Drunk Mom

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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“A compelling, raw look at her struggle with alcoholism, the addiction that swallowed [Bydlowska] after the birth of her son.”

“[A] painfully honest, insightful memoir.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Fearless and troubling, and so very humane, Bydlowska explodes the cutesy momoir genre. You’ll read it in one sitting.”

“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!”

“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.”

“[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.”

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