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Posts Tagged ‘alcoholism’

‘Out Of My Depth’ by Emily Barr

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , on February 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It’s been a long while since I read a book by Emily Barr, and this particular book has, according to my LibraryThing profile, been sitting on my shelf since 2007!! (At LEAST, since 2007 is when I made my LT profile in the first place).

Anyhow, I have been doing less reading lately, largely because I have discovered the joys of cross-stitching and have become slightly addicted. Nonetheless, I wanted to get back into reading and a good psychological thriller is usually a great way to get out of a reading slump. I mean, probably – this is the first time I’ve really been in a reading slump since I can remember.

So the plot – Susie, a successful artist, lives in France with her gorgeous boyfriend Roman. She has a great career, a beautiful house – and a BIG secret, which has haunted her since her schooldays. On an impulse she decides to host a reunion weekend with her old schoolfriends, Amanda, Izzy and Tamsin. None of them have seen each other since they left school and it becomes clear that it is because of the aforementioned secret which Susie, Amanda and Izzy share, and which is something to do with their shared guilt over an event years earlier involving Tamsin.

Typically the weekend doesn’t go as expected. It’s not long before tensions are running very high, relationships are fracturing and while Susie wants to come clean to Tamsin about the event that ruined Tamsin’s world years earlier, Amanda and Izzy think it’s a bad idea (although for different reasons; Amanda is being selfish while Izzy feels that no good can come from revealing the truth after all this time).

There is also a side plot about a man who has commissioned some paintings from Susie and his motives. To be honest, I’m not sure why this was in the book or what it added to the story other than some unnecessary padding.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and found it to be an undemanding read. There were two timelines – the present day, and the flashbacks to the four friends’ schooldays, which gradually led up to the secret at the heart of the story.

My favorite character was Izzy and I also liked Amanda’s long suffering husband Patrick. My least favorite character was, without doubt, Amanda. I think we were supposed to feel sorry for her as the burden of guilt she had carried for so many years had made her bitter and unpleasant. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to feel this, given that in the flashback chapters we also saw how Amanda was before the big event and she wasn’t very nice then either.

However, I have one issue with this book and that was the ending. Not that it was awful; it was just – abrupt. It seemed to end very quickly as though the author had run out of time and just wrote the last page in a hurry. I genuinely think there was need for at least another chapter or so to explore a few threads more deeply.

Overall though, an absorbing read, and one which pulled me out of my reading slump and made me look forward to starting another book.

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‘The Man I Think I Know’ by Mike Gayle

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , on October 19, 2020| Leave a Comment »

This is the story of two very different men who went to the same prestigious school, but years later neither of their lives have turned out the way they were expected.

Since the incident that caused James DeWitt to suffer a severe brain injury, robbing him of his job, his friends and his girlfriend, James lives back at home with his parents and spends his days watching DVDs.

Meanwhile, Danny Allen, former scholarship pupil at the school and destined to have a successful and industrious career, has more or less given up on life. He is a recovering alcoholic, with a failing relationship and no job. It is only when he is told that he needs to find employment or lose his benefits that he ends up working in a care home, where he encounters James and they strike up a friendship.

I’ll leave the description at that, as I don’t want to give away any spoilers.

The story is narrated by James and Danny, with each taking alternate chapters. I really liked the book and found it to be an undemanding read, despite the subject matter. Mike Gayle has always written enjoyable novels, but usually on a much lighter note. Here he delves into more serious issues, such as learning to live with a brain injury which meant that James had lost his independence, and Danny struggling as he blamed himself for a tragic event in his past. I think I could see where the book was going and the ending was no real surprise; however, it is not a thriller or a whodunnit and every ending doesn’t need to have a twist.

If you are a fan of Mike Gayle or authors such as Nick Hornby, I would certainly recommend this book.

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‘The History of Us’ by Jonathan Harvey

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , on November 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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In Liverpool in 1985 Adam, Kathleen and Jocelyn are teenagers and best friends, who are brought together by an unusual nativity play. They all have high hopes for their future – Adam wants to be a writer, Jocelyn wants to be a singer, and Kathleen wants to be an embalmer (yep!) Their lives might be messy and chaotic, but they are filled with friendship and laughter.

Fast forward 30 years, and Kathleen is an alcoholic, Adam is consumed with guilt over a big secret, and Jocelyn is dead.

This is where the story starts, but from then on, it jumps backwards and forwards in time between 1985, 2015 and the intervening years. It also switches narrators between the three main characters, and another character named Billy, whose role in the story I won’t reveal.

The constant character and timeline switches were handled well, and I didn’t feel that they got confusing, although it would have been easy for them to do so. I read this book in two days, which – for me anyway – means that it was easy to get into, and that the writing flowed well. I found myself looking forward to picking it up again each time I had to put it down. However, it was darker in tone than I was expecting. The cover quotes led me to anticipate a dark comedy, and this was more of a drama with a bit of comedy thrown in. I didn’t like Jocelyn much, and I didn’t particularly feel invested in Adam’s character. I quite liked Kathleen, although her behaviour left a lot to be desired at times. But of all the characters, she seemed the most hopeful, the most eager to believe in the possibility of a decent future.

There was a plot twist at the end, which I guessed about halfway through, but this is not a mystery where a plot twist can change your perspective about everything that has gone before, so it didn’t really affect my enjoyment of the book. No. if I had to have one major gripe, it was that the events that took place relied VERY heavily on coincidence, which did require me to suspend my disbelief several times.

I won’t spoil the ending for anyone, but suffice to say that while this was not what I was expecting and I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I had hoped, it was still a worthy read and I would definitely check out more novels by Jonathan Harvey.

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‘So Happy It Hurts’ by Annaliese Mackintosh

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , on July 2, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Otilla McGregor needs to sort her life out. She drinks too much, she is in a relationship with her married boss, her sister has severe mental health problems – but she is determined to sort her life out and get herself together.

I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Colleen Prendergast. It’s told from the point of Otilla, and employs a type of ‘scrapbook’ method to tell her story; this encompasses emails, snapchats, text messages, letters to the Little Book of Happy (makes sense when you’re listening/reading!) and conversation transcripts with her therapist.

The narration was excellent – Prendergast really got under the skin of Otilla and helped make her into a believable and likeable character. The story itself was also interesting and I liked the deviation from conventional narration, although I think this may work better as a physical book rather than an audiobook.

I would say however, that this is NOT a book to listen to if you need cheering up! As mentioned above, Otilla drinks way too much, her love life is a mess, she thinks that she may be to blame for her sister’s mental and emotional problems, her father passed away a few years earlier and she misses him terribly, her mother has her own problems….on top of all this, Otilla’s best friend Grace is an enabler who believes the only reason to give up alcohol is so that when you go back to it, you get drunk quicker and for less money. Otilla works in a cancer care hospital, so even several of the lesser characters have serious problems.

For all this, although at times I did wonder how much more misery could be stuffed into one book, the story did hold my attention throughout. I adored her new potential boyfriend, and really rooted for Otilla.

I’ve heard good things about other books by Annaliese Mackintosh and would certainly read/listen to more of her stories.

 

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‘Finding Ultra’ by Rich Roll

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 3, 2018| Leave a Comment »

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I listened to this audiobook, narrated by the author, mainly while out running – maybe I was hoping it would provide inspiration!

In this memoir of sorts, Rich Roll describes how on the eve of his 40th birthday, he realised that he needed to change his health drastically – overweight,  unfit and scared of dying early, Rich transformed himself into an ultra fit, vegan triathlete and this book tells how it did it.

I should have enjoyed this – it had all the hallmarks of a book I would love. I am fascinated by people who find the mental and physical strength to push their body and achieve things way beyond the capability of most of us mere mortals. And running five Ultra-triathlons in less than a week is way beyond impressive by any standard you care to use. But…I never really enjoyed this book.

Having overcome alcohol addiction and some years later deciding to turn his health around, it is difficult not to be impressed by what Rich Roll has done. But for me, there was too much whining – things didn’t always go well for Rich, but that applies to everyone – and he had a distinct ‘why me’ tone to his voice (both literally and on the page). And there was too much spirituality attached to fairly mundane events. For example, in Hawaii Rich is confronted by an angry homeowner, annoyed to find Rich trespassing on his property (to clarify – Rich was not actually trespassing; he thought he had found a quiet place to relieve himself during an Ultraman race). But instead of seeing this as something that could happen to anyone anywhere, Rich decides that this is karma for not respecting the island. And when approached by an alcoholic woman who wants to party, of course he decides that this woman must be some kind of angel sent to show him the kind of life he could have wound up living.

Also, while fully respect the author’s vegan lifestyle choice, I disliked his dismissive attitude to anyone who doesn’t share the same values.

The whole thing just came across as a big ego-trip, and honestly I was pretty pleased to finish it. Oh well, onto the next one…

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‘In the Pleasure Groove: Love Death and Duran Duran’ by John Taylor

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 22, 2014| 1 Comment »

I first discovered Duran Duran when I  was a young teenager, and quickly become obsessed.  As I grew older, I drifted away from them, but always came back again.  They may not be my favourites any more, but I still like listening to them, and as John Taylor was by far my favourite when I was growing up (I was convinced I’d marry him one day, and boy, did I hate Amanda de Cadenet when she beat me to it!), I was looking forward to reading his biography.  I should point out that I actually listened to the audio version of this book, which is narrated by John himself.

Anyway…I have mixed feelings about it.  I enjoyed the first part when he talks about growing up as an only child, and how he developed a love of music.  He talks about forming bands with friends including Nick Bates (now known as Nick Rhodes), and eventually forming Duran Duran with the line-up for which they are most famous.  They were very democratic, being one of the few bands who credited each and every member with writing each and every song.  However, the story of living his dream soon becomes a nightmare, as Taylor details how he fell into the drug scene, and become dependent both on cocaine and alcohol.

Some of the inside info about the music business was interesting – the machinations of the publicity machines, the secrets behind recording a slot for Top of the Pops, for instance – but the whole book kind of feels more like an overview of Taylor’s life, rather than a detailed autobiography.  I liked that he pretty much avoids dishing the dirt on anybody except himself – although after initially speaking pretty affectionately of fellow band member Andy Taylor, he seems rather dismissive of him at the end of the book.  Some of the language though feels quite contrived – maybe it sounds more so when it’s being read aloud, and the book generally feels like it was rushed.  (It was ghostwritten however, so I’m not sure exactly how much blame can be attributed to Taylor for that.)

Overall, Taylor comes across as a genuinely nice guy, and it was good to hear how he eventually conquered his demons, and has managed to stay clean and sober for two decades.  I’d probably recommend the book as decent but not essential reading, strictly for fellow Duran Duran fans.

 

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‘Golden Boy: The Untold Story of William Holden’ by Bob Thomas

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

William Holden is one of my very favourite actors, and during his lifetime, he was one of Hollywood’s favourites too.  During the 1950s, he was a huge box-office draw, and the many films he made include such classics as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Sunset Blvd., Network and Stalag 17 (for which he won an Academy Award).  Handsome, masculine and talented, William Holden nevertheless struggled with chronic alcohol addiction for much of his life.  This book is a respectful biography of the great actor, and I enjoyed reading it very much, although it was hard not to feel sad at the damage that he was doing to his body and by extension, his career and his personal relationships.

The book is an easy read, and is never dull.  However, in some aspects, it was more of an overview of events – for instance, Holden’s childhood and adolescence is covered in a couple of short chapters, although as Holden was a private man, he might have preferred it that way.  Some of his film also didn’t even get a mention, although all of the high points in his career are covered.  I loved reading about his career, and the various films he made, both successful and less so.  He came across as I have always imagined him to be – a very gifted actor, with a strong sense of right and wrong (no, he wasn’t perfect, but why should we expect him to be?).  There is no escaping the effect of his addiction however, and it would probably be impossible to tell his life story without it.

I did feel a sense of sadness while reading, probably because I knew how it would end – with Holden’s death at the age of 63, when he slipped on a rug in his home and hit his head.  His body was not immediately discovered, and this is something that always saddens me when I watch his films or read about him.  I am glad that the book dedicated time to his career and the fine work he did in films, rather than being exploitative.

As far as biographies go, this was a good read, which I would recommend to fans.  As mentioned earlier, it is thin on detail in some parts, but overall, a well-rounded story of a fascinating life.

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28 Days (2000)

Posted in Film Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

After ruining her sister’s wedding and crashing a limousine, Gwen Cummings (Sandra Bullock) is sentenced to 28 days in a rehab centre, to work through her alcohol and drug dependency.  Initially resistant to the idea, Gwen eventually realises that she does have a problem, and starts to re-examine her life.

I admit that much as I like Sandra Bullock, I expected this film to be riddled with cliches, and only watched it because Dominic West is in it, and that in itself makes a film worth watching!  However, the film itself was a pleasant surprise.  Sandra Bullock, who is usually so likeable and sweet, played the part of Gwen really well, and the process of coming to accept and learn how to beat her demons did not unfold at the breakneck speed which I anticipated.  Having never been in a rehab centre, I cannot truthfully say how realistic it was, but it felt believable.

West plays Gwen’s boyfriend Jasper, who is almost certainly as dependant on drugs and alcohol as she is, but not being the one who is sentenced to rehab, does not take any time to look at his own life.  If there is a villain of the piece, he is probably it, but in truth, Jasper is not so much a bad person, as irresponsible and unrealistic about what a sober life means for Gwen.  I thought West did a very good job in a not especially likeable role.  Viggo Mortensen also provided great support as Eddie, a professional baseball player who is also in rehab, and Steve Buscemi was excellent (if slightly under-used) in an uncharacteristically sombre role as a counsellor at the centre.

The story bounced along nicely, and there were a few genuinely moving moments (I definitely had tears in my eyes a couple of times).  The only character who I felt was over-the-top, and who seemed to be there only to provide comic relief was Gerhardt (Alan Tudyk) as an apparently sex-obsessed fellow patient.  Although his monologue about forks in the road and forks in general was quite funny – more so when you realise that Tudyk actually improvised that scene.

Overall, well worth watching – it’s an entertaining, sometimes moving film, with a great cast.

Year of release: 2000

Director: Betty Thomas

Producers: Jenno Topping, Celia Costas

Writer: Susannah Grant

Main cast: Sandra Bullock, Viggo Mortensen, Dominic West, Azura Skye, Steve Buscemi, Alan Tudyk, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Margo Martindale

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Primrose Path (1940)

Posted in Film Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This is quite an appealing, but badly dated film, starring Ginger Rogers and Joel McCrea, neither of who are in the kind of role for which they were famous (Rogers isn’t dancing and McCrea isn’t being a cowboy). Rogers plays Ellie May Adams, a young girl who falls in love with young beach cafe owner Ed Wallace, and is desperate to hide her family from him, because her father is an alcoholic, and her mother is a prostitute (this is never explicitly stated, but is very clearly implied). However, she cannot keep her two worlds seperate for long…

The acting by Ginger Rogers in this film was really quite revelatory. She is obviously best known for her dancing, especially with Fred Astaire, but this film (as well as Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman) shows that she had a real talent for dramatic acting. Joel McCrea is less convincing, but his performance is still fine for the role he plays.

The storyline did move a little fast – no sooner had Ellie May met Ed than she was declaring her love for him, and twisting his arm into marrying her – and it all feels a little ‘cramped’ somehow. It’s not often that I think a film could benefit from being longer, but this is a case where a little extra time spent on the early relationship between the two main parts would have benefitted the story.

Supporting roles were played by Marjorie Rambeau, as Ellie May’s mother (she was excellent, and won an Oscar nomination for her portrayal), a surprisingly sympathetic character; Miles Mander, as ELlie May’s educated alcoholic father; Joan Carroll as Honeybell, Ellie May’s little sister; Queenie Vassar as Ellie May’s cruel, spiteful and altogether horrible grandmother; and Henry Travers as Gramp – the kindly elderly man who first introduces Ellie May and Ed.

I do not think that this film has aged particularly well – some of the characters are stereotyped, and a lot of the smart wisecracks made by Ellie May do seem obviously scripted (which of course they were, but the film never quite lets you forget that). Nonetheless, it’s worth seeing for Ginger Rogers’ performance, and overall it’s fairly entertaining, if slightly predictable.

Year of release: 1940

Director: Gregory La Cava

Writers: Robert L. Buckner (play), Walter Hart (play), Victoria Lincoln (novel), Gregory La Cava, Allan Scott

Main cast: Ginger Rogers, Joel McCrea, Henry Travers, Marjorie Rambeau, Miles Mander, Queenie Vassar

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The Country Girl (1954)

Posted in Film Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , on November 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

In this 1954 film, William Holden plays Bernie Dodd, director of a new musical who wants to hire Frank Elgin (Bing Crosby) to be the main character.  Elgin used to be something of a big star, but due to tragedy in his life has become an alcoholic.  Neither Elgin nor anybody else knows if he will have the commitment or ability to see the role through, but Dodd is determined to give Elgin a chance.  Elgin’s wife Georgie – “just a simple girl from the country” – seems to have too much control of her husband – and clashes with Dodd, who thinks that Elgin would be better off if she wasn’t there. But as the irascible director comes to know Frank and Georgie better, he starts to realise the truth behind their situation.

This is the film which controversially won Grace Kelly the Oscar for Best Actress – beating the favourite Judy Garland (for A Star Is Born – apparently there were just six votes between them).  I have often thought that Kelly is over-rated as an actress, but she actually is terrific here, playing against type.  It isn’t often that she looks frumpy or anything less than beautiful, but here she plays the weary Georgie Elgin, disappointed in life, disappointed in her husband.  She brings all of the character’s pent up frustration to the role and really sets her scenes alight.

Crosby is also great as the desperate Elgin – who wants so much to get his life back on track, but doesn’t know if he has the required strength to do so.  Holden really shines as the blunt but decent Dodd.

Terrific acting all round then, but still the storyline seemed a little clunky and disjointed at times – in the hands of three lesser actors, the film would not have worked for me at all.  The film is adapted from a play, and maybe the storyline plays better on stage.  However, the ending is somewhat downbeat, but still satisfying, and overall while this is not a film I would rush to watch again, I’m glad that I have seen it.

Year of release: 1958

Director: George Seaton

Writers: Clifford Odets (play), George Seaton

Main cast: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, William Holden

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