Heather King (1)

I'm usually not a fan of a book for which the premise is, "I'm going to do some unusual thing for a year and write about it." But this book is not that book. While the author spends a year researching and trying to practice St. Therese's spiritual life, the book is heavy on the exegesis of the saint and light on the, "Today I did such and so." She peppers in events from her life and how the saint's perspective helped to alter her own, but she spends most of the time laying out the saint's show more unusual life - and I'm a sucker for a Catholic saint. Ultimately, there's a little of the Stoic in St. Therese, and it is a provocative story.

4 1/2 bones!!!!!
Recommended!!!!! show less

I had read a fairly good review of Parched in my bar association's newsletter, which noted the author had made it through law school in a drunken stupor. The law school portion of her life takes up only a few pages in the book, though the rest of the book is alternately fascinating and repelling.

King starts drinking in high school and stays partially inebriated for the next twenty years. We see her life -- filthy living conditions, going-nowhere jobs -- through her caustic wit. She's quite show more perceptive in seeing the flaws of others (and is quite comical doing so), but she never manages to turn that gaze inward. It takes a family intervention (which mostly ends the book, a bit too quickly) to dry her out.

It's interesting to see how other people live, and this story takes us close to the lowest depths in our modern society. It's a captivating story at times. But I'm hesitant to offer this as pre-reading for law school, as the author got through those three years and passed the bar exam wasted, and that's probably not the best message to send. show less

Heather King is so thoroughly honest in her deeply personal memoir that she really gives the impression of what it was like to walk in her shoes as she struggled with alcohol abuse. When an autobiography is this personal, it’s hard to say it could have been better because that almost feels like a judgment on the author’s life. I feel as though Heather King shared exactly the right amount. If you have a friend or family member who struggles with substance use and want to know what it’s show more like to walk in their shoes, read this memoir.

Favorite Quote: “Books were the closest thing I had to God–even at my worst I still made a pilgrimage to the public library every week or so for a fresh stack–and O’Connor was my heroine, literary and otherwise. I had read her short stories so many times that her characters…were more real to me than people I had actually met, and though I could not imagine being a Catholic, or understanding the Gospels, or living like a monk in a Georgia dairy farm the way she had, her fierce faith and unwavering convictions inspired in me the utmost respect.” — Reviewed by SBBookGirlErin show less

Spoiler Alert!

I picked this up at the bargain bin at Barnes & Noble and now I sort of understand why it was put there in the first place. While the premise of the story is interesting and uplifting, the actual telling of it is drawn out and overly dramatic. I'm not sure if I would feel differently if I had ever battled a horrible disease like alcoholism, but I kept wondering when she was going to be done describing the daily downs that accompany 24-7 drinking and drug use.

She definitely got show more the point across that she was not a likeable person during her addiction - and I liked her even less for the self-pitying narrative (however true it was at the time) that wove its way through the pages.

You know from the beginning how the story ends (recovery inspired by family intervention) and as I was reading, I was just waiting for the big tearful meeting to occur. Additionally, the role of religion seemed like an afterthought to the story - again, maybe I would understand if I had ever had a sudden enlightenment of the spiritual persuasion.

The most interesting bit about all of this was how immediately intriguing the quotes from her journal entries were. Acidic, scathing, sad, and b*tchy at once, they were truly insightful and amazingly written. I got the impression that the story would have been a better one if it only consisted of her journal entries!

All-in-all, not a bad read, but not a great one either. show less