HIGH: A Farewell to the Pain of Alcoholism

by Mark Only ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 1974

After the dubiously startling I-opener (""I am an alcoholic. . .I'm glad that I am an alcoholic."") this goes on to the objectionable (""A big bowl of assholes winking at one another"" -- such a fine statement that it's repeated 100 pages later) to the maudlin (""He was forever a child in a world that wasn't"" -- re his childhood) to the plain awful (""he would feel a fierce tension and moil in his gut"") with a quick survey of his occupational and marital years until middle age when he acknowledges that he is not only an alcoholic but also an evading, self-deceiving, self-pitying poseur before he takes those twelve AA steps and ends on a note of epiphany (""at home with God as I understand him"") having quoted here and there from Thomas Wolfe whose style he has unfortunately inherited in the run-on sentences and run-on pages here of a deliberately self-indulgent audit which limits its usefulness, let alone interest, to anyone else.

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION