As far as I know, no one close to me has had to go through recovery for alcoholism. I am not sure that I could ever really understanding how truly difficult fighting this disease is, but Augusten Burroughs presents his own battle with alcoholism in this volume.

As you can guess, he was not someone who thought he had a problem. A big part of the problem was that he was a functional alcoholic. That did not mean he did not have rough times, but for the most part, he was able to get through life without everything falling apart. It was because of this that he was pretty stunned when he was confronted by his coworkers at a successful ad agency about his problem. They highlighted his late starts to the day, missed meetings, and the constant smell of alcohol that seemed to surround him. While he tried to fight off their concerns, they threatened his job if he didn't do anything about it.

He ended up landing in the Proud Institute, a gay rehabilitiation center located in Minnesota. While there he started all of the things that you would expect. He went through withdrawal symptoms and started counseling in the form of group therapy and one-on-one sessions with a trained professional. He even made some friends.

It was after his thirty days there that he found himself back in New York, where it was time to confront fighting his disease on his own. He was strict about attending Alcohoics Anonymous sessions, but he found that it wasn't necessarily a good fit.

He challenges himself by trying to go to a bar when a good friend wants to introduce him to a new girlfriend. He is able to avoid having a drink at that time, but not without being totally freaked out and almost running out of the place.

We are exposed to all of the people in his life at that time including a sickly friend and ex-boyfriend, a supportive friend he had met while in rehab, his partner at work who her own issues going on, and a roller-coaster romance with a crack addict he meets at his New York group therapy session.

Burroughs uses his usual balance of humor and searious moments to share with us the events that have made up his life. He is frank and honest, both with his readers and himself, about his failings that led to his drinking and how he let it go on for so long. His recovery is not without its challenges, but I know that I was completely moved by his experiences. There were times when I just wanted to cringe when he made certain decisions while others I wanted to cheer. I also needed some tissues at the end. This was definitely one of his better books.