Almost all addiction memoirs follow the same story of struggle, realization and rehabilitation. And yet, as a genre, they are extremely popular. Lisa Levy, writing in JSTOR Daily, reviews The Recovering: Intoxication and its Aftermath, by former alcoholic Leslie Jamison, who wonders what it is that makes such narratives so compelling despite their sameness: is it the dark addiction years or the hopeful ending?

JSTOR Daily stories provide background - historical, scientific, literary, political, and otherwise - for understanding our world.

The new sameness of Leslie Jamison's addiction memoir

Similar stories