Drinking: A Love Story

Caroline Knapp is the author and narrator of Drinking: A Love Story. The book’s central character, she is an alcoholic who has achieved sobriety after a long struggle. Knapp comes from a relatively-privileged Massachusetts family, one that is comfortable financially and has ties to the Ivy League. Her family expects her to do well in school and make something of herself, and do so in a way that doesn’t create drama or draw too much attention. The family values restraint and order. While Knapp describes herself as orderly, and someone who places objects at right angles on her desk at work, she struggles with restraint when it comes to drinking. As she falls deeper and deeper in love with alcohol—especially the way it makes her feel powerful, dulls her pain, and helps her feel like a more appealing version of herself—she loses her capacity to drink for pleasure in ways that are socially acceptable.

Knapp is also a journalist. She works at several newspapers over the course of her career, including the Boston Phoenix. There, she runs the lifestyle section and writes an award-winning column about a character named Alice K., a young and anxious woman who is brutally honest and has trouble with men.