Addiction memoir is always a difficult genre for me, not because I don’t respect the experiences and struggles of the author, but because I don’t connect with them for various reasons. That was true to some extent with Drinking Games, but I did find it a more pleasant read than I have other books of this type. Sarah Levy is honest about her struggles with alcohol and other issues of lacking self-worth, but I appreciate that she writes of these experiences in a way that feels optimistic. The essayistic style of this memoir lets you know that she’s sober and happy now, so reading through her darker periods doesn’t feel so heavy.

That being said, there were some (smallish) issues I had with this book, too. Levy clearly comes from a place of privilege in life, which isn’t a problem, but I think could be acknowledged more in her story. She attends an Ivy League school and attends parties with posh people in a way that feels very distant from my life. Those are her experiences, which is totally fine, but as a person who’s life is very distant from that, it’s hard to (or even want to) relate. There was a specific moment when she writes about the day after the 2016 election and says she sees other women crying in the streets, wondering “how a man with such disrespect for women’s bodies” could have been elected. My immediate reaction to that was thinking how many other minoritized groups have also been disrespected by Trump and how simple it could’ve been to revise this sentence to acknowledge more than just her own experience. I don’t doubt that she feels this way or understands this problems, but this is why I say privilege could be more acknowledged.

On a writing level, I was also irked a bit by the way each chapter feels so neatly wrapped up. As you reach the last few sentences, everything starts to signal, “hey, here comes the lesson of this chapter!” in a way that feels hokey. I imagine Levy could grow out of this more as she continues writing.

3.5 ⭐️

I appreciated the courage it takes to write such an intimate deep dive into flaws and weaknesses. I have seen what alcoholism can do to people. How it can make things crumble around them. This was a story of great privilege though. I know what people can lose in the face of an all consuming addiction.

I enjoyed her narration of her fight with alcohol. It truly takes a strong person to see what is hurting them and stop even when it makes them feel good.

An honest, open conversation about the author's experience with alcohol and sobriety in a culture where drinking is the norm. Sarah gives an inside look at how alcohol affected her life - friendships, relationships, health, career, etc. - and as somebody that grew up in a similar culture of drinking, I enjoyed listening to this one.

Drinking is everywhere and it's deemed odd if you don't drink or choose to only have one. While I don't share the same experiences as Sarah did with alcohol, I can still relate and appreciate what she went through.

I'd recommend this to those struggling with alcohol, thinking of becoming sober, or even those who are just curious and wanting to see other perspectives.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in advance of the release date.

Thank you Sarah for having the courage to share your experiences with alcohol abuse and recovery!
It was heartbreaking to read about Levy's blackouts and vulnerability to alcohol and I wondered what, if anything, caused her to have such a poor self-image. I'm really happy that she was able to acknowledge the issue and get the appropriate support to help her beat alcoholism. She was fortunate to have the financial privileges to allow her to battle her addiction.
The only quibble I have with this story is that it was nonlinear and tended to be repetitive. This disrupted the flow of the story for me but I still recommend it, especially to young women who may feel alone in their dependence on alcohol.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader copy.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this memoir by Sarah Levy - 5 stars! I started reading the digital copy but switched to the audio because the author narrated it - love listening to an author tell her own story.

Sarah Levy was 28, living in NYC, and was an alcoholic even though she wouldn't have given herself that label. She was like many millennials feeling that she always had to be on her best game, in real life and in social media, and couldn't imagine navigating life without alcohol. Until too many blackout incidents made her take a hard look at her life.

This was a look into Sarah's experience with alcohol and it was honest and real. But it was never preachy - Sarah told her story before and after alcohol and how life looks now. It's a tale for anyone with an addiction or even a drive to constantly be bigger and better instead of living. Add to all that, it was a well-written, intriguing story and tough to put down. Highly recommended!

This book makes me realize I really don’t like memoirs by entitled well to do white people. While I believe this writer had a true issue in her drinking the complaints she has in her day to say are sooo minor compared to some of the other stories I read it just sounds so ridiculous. She beats herself up for not doing her dosages or having a pile of unread books. Oh boy.
This collection of essays makes her comes across as the most unassured young woman who ping pongs from trend to person looking for validation and some kind of direction. Her background of blackouts and ending up hospitalized or in unwanted sexual situations is definitely terrible don’t get me wrong but the surrounding people and perceptions were so cringey. At one point she tells us abt a socialite friend who watches her get so drunk she ends up hospitalized. Instead of helping her, the friend decides to break off their friendship. These people are awful. I’ve had friends with drinking issues and I never would have abandoned them like that. And her boyfriend who told her she’s fat?! Oof. She can really pick ‘em.

If you liked Alyssa Shelasky’s memoir:essays this might strike your fancy. Similarly this writer is very honest and I applaud that aspect. The vulnerability she shows is fantastic. I just maybe didn’t need a chapter on archiving instagram posts. Oh millennials. Sigh.

In Drinking Games, author Sarah Levy shares the story of her unhealthy relationship with alcohol and what contributed to her decision to quit drinking.

Although I didn’t find Levy’s story particularly unique or compelling, she is definitely a talented writer and constructs readable and interesting prose. I will be keeping an eye out for her future work.

I love how open and honest Sarah Levy was in this book. I really appreciated that this was a different look at what a drinking problem can be. She talked about stereotypical alcoholics and how it’s more nuanced than we usually think about alcoholism. I appreciated that as I start to look at how our lives are built around the rituals of drinking. It made me reconsider my and society’s relationship with alcohol and how we use it to celebrate or commiserate or reward. I really connected to many of the ways she thought about alcohol in her twenties and think this would be a great read for anyone living on their own for the first time. She also shared really vulnerably about work in her 20’s and how we’re all just looking for something to believe in and something bigger to be part of, which is why it’s so easy to get sucked into corporate life. I also really loved how she talked about social media and how it impacted her drinking and later her sobriety, it was just a really great commentary on how society interacts with social media and how it impacts our relationships. There were some parts about manifestation that felt a bit trite, but when she talked about what she got out of it, it did make me consider the buzz word of “manifestation” in a different way. Overall, I really felt a connection to her, enjoyed her narration, and loved hearing her talk about her dreams of writing and truly was rooting for her as the story developed. Big thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ARC!

Sarah’s memoir is more a series of essays than a linear timeline but a compelling read full of honesty about her journey to sobriety. Whether your sober, struggling, or have no issues with alcohol her story has something to relate to, especially female millennials. I listened to the audiobook and she narrates it. That always up the ante for me in a memoir and she does a great job at the narration too.

Thanks NetGalley and St Martins Press for my arcs!

This book was just ok for me. It glossed over too much of the hard stuff, and made it seem like her journey was really easy.

“Drinking Games explores the role alcohol has in our formative adult lives, and what it means to opt out of a culture completely enmeshed in drinking. Sarah explores what our short-term choices about alcohol do to our long-term selves and how it challenges our ability to be vulnerable enough to discover what we really want in life.”

Full disclosure: I read the first 60% of this book thinking the author was Sarah Levy of Schitt’s Creek fame. This coloured my reading SO MUCH, as I spent an embarrassing amount of time saying things like, “I expected this to be funnier.”, “I can’t believe Eugene would say THAT.” and “When are they getting to the Twyla part?”

You’d think I was born before the advent of Google, or something.

Ahem.

As for the actual book by the actual author, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Listen, she’s lived a very privileged life, and has the first-iest of First World Problems, but her writing about her struggles with alcohol were vivid and honest and I am very much rooting for her success.

6.5/10

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this genuine ARC.

As a sister to two alcoholic/addicts, I really enjoyed this perspective on drinking. Sarah Levy is so bold and honest about her alcoholism, and she was very lucky in how she turned her life around. Great listen!

A brutally honest look at the struggle of sobriety in our American alcohol is every where society. The shame of attending parties with alcohol and having to say no, disintegrating of long time friendships, and the reality of blackouts - Sarah holds little back.
The amount of courage, the lack of fear for revealing her honest self - not just to millions of strangers, as a reader learns of her most intimate struggle, but also for those Sarah knows.
Inspiring, encouraging and supportive. Sarah accomplished her goal - providing a story of sobriety, pointing out the lack in our literature choices. Well done.

This is a very brave and honest look at Sarah's relationship with alcohol. But in the grander scheme, her relationship with life.

I really related to the parts that discussed using various means of escapism (not always alcohol) instead of facing life and your full potential. I think many people struggle with that at some point in their life. Whether their agent is alcohol, drugs, social media, exercise, or some other form of artificial control over their life, it is usually not sustainable in the extreme forms they tend to take.

I also appreciated her thoughts about rock bottom. How you don't have to be an alcoholic to have a toxic relationship with alcohol or to stop drinking.

Title: Drinking Games
Author: Sarah Levy
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
Memoir
Essays
Sobriety
Vulnerability

My Thoughts:
This was such a vulnerable memoir. I loved hearing Sarah's story of becoming sober and her realization that she needed to throughout her stories. I think alcoholism is something that more people suffer from than we realize because it has become such a coping mechanism for a lot of people and it's legal. It was especially interesting for me to read because Sarah and I aren't that different in terms of age, thoughts, and other things and alcoholism is something that I could have easily fallen into myself. I hope this memoir finds everyone that needs it because it was truly an eye opening read.

This is the memoir every college girl needs to read. Sarah Levy narrates her candid memoir about her struggle with alcohol as a new college graduate and young professional in NYC. She finally realizes she has had one too many blackouts waking up in random places like the ER or a strangers bed. But she struggles with how she will socialize and date without alcohol in a culture fueled by drinks.

I really enjoyed this listen. College and young professional life often revolves around alcohol. It can be difficult in this environment to make a change you know you need. Levy is inspirational in her choice to eliminate alcohol from her life. Thank goodness no more Santacon! 🎅🏼 She seems well grounded now and living her life to its fullest potential. Kudos to her recovery and for sharing it with the world.

Pick this up as a gift for your college aged daughter or new professional OR if you just don’t want to wake up hungover again!

Through a collection of essays, Sarah Levy shares her struggles with alcohol in college and her decision to get sober. Sarah is very candid about her struggles with alcohol and the wild life she was living before realizing that drinking was ruining all her relationships. 

This book was interesting because it really made me think about how drinking dominates alot of social and professional situations. For Sarah to give up drinking, she felt that she needed to hide it..she was already known as the girl that was down to party anytime, the girl that was a good time, the girl that could drink the most and party the longest. She had to change people's perception of her and make it known she was more than "that girl" 

I really enjoyed Sarah's story and the writing was fantastic! Sarah knows what she wants out of life and is not afraid to go for it.

A candid look at how alcoholism affects your life. Sarah Levy relays her story of her drinking problem and how it affects everything from exercising to social media to work and more.

Written in a honest way, I liked that the author narrated it herself. This is a story a lot of us in this current times have or is going through. There is light at the end of the tunnel and this book is how she got to it.

Thank you #NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to this!

Sarah Levy recounts her journey to sobriety in a series of essays about her life during her black-out drinking, and the freedom she's found in sobriety after. While there is a some repetition of story, each story ties back to the theme of each chapter. This was a vulnerable look at how drinking can effect some people, and the author's pursuit to continually choose sobriety, and the life she wants and can only find without alcohol.

I will admit I picked this up because I thought it was Sarah Levy from Schitt's Creek, but I'm glad I did, it was an excellent read!