by my school. It is not a book that I would pick up on my own to read, but when I started to read this book I just loved it from cover to cover. I never wanted to put it down. It's going to help me be smart when it comes to alcohol.
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Great review, Carlo, of an alarming tale. I spent my undergrad days at Binghamton University, about an hour south of Syracuse. Lots of drinking, everywhere, a culture of it really. Of course there were the heads, who had their own sub-culture, but drinking was the prevailing activity, particularly through the long and bleak winters in mostly rural Western New York.