Rating: 4 out of 5 ⭐️
Title: Quit Like A Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol
Author: Holly Whitaker
Published: 2019 (Dial Press, New York)
Pages: 368 (Audible Audiobook)
Genres: Nonfiction, Self-Help, Autobiography, Health, Lifestyle, Feminism
CW: Alcoholism (of course…), Eating Disorders, Strong Language, Mental Health Topics, Abuse, Toxic Relationships and Parents
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Alright, are you wondering how I came across this book? If you asked, reviews and posts kept coming up on my Goodreads and Instagram feed about this book often recently, and it’s because I’m pretty sure the paperback version just came out. I do not read a lot of self-help books, especially about alcoholism, but after reading the premise for this one and the reviews, it sounded appealing to me. Let me start off by saying, I am not an alcoholic (I did not finish this book thinking now I’m an alcoholic either). In the past, I briefly spoke about drug and alcohol addiction being a large part of my close family member’s lives. So addiction has always fascinated me, and also how outsiders view and cope with a loved one’s addiction. And after my own stint of sobriety for health reasons last year, I thought this book would be appropriate for me to read. And oh boy, was I in for a ride reading this one!

“The largest single use of ethanol is as an engine fuel and fuel additive. In other words, we drink, for fun, the same thing we use to make rocket fuel, house paint, anti-septics, solvents, perfumes, and deodorants and to denature, i.e. to take away the natural properties of, or kill, living organisms. Which might make sense on some level if we weren’t a generation of green minded, organic, health-conscious, truth seeking individuals. But we are….. We are hyper-vigilant about everything we put into our body, everything we do to our body, and we are proud of this. We Instagram how proud we are of this, and we follow Goop and Well+Good, and we drop 40 bucks on an exercise class because there are healing crystals in the floor….. The global wellness economy is estimated to be worth $4 trillion. $4 TRILLION DOLLARS. We are on an endless and expensive quest for wellness and vitality and youth. And we drink f*cking rocket fuel” – Holly Whitaker, Quit Like A Woman…

This book was wholly nothing I expected. Quit Like A Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol is written by Holly Whitaker, CEO and founder of her program, Tempest, and former director of a San Francisco health tech start-up. By what I understand, after her own battle with alcohol addiction, Whitaker comes to the conclusion that no one is an ‘addict’ and no one should be labeled as such. People simply suffer from addiction due to life and stressors that are unique to that person, and can take form of alcohol or anything else. She is passionate about advocating for not labeling alcoholics or claiming they’re ‘incurable’. Whitaker created her own program of support based on her own research, one that opposes the out-of-date ideas preached in Alcoholics Anonymous (if you read this book you’ll find out she really does not like AA) and related ideas, and tailored more towards women with supporting research and other programs such as Allen Carr’s. She cites Allen Carr A LOT in this book, by the way.

“We love to protect alcohol and our right to consume it, and to vilify people who can’t handle it. We venerate the substance; we demonize those who get sick from using it” – Holly Whitaker, Quit Like A Woman...

Whitaker makes a lot of excellent points about alcohol and its effects on the body and on us as a society, especially in America. Despite your position on alcohol, and whether you’re sober or not, I think this is a very interesting and crucial read, especially if you’re a Millennial and woman. She associates the problem of alcohol on the body, through marketing like cigarettes, the myths and problems about associating “alcoholic” with addiction, etc. She touches on harder-to-swallow subjects as well, such as calling out large wellness-centered companies like Goop, and speaking a lot about social justice activism in connection with addiction. Her writing is also fantastic for someone who is primarily business oriented. I listened to the audio book recording of this book, and she is entertaining to listen to in a humorous feminist way, kind of like Rachel Hollis or Gabrielle Bernstein (who she also quotes a lot).

“To properly heal from addiction, we need a holistic approach. We need to create a life we don’t need to escape. We need to address the root causes that made us turn outside ourselves in the first place. This means getting our physical health back, finding a good therapist, ending or leaving abusive relationships, learning to reinhabit our bodies, changing our negative thought patterns, building support networks, finding meaning and connecting to something greater than ourselves, and so on. To break the cycle of addiction, we need to learn to deal with cravings, break old habits, and create new ones” – Holly Whitaker, Quit Like A Woman…

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and at times I could not get enough! The only aspect I was not so sure about was how often and personally she spoke about social justice issues, even though she is a cis white female… I’m glad she’s using her platform to speak on all women’s rights in a positive way, but I’m kind of exhausted of hearing about social issues from cis white females, and would have rather heard more first-hand accounts from persons of color she could interview. Her preachy-sounding tone was also a turn-off during some points. And at times, I wish she stuck to talking about her own personal experiences in her life and addiction, and left the larger experiences of “all women” out of it. But this is all mostly me though.

“There is the life that most of us live, and then there is the life we have buried deep inside us, the life we know we’re supposed to be living” – Holly Whitaker, Quit Like A Woman…

Why should you read this book? If you enjoy reading self-help books, but about a personal, humorous and enlightening take on alcohol addiction and how it practically affects our current society and attitudes, this is the book for you. I hope you all give this book a chance if you can!

I give this a 4 out of 5!

_Elizabeth

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