Alcohol. What does it really do?

 

Book Review by R.Chmielewski

Recommended by S. Bergoine

Mrs. Smith, 2nd Period





Zailckas, Koren; Smashed

The Penguin Group USA, 2006

Heart

Personal Collection

Teen Tempation/Angst/Teenage Problems

343 Pages

 

Alcohol can ruin many situations. It can change a person. It can leave a person forever changed and unable to recover from the spells that it puts upon you. Every teenager is faced with temptations of alcohol and drinking. But for Koren Zailckas, in the novel Smashed by Koren Zailckas, the problem has become a lifestyle of parties and drinking. She grew up in a small city, and lots of people knew her. She had her first drink at a party at the age of 14. Living in a small town where everyone knows the ins and outs of everyone else, words and things spread. Soon after, she was unable to let go and escape it. She felt the alcohol could make her into a new person and allow her social life become more positive, it was a way of her letting go and escaping her feelings. Koren's alcohol problems became even more of a problem when she woke up one day in the hospital from alcohol poisoning covered in bruises. She then realized she had a drinking problem, and had to stop. Zailckas wrote the story as an autobiography on herself at the age of 23, just when graduating college to make teens and young adults aware of the temptations and dangers of what the excessive use of alcohol can do to someone.

This book is meant for young adults and high school students who are faced with many temptations in their life. It shows a teen that even the best of us give into temptations but it shows that anyone can overcome them and pull through them when in time of need to recover and regain strength in your life. It shows you that drinking is bad when done too much in excess, and it even scares you to a point to realize that you need to hold onto your sense of reality. I recommend this book to any teenager who wants to see an account of a teenager whose life spins out of control.