Nice Recoveryby Susan Juby

"There are families, which, through a combination of genetics, culture, and inclination, produce a startling number of professional athletes, such as tennis players or hockey stars. Then there are families like the Baldwins, which produce a high percentage of actors. My family seems to specialize in people who enjoy drinking. And taking drugs. In such families, there is usually one person who stands out as particularly gifted in the field. When I was a teenager, that person was me. I was the star, the Alec Baldwin, if you will. I started drinking seriously when I was thirteen, smoking pot with a vengeance at fourteen, and getting into cocaine at sixteen. By the time I was twenty I was done. Nice Recovery is the story of how I slipped so far off course, how I got back on track, and, most importantly, what it's like to come of age as a sober young person." (goodreads.com)

Sometimes fate intervenes in your book reading. At least that is what I think happened to me in regards to this book. One morning on Twitter I was praising author Lauren Mechling for writing a couple of super fantastic YA books and she asked me if I had ever read anything by Susan Juby. I said no. Lauren said I must and that the author was also Canadian (like me and half of Lauren!). I should go right out and get the Alice, I Think series and read it! That same day, in the afternoon, I was contacted by Penguin Group Canada and offered a chance to review a new book by Susan Juby. This time it was her personal memoir on alcohol addition as a teen. I jokingly asked my rep if she had been internet stalking me earlier in the day and she assures me she wasn't. ;) But I thought it was just too much of a coincidence to have just been told of this author and then offered a review opportunity to say no.Also, I like reading books on addiction and mental illness and stuff. I have a few in my library about mental illness and things that are half-memoir and half made up from true stories. I would have been a psychology major except for all that science stuff and research (which I suck at).Juby tells her story with humour and compassion. I get the feeling from reading this book that she is the kind of person who is able to laugh at herself. Now. Probably not when she was a teen, but her retelling of her experiences as a teen alcoholic are oddly heartwarming. Yes, my heart broke in a million pieces many times as I turned the pages, but at the same time I did not find her story dark and negative. There was a positive vibe among those words. In no way did that positive vibe take away from the seriousness of the addiction, but I didn't feel like I was suffocating as I read about the depression and fear and hopelessness she was talking about.I will admit that I can't entirely understand the need for drinking to solve one's problems. But that's just me. Having my own history with depression and bullying and shyness, I was never one to turn to drinking. I was always too scared of those who did drink because people became someone else when they did and they almost inevitably threw up near me.  Makes me sort of happy I didn't know Susan Juby when she was going through her addiction, she herself states that she was a puker when she drank. Ick.Nice Recovery is the first memoir I have read on the subject of alcoholism.  I was curious to see how much I might relate to a different form of addiction than what I was familiar with. I think Juby has an amazing way with words and a gift at story telling. I was surprised to find that the last few chapters are more of a study into the addition itself. Adding interviews of other (recovering) alcoholics and people in rehab it made a pleasant mix mix of personal story and statistical information. I was also surprised at the number of teen alcoholics in the world (ok, well, Canada). I guess since I have never enjoyed alcohol I find it very hard to see why anyone would!The book is easy to read and not too difficult to get through (i.e., sad). I was nervous about the emotional impact it could have had on me. Susan Juby keeps it real and light enough that it is oddly a pleasant read. And if I enjoyed her memoir on something so negative I am very keen on checking out her actual fictional YA works. Her writing style just clicked for me.