The Zailckas Smashed A Story Of A Drunken Girlhood

I decided to write my final paper on Koren Zailckas Smashed: A Story of a Drunken Girlhood. A memoir based on a young 14 year old girl who drinks for the first time with her friend Natalie before a birthday party. Her experiences with alcohol doesn’t stop there. We learn that she gets her stomach pumped at age 16, and at age 22, wakes up in an apartment in New York City unsure of where she is, because of alcohol. After this, she realizes that she has a problem and that she needs help. I chose this book as the topic of underage drinking and alcohol abuse is constantly rising in our society today. It is a problem that many youth kids are facing, and this book perfectly describes a young girls story about her addiction with alcohol and the many poor decisions she makes. The main reason why I decided to choose this book is because I can personally relate to a lot of the events that Zailckas goes through, and know how she felt in certain situations. The way she describes how she li kes the way alcohol makes her feel, how each bar and drink can relate to different moods she’s in, or how good of a sleep she gets when she’s drunk because its such a deep sleep hit home, as I once have said those exact things. In the helping profession, I believe it is easier for a patient to open up to you if you have also experienced what they are going through. Being that I started drinking at a very young age, I can relate to my patients and help them to the best of my abilities and tell them myShow MoreRelatedSmashed: Story Of A Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas Essay1556 Words   |  7 PagesSmashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood is Koren Zailckas account of life as an alcoholic. It traces her life from her first drink, when she was fourteen, to her last, at twenty-two; Smashed chronicles Zailckas struggle with alcohol abuse, in an effort to explain the binge drinking phenomenon that plagues Americas youth. When Koren was fourteen her friend Natalie found a bottle of Whiskey at Natalies parents cabin. This would be her first experience, ofRead MoreKoren Zailckas, The Author Of Smashed: Story Of A Drunken1532 Words   |  7 PagesKoren Zailckas, the author of Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood (2005), is a 37 year-old Caucasian female who was born to a Catholic, middle-class family in 1980 (Zailckas, 2005, p. xiii). Zailckas grew up on the Northeast side of the United States with her mother, father, and sister who is five years younger than her—none of whom, according to her, have a history of alcoholism (p. xiv). Zailckas, however, recounts starting to drink as early as the age of fourteen and continuing to do so throughout