Up from Despair

One does tire of celebrity reprobates. A fast way to attract attention and build a “profile” in our lazy society is to write about one’s appalling behaviour towards others. Its acceptability enables a form of confession and avoidance, and, if properly promoted and garnished with a veneer of bohemianism, it is more like confession and appointment to the firmament of New Idea idolatry. Attention, advertisement, writers’ festivals, prizes, perhaps even honours, await. The best way of avoiding the consequences of victimising others is to become a victim yourself. The people on the receiving end are much less likely to have been forgiving than the publishers.

My Last Drink: 32 Stories of Recovering Alcoholics is not such an infertile book—it is a book of hope and even, at times, joy.

This review appeared a recent Quadrant.
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Ross Fitzgerald (“Redfern Ross” in Alcoholics Anonymous) and Neal Price, themselves recovering alcoholics (for as this book…