Nonfiction by Jowita Bydlowska.
This story is, exactly as the title suggests, about a new mother struggling with alcoholism. Jowita (pronounced yo-VEE-tuh) had been sober for years when she unexpectedly fell pregnant in her mid-thirties and fell off the wagon. She managed to (mostly) not drink while she was pregnant, white-knuckling her way through because she was too proud to go back to AA and admit a relapse, but once her son Frankie was born she really went off the deep end.
The story follows the usual structure of an addiction memoir: the person is okay at first, and then not okay, and then REALLY not okay, until they finally relent and go to rehab. You don't read an addiction story for the plot twists. (Although there is some surprise in the shock value of how VERY not okay things can get.) What makes this type of memoir readable or not is the individual voice of the teller, which is an unquantifiable and ambiguous thing.
I really liked Jowita, even though she was very selfish and deceitful, and really she kind of was a terrible person. I can't explain why I still wanted to hear her story. Not everyone agrees with me; opinions are sharply divided. Sample reviews on audible.com are titled: "Terrible," "Just can't get through it," "Riveting," and "Awe-Inspiring."
Her descriptions are VERY detailed, and sometimes almost poetic. If I were a person with an alcohol problem, I might feel triggered by passages that seem like they should be called "A Love Song To Booze." So I'm pretty sure this book is not for everyone. Still, I really liked it.
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