Smashed by Koren Zailckas

Smashed by Koren Zailckas
Young Adult Realistic Fiction
ISBN: 0 14 30.3647 5
343 pp.
Suitable 15+

Readers Annotation: Smashed is a bio-fictional account of the author's teenage years as an alcoholic.

Plot Summary: The book starts off with Koren Zailckas at 14 years old. Her friend and her are home alone at a summer house when they decide to drink some of her parent's alcohol lying around. That drink starts a downward spiral of drinking fanatically through her high school and eventually college years. It gets so bad that she gets her stomach pumped at 16, she goes to constant parties and gets beyond drunk every time, which leads to numerous black outs. Her family did not know how out of control she was and when they found out they could not even stop her. All her relationships revolved around drinking as well. The book also shows how society encourages women and young people to drink to feel socially accepted, and how its prominent on college campuses, which are all backed by statistics.

Critical Evaluation: Like a booze-soaked party, characters come and go with no real character development. However, the reader gets to read Koren's thoughts, her actions, and her reasons for drinking. This should come to no surprise since this is based on the author's life and it is brutally honest. The pacing is steady covering junior high, high school, and her early college years. Each of those years contains a major event that shows how far Koren has spiraled down the slippery slope of drinking. Every other chapter keeps the reader interested and their minds fresh as statistics of drinking in America has a toll on women and college campuses. Overall, Smashed is a real eye-opener, with a wise message that grips the reader in realizing that drinking has many consequences. But the worst may be that it stunts a person's growth and development, which unfortunately makes it hard for the drinker to get out of their bubble that they have been accustomed to living in.

Author: Koren Zailckas was born in 1980 and spent 10 years of her teenage years as an alcoholic. Her first book, Smashed, which was released in 2005, chronicles these events. A Time magazine story ran about female binge-drinkers due to her published book. The book even became a New York Times bestseller.

Her follow-up novel, Fury: a Memoir was released on September 7, 2010. Zailckas is currently married to singer/songwriter Eamon Hamilton. She is also an advocate of talking about drinking in today's society as she has appeared on TV programs such as 20/20 and The View.

Booktalking Ideas:
1) Alcohol addiction and abuse
2) Women alcoholics in United States
3) Women's alcohol use in United States
4) Koren Zailckas

Challenge Issues: This book is challenged due to the graphic depictions of alcohol use and abuse.

A librarian should state that the ALA mission is "to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all," which is embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the Association's basic policy on free access to libraries and library materials. Librarians must act as an extension, making sure that they educate the general public, and themselves, about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries.

Why Included: This is a book I read many years ago and found it on my book shelf. It is definitely a welcome addition to these blogs I am writing about.