Smashed

The day Koren turned fourteen she emerged from her friend's kitchen clutching a bottle of Southern Comfort. At fifteen she and Natalie sneaked out one summer night, then next morning had to piece back together forgotten fragments of drink, men and misplaced clothes. At sixteen she was carried through the hospital doors unconscious. And so it began... Koren was a sweet and normal teenager, from a stable home and loving parents, yet throughout her teens and twenties she regularly drank...
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The day Koren turned fourteen she emerged from her friend's kitchen clutching a bottle of Southern Comfort. At fifteen she and Natalie sneaked out one summer night, then next morning had to piece back together forgotten fragments of drink, men and misplaced clothes. At sixteen she was carried through the hospital doors unconscious. And so it began... Koren was a sweet and normal teenager, from a stable home and loving parents, yet throughout her teens and twenties she regularly drank herself to the point of oblivion. This is the shocking but utterly recognisable story of a girl who used alcohol to help herself grow up. It began by making her feel better and making life seem less scary. It helped her know who she was, how she felt. Over time, though, she found herself almost unable to meet anyone new or embark on any social occasion at college and, later, in work, without being drunk. Finally, Koren's experimentation descended into a chaotic, dangerous dependency, until, one day, she decided she needed help. Smashed is a beautifully written book and a brutally honest account of just how easy it is to surrender your life to binge drinking. Sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying, it is unfailingly sympathetic. Told in a voice that compels but never preaches, this is a book that needed to be written and demands to be read.