Book Review: Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler
Adventures of a former alcoholic during early sobriety.
A benefit of sobriety was that I felt superior toward anyone who drank, regardless of the other factors of their lives or mine. An unflattering quality, for sure, but an indispensable one, particularly if you don’t have much else going on.
Dennis Monk began drinking in college and after six years of life as an alcoholic, a totaled car, a dead friend, many lost jobs, and night after night of forgotten embarrassments and accusatory looks from friends the next morning, he decided to become sober. "Early Sobrieties" is an episodic novel written by Michael Deagler, about Monk's adventures during his new sobriety, where he struggles to make sense of a world that rushed past him in six years like Rip Van Winkle (who is briefly referred to in the novel) awaken after a period of deep slumber. I received a review copy of the book from the publisher, Astra House, through NetGalley.
In an interview, the writer mentions that while he became sober after a period of addiction, he wasn't able to find a book about sobriety and then decided to write one himself. Writing about experiences of sobriety is difficult as it may lack any drama as opposed to writing about addiction. Many stories of addiction that contain elements of sobriety, present it as a 'happily-ever-after' situation while refusing to discuss the challenges that sobriety presents. "Early Sobrieties" is an attempt to showcase the state of new sobriety as a difficult stage of trying to rebuild life while people around you, who bore the brunt of your addiction, still choose to disbelieve you.
The novel has eleven chapters and each chapter describes the protagonist crashing in a different house in South Philadelphia. Each chapter introduces us to a new roommate(s) with whom Monk tries to cohabit. Monk meets former acquaintances, relatives, old girlfriends, drinking buddies and strangers during these episodes. The dynamics of relationships have changed and with every meeting, he has to redefine people and his attitude towards them. Another challenge is to remain sober when the entire social interactions are centered on alcohol consumption.
The writer doesn't go for a traditional narrational style and tries a fragmented structure. I'm not sure if he was establishing a parallel with the fragmented memories of the protagonist's past. The narrative is more like a collection of interrelated short stories. Each chapter establishes a new setting and characters, and each has a distinct and brilliant ending that doesn't tie in with the next chapter. Like the identically built row houses that the protagonist crashes in each chapter are diverse due to the diversity of the people who inhabit them, the episodes too take on diverse themes and explore several facets of Monk's sobriety while being part of a larger framework.
The narration is warm, witty and insightful. The humorous and engaging prose employed by Deagler makes it a delightful read. The first-person narrative takes us deep into the protagonist's psyche and makes us relate to his travails, even when he ends up doing things that are not that justifiable. We also realize that he has an impulsive streak running in him, which may also have contributed to several of his misadventures during the period of addiction. The self-deprecating voice of the protagonist makes several sharp observations about human behavior and relationships palatable.
While the core plot of the book is a personal story about a man struggling to make sense of changes of which he is not a part, it is also interesting to view how Philadelphia takes part as a character. While Monk finds the city unrecognizable from his days as an alcoholic, the city itself curiously seems to be sober of its addictive past. It's changing rapidly, with new parts of it being gentrified and old inhabitants wary of the new ones. But some of it still clings to the past which is getting more ridiculous with the march of time.
"Early Sobrieties" is an insightful and often funny narrative about a man trying to cope with sobriety and its effects on his life, his relationships and his future.