Stumbling Home: Life Before and After That Last Drink

by Carol Weis

Carol Weis bares herself (sometimes literally) in her debut memoir, where she unveils her two lives, before and after, in a collection of alternating chapters that divulge her change. In those chapters, you’ll meet a desperate young woman riddled with anger and fear from childhood trauma and an equally desperate sober, single mom struggling to push those feelings aside to care for her young daughter. Like many who abuse alcohol, the author grew up in a world where feelings were never discussed and were typically resolved by drinking. Her mother was hospitalized with tuberculosis for 18 months when Carol was three, and being passed around from family to family left a tenacious fear of abandonment that persisted through her often reckless life. Alcohol was the salve that soothed the wound and hid her shame. And for 25 years it ruled over her actions, while she treaded her way through the chaos it created. Starting off on the night of her last drink, Stumbling Home quickly reveals the author’s love-hate relationship with the legal drug, then brings the reader along on the sundry adventures she takes under the influence, interspersed with the challenges she faces after she quits, ultimately, on her quest to reinvent herself and find out who she really is. “What a remarkable journey to wholeness. Carol Weis has written a gem of a memoir, with unfettered commitment to detail, humanity, humor, and most of honesty. I couldn’t put it down.” —Jennifer Pastiloff, bestselling author of On Being Human “Painful, honest, humorous, beautiful, and so relatable. Carol Weis artfully transports us through the incredible journey of her life, its different phases both enmeshed with and stitched together by alcohol, whether it was her own drinking or someone else’s. Her complete liberation from alcohol offers hope and inspiration.” —Annie Grace, author of This Naked Mind and The Alcohol Experiment “Carol Weis’s Stumbling Home is a story of recovery, a reckoning of the relationships that complicate it, and an examination of the years that brought her to that last flute of champagne. A welcome addition to the addiction canon, Weis’s vivid narrative illuminates the experience of navigating alcoholism and recovery as a woman with clarity and piercing details.” —Erin Khar, author of Strung Out “Frank, searing, and ultimately hopeful, Stumbling Home is a page-turning story of alcoholism, relationships, and hard-won healing. Any reader whose life has been impacted by addiction will see themselves in these pages. I certainly did.” —Kristi Coulter, author of Nothing Good Can Come from This “Raw and naked, Carol Weis’s Stumbling Home makes clear the connection between childhood trauma and substance use, plus adult dysfunction.” —Ann Dowsett Johnston, author of The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol “Bravely confronting the fears and the feelings that go along with addiction, recovery, and just being human, Stumbling Home will resonate with so many of us. Carol Weis inspires while reminding us that we are never alone.” —Lisa F. Smith, author of Girl Walks Out of a Bar “Raw and naked, Carol Weis’s Stumbling Home makes clear the connection between childhood trauma and substance use, plus adult dysfunction.” —Ann Dowsett Johnston, author of The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol “In frank, lyrical prose and a nonlinear structure, Weis draws seemingly paradoxic parallels between her own alcoholism and recovery, single motherhood, and childhood trauma.

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2021

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extremely well written and raw book. The author tells it in a way that seems authentic. I read on Kindle and was annoyed by several editorial errors in the book. I’ve never been an fan of books with alternating chapters or now and then or, in this case of before and after. But after I got in the swing of it, it worked in this book. I got confused with the chronological order a few times. Seemed like she was divorced before she was married, etc at one point.

I found it difficult to follow what where the author was referring to a few times. Was she near Philadelphia or elsewhere?

I enjoyed the book as much as one can enjoy a book full of pain. The writing is fabulous. Carol is a wordsmith.

[Marlena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written with an amazing frankness and detail that bares the soul, Carol Weiss exposes the cruel life of alcohol addiction and ultimately proves to herself that she is both resilient and courageous as she makes decisions that right her life. This is an authentic telling. Deeply moving.

[Ronni Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. Weis's journey was both vulnerable and brave. I admired her free-spirited ways and could feel her many struggles. It also felt like a love letter to her daughter. What an amazing journey.

[Elisabeth Brookshire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skipitty, skip, skip!

Restraint of tongue and pen. Yes, l know. If you are looking to read all about one woman's travels both here and abroad, you might enjoy this book. If you like random free form poetry this might be up your alley. But truth be told, I honestly just could not stomach the author. I almost had to shut my Kindle down when she talked about how her five year old daughter is probably gay because she has little playmates. What? Also, she is more concerned about not liking her daughter's Barbie Dolls or old fashioned fairy tales than she was about drinking during some of her pregnancy and breastfeeding. I had to force myself to somehow finish this so I could write a review. There are thousands of books out there about alcoholism and addiction... Read any of those over this! You won't be sorry.

[Sophie Reisz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lacked vulnerability

Wished for more connection with the author. Bored with the travel stories. Lacked authentic vulnerability. I looked forward to the ending and was disappointed.

[Zack Ballinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this book. After getting sober I’ve gone through a period of reading memoirs on the subject, and this one was great. Sad, like they usually are, but still really uplifting at the same time.

I suggested my library system purchase some copies and we got 4! I hope that increases readership of this book, because I found it really helpful and funny and sad and all of the above. Great book!