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Whiskey's Children
The story of a fourth-generation alcoholic begins in 1934, when the author first becomes aware of his father's drinking, and continues with his own battle, which culminated in a violent marriage, the loss of his career, and eventual recovery. 75,00 first printing. Tour.
- GenresMemoir
211 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 8, 2015
This book is the gospel. I cannot recommend it enough to anyone who battles with alcoholism or who grew up in an alcoholic family. Reading this book has helped me immensely, I felt like the author was transcribing my own thoughts and fears. The power of this is in breaking through to the alcoholic's battered psyche that you are not alone, that you are not the only one fighting this daily war.
"I hear about lives that have been so much worse than mine it embarrasses me. But there's a curious thing. The pain all seems the same. There doesn't seem to be any hierarchy. The pain is independent of events. That's what they mean by a spiritual sickness. Every time I recognize a meaning its like the easing of a cramp." (p.170)
"The nasty truth is that when a practicing alcoholic creates a family he creates a support system for his alcoholism. His family's fear will make them minimize, cover for him, and cry by themselves. Because the fear of collapse is usually worse than the dull, day-to-day misery. This is pretty much the edge of hell. When you get near the end of the line you find out that every drink you took helped compress the fear as if it were a huge spring in your chest. When the alcohol stops working it lets the spring go and suddenly there's nothing in your life but sickness and time and the pain of the past." (p.204)
"Coming back to life is no fun. It's hard and your nerves make a noise like a rusted-out engine trying to turn over. It's a job you have to do. Not because you are getting paid, not because you want to look good,, not because you'll get your wife back - not because you'll get anything back. Maybe you will and maybe you won't. You do it because there are others, and when you ask for help it's there. So that in at least one part of your life you're not a kid anymore, looking for answers with no one to ask. I've never had another drink, and in my life now I try to give some time to a proposition that I've come to believe covers all of human obligation - we need to pass on less pain than we receive. Knowing at the end of the story with the light fading, that none of it was for nothing and that through all the pain you managed, finally, to pass on less than you got. It's how the volume of human misery can decrease, and how sobriety works." (p.194-195)
"I hear about lives that have been so much worse than mine it embarrasses me. But there's a curious thing. The pain all seems the same. There doesn't seem to be any hierarchy. The pain is independent of events. That's what they mean by a spiritual sickness. Every time I recognize a meaning its like the easing of a cramp." (p.170)
"The nasty truth is that when a practicing alcoholic creates a family he creates a support system for his alcoholism. His family's fear will make them minimize, cover for him, and cry by themselves. Because the fear of collapse is usually worse than the dull, day-to-day misery. This is pretty much the edge of hell. When you get near the end of the line you find out that every drink you took helped compress the fear as if it were a huge spring in your chest. When the alcohol stops working it lets the spring go and suddenly there's nothing in your life but sickness and time and the pain of the past." (p.204)
"Coming back to life is no fun. It's hard and your nerves make a noise like a rusted-out engine trying to turn over. It's a job you have to do. Not because you are getting paid, not because you want to look good,, not because you'll get your wife back - not because you'll get anything back. Maybe you will and maybe you won't. You do it because there are others, and when you ask for help it's there. So that in at least one part of your life you're not a kid anymore, looking for answers with no one to ask. I've never had another drink, and in my life now I try to give some time to a proposition that I've come to believe covers all of human obligation - we need to pass on less pain than we receive. Knowing at the end of the story with the light fading, that none of it was for nothing and that through all the pain you managed, finally, to pass on less than you got. It's how the volume of human misery can decrease, and how sobriety works." (p.194-195)
August 15, 2020
Dnf p. 118. It moved along at a decent enough pace, but I failed to stay engaged. I just stopped caring.
January 28, 2018
REVIEW:
MUST READ LIST (only 2 STARS THOUGH)
Whiskey Tears
Jack Erdmann
DISCLAIMER: A joke may be funny and good regardless if you understood it or not. Much like most of our jokes, they aren’t funny. We still tell them. The same practice is applied to our review business here.
“While yesterday never happened-it must never be forgotten”
The prose is written in reverie of an imagined hero. Clearly the author was given the gift of poetic stupor by Bacchus himself and was intoxicating. You are never quite sure who is responsible, for what, or why, or even when is when. A very famous addict once said this of his addiction “I am committing suicide by cigarette.” Perhaps a preface. Perhaps randomly input. You decide.
The story is powerful. Whiskey’s Children is a highly recommended read for anyone battling an addiction, has overcome addiction, or have loved ones that are, or did battle addiction. Or if you aren’t sure if you are an addict, if you’re depressed, or if you aren’t an addict but drink a lot but are still highly functional but seem depressed, or you know exactly who you are and need help. ASK FOR HELP. We will listen, always.
TO BUSINESS:
If you have ever used the word “literally” to describe literally everything, you most likely have also said ‘don’t judge a book by its over.’ We are here to tell you that you are wrong. Judge everything by how it appears to you. That is how we found this little gem of a read “Whiskey’s Children.”
The book sitting on a lonely library shelf amidst the lonely hearts that find solace there, was chosen solely on a judged cover. On it, above title that already grabbed us, had a picture of a little boy dressed up as a cowboy on pony. That little boy looked miserable on that Filly Foal. One of our senior staff writers has the exact same photo of himself, costume and pony in tow, on his desk. We have been laughing at him all week.
Also on the cover, under the sad boy on the pony, was a delicious looking glass of dark whiskey simmering over ice in a proper glass. Well, we read it. We liked it.
Okay, we should back up. I’m sure you are still wrapping your head around our practice of judging everything on appearances. Don’t worry, we won’t leave you hanging. Judge everything, but assume nothing is true. With that you are either right or wrong, if wrong, it’s the little surprises in life that make the world glimmer. Okay?. Can we move forward.
If you say you are not a judgmental person you must not be a human being or practice the highly evasive skill of paltering (More on Bill Clinton later). We are okay with your view, your judgement. We disagree.
The book, which is why we are ultimately here, was a very similar word (Synonym) to gripping. Written much like a night out on the town, recalls the life of the author Jack Erdmann. He is retelling his story, his apology, his confession. The book therefore serves as indemnities for his crimes caused from alcoholism. One sour note with our editorial team was if he was indeed blacked-out (and we have not doubt he was) the majority of his life how did he recall with such fervor, such earnestness, such honesty and clarity. Let alone write it? (More on this later)
Alcoholism is a disease that corrupted and destroyed the life of this sullen and sunken narrator. Attributing most of his drinking days as being able to “handle his drink” was above all, a most valuable skill of his. Never noticing the skills of abuse, or violence, or coping he learned from his parents. Not until much later did the narrator identify the progression of need, the intake of substance, that he was consuming. Or his drinking that started at a very early age, as a problem of his own.
As many lonely and terrified children of abuse they seek salvation. Jack beseeched Christ at the pulpit. Seeking mercy, he found clemency in cognac. Seeking communion, he found the sacristy of an alcoholic priest, and the sacramental wine he stole(More on the concerns with the Catholic Church later).
On the darker side, addiction, such as our narrator, is never about the substance that is abused. Merely the apparatus, or mechanism to blanket a world of hurt and pain. No one is deserving of a life of pain. “You,” are not the pioneer of suffering, your story is not unique. Your pain is yours alone, but don’t be fooled by the vices you implement to quiet the voices. AGAIN, we say AGAIN, ASK FOR HELP.
Yours very empathetically,
Sir William Cakespeare
If you’d like to unsubscribe to this newsletter too bad, you will get it all the same like whiskey hangovers and a strange woman in your bed.
MUST READ LIST (only 2 STARS THOUGH)
Whiskey Tears
Jack Erdmann
DISCLAIMER: A joke may be funny and good regardless if you understood it or not. Much like most of our jokes, they aren’t funny. We still tell them. The same practice is applied to our review business here.
“While yesterday never happened-it must never be forgotten”
The prose is written in reverie of an imagined hero. Clearly the author was given the gift of poetic stupor by Bacchus himself and was intoxicating. You are never quite sure who is responsible, for what, or why, or even when is when. A very famous addict once said this of his addiction “I am committing suicide by cigarette.” Perhaps a preface. Perhaps randomly input. You decide.
The story is powerful. Whiskey’s Children is a highly recommended read for anyone battling an addiction, has overcome addiction, or have loved ones that are, or did battle addiction. Or if you aren’t sure if you are an addict, if you’re depressed, or if you aren’t an addict but drink a lot but are still highly functional but seem depressed, or you know exactly who you are and need help. ASK FOR HELP. We will listen, always.
TO BUSINESS:
If you have ever used the word “literally” to describe literally everything, you most likely have also said ‘don’t judge a book by its over.’ We are here to tell you that you are wrong. Judge everything by how it appears to you. That is how we found this little gem of a read “Whiskey’s Children.”
The book sitting on a lonely library shelf amidst the lonely hearts that find solace there, was chosen solely on a judged cover. On it, above title that already grabbed us, had a picture of a little boy dressed up as a cowboy on pony. That little boy looked miserable on that Filly Foal. One of our senior staff writers has the exact same photo of himself, costume and pony in tow, on his desk. We have been laughing at him all week.
Also on the cover, under the sad boy on the pony, was a delicious looking glass of dark whiskey simmering over ice in a proper glass. Well, we read it. We liked it.
Okay, we should back up. I’m sure you are still wrapping your head around our practice of judging everything on appearances. Don’t worry, we won’t leave you hanging. Judge everything, but assume nothing is true. With that you are either right or wrong, if wrong, it’s the little surprises in life that make the world glimmer. Okay?. Can we move forward.
If you say you are not a judgmental person you must not be a human being or practice the highly evasive skill of paltering (More on Bill Clinton later). We are okay with your view, your judgement. We disagree.
The book, which is why we are ultimately here, was a very similar word (Synonym) to gripping. Written much like a night out on the town, recalls the life of the author Jack Erdmann. He is retelling his story, his apology, his confession. The book therefore serves as indemnities for his crimes caused from alcoholism. One sour note with our editorial team was if he was indeed blacked-out (and we have not doubt he was) the majority of his life how did he recall with such fervor, such earnestness, such honesty and clarity. Let alone write it? (More on this later)
Alcoholism is a disease that corrupted and destroyed the life of this sullen and sunken narrator. Attributing most of his drinking days as being able to “handle his drink” was above all, a most valuable skill of his. Never noticing the skills of abuse, or violence, or coping he learned from his parents. Not until much later did the narrator identify the progression of need, the intake of substance, that he was consuming. Or his drinking that started at a very early age, as a problem of his own.
As many lonely and terrified children of abuse they seek salvation. Jack beseeched Christ at the pulpit. Seeking mercy, he found clemency in cognac. Seeking communion, he found the sacristy of an alcoholic priest, and the sacramental wine he stole(More on the concerns with the Catholic Church later).
On the darker side, addiction, such as our narrator, is never about the substance that is abused. Merely the apparatus, or mechanism to blanket a world of hurt and pain. No one is deserving of a life of pain. “You,” are not the pioneer of suffering, your story is not unique. Your pain is yours alone, but don’t be fooled by the vices you implement to quiet the voices. AGAIN, we say AGAIN, ASK FOR HELP.
Yours very empathetically,
Sir William Cakespeare
If you’d like to unsubscribe to this newsletter too bad, you will get it all the same like whiskey hangovers and a strange woman in your bed.
November 19, 2024
Super depressing.
July 2, 2012
A superb depiction of the insane and inevitably progressive pathology of acute alcoholism pathology in action. Erdmann, buttressed substantively by the firsthand familiarity with the disease, is especially keen at identifying and humanizing its seductiveness to the unaware victim. The early feel-good experiences alcohol provides. The "growing flower," the expanding warmth deep in the self he describes repeatedly, even long after the illusion of its benignity has been shattered.
Erdmann wisely eschews the old behavior vs. disease debate, simply acknowledging that plenty of Ph.Ds and scientists still seem to stubbornly uphold the position that alcoholism is really just a malady of bad behavior or weak morality. But that position has already been debunked enough in the face of the most modern research to make it dismissible for the majority of cases. Certainly, there was and remains an element of choice, and uncompassionate observers can still claim that the inheritor of the disease has failed to make wise decisions and thus has paved his or her own self-destruction. But the sheer helplessness of most cases testifies that there is something more powerful and resistless than just poor character. For anyone affected by alcoholism, whether as a close relative or friend or a direct sufferer, this is another work to add to a strong library of such testimonies. It helps point to a way out.
Erdmann wisely eschews the old behavior vs. disease debate, simply acknowledging that plenty of Ph.Ds and scientists still seem to stubbornly uphold the position that alcoholism is really just a malady of bad behavior or weak morality. But that position has already been debunked enough in the face of the most modern research to make it dismissible for the majority of cases. Certainly, there was and remains an element of choice, and uncompassionate observers can still claim that the inheritor of the disease has failed to make wise decisions and thus has paved his or her own self-destruction. But the sheer helplessness of most cases testifies that there is something more powerful and resistless than just poor character. For anyone affected by alcoholism, whether as a close relative or friend or a direct sufferer, this is another work to add to a strong library of such testimonies. It helps point to a way out.
January 24, 2008
Heart wrenching memoir of an alcoholic.
January 3, 2014
A harrowing tale of Jack Erdmann's sprial into alcoholism and his ultimate redemption and recovery. He does not "sugar coat" his journey. Not for the faint at heart.
February 9, 2012
Tough but solid read.
November 4, 2008
This is a compelling and sometimes repulsive story.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews