Quitter, my memoir about drinking, relapse, and recovery, is available for preorder now and in bookstores July 7.
About Quitter
Erica C. Barnett had her first sip of alcohol when she was thirteen, and she quickly developed a taste for drinking to oblivion with her friends. In her late twenties, her addiction became inescapable.
Volatile relationships, blackouts, and unsuccessful stints in detox defined her life, with the vodka bottles she hid throughout her apartment and offices acting as both her tormentors and closest friends.
By the time she was in her late thirties, Erica Barnett had run the gauntlet of alcoholism. She had recovered and relapsed time and again, but after each new program or detox center would find herself far from rehabilitated.
“Rock bottom,” Barnett writes, “is a lie.” It is always possible, she learned, to go lower than your lowest point. She found that the terms other alcoholics used to describe the trajectory of their addiction–“rock bottom” and “moment of clarity”–and the mottos touted by Alcoholics Anonymous, such as “let go and let God” and “you’re only as sick as your secrets”–didn’t correspond to her experience and could actually be detrimental.
With remarkably brave and vulnerable writing, Barnett expands on her personal story to confront the dire state of addiction in America, the rise of alcoholism in American women in the last century, and the lack of rehabilitation options available to addicts.
At a time when opioid addiction is a national epidemic and one in twelve Americans suffers from alcohol abuse disorder, Quitter is essential reading for our age and an ultimately hopeful story of Barnett’s own hard-fought path to sobriety.
Praise for Quitter
“[Barnett] paints a grotesque portrait of the horror show that is alcoholism with great skill and style. I tore through this book.”
— Cat Marnell, New York Times bestselling author of How to Murder Your Life
“Quitter is all these things: a beautifully told story of one woman’s descent into darkness; a rigorously researched exploration of the causes and treatments of alcohol abuse; a furious howl of pain. Erica C. Barnett has written a female story of addiction that moves beyond clichés and accepted truths.
I loved this book, in all its raging glory.”
— Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble
“Barnett writes with seismic clarity on the baffling nature of the early morning vodka trip and the anguish and relief it produces in equal measure. This book understands what it is like to fail but have that last bit of hope. Remarkable writing on a disease that effects so many. Quitter is the new manual for those seeking a recovered life.”
—Erin Lee Carr, author of All That You Leave Behind, director of I Love You, Now Die and At the Heart of Gold
“A harrowing, deeply truthful account . . . Barnett doesn’t flinch in showing the impact of her ever-worsening relapses on her health, career, and even her most steadfast relationships, and she holds herself to account while also making it clear how the treatment system failed her. . . . A riveting, suspenseful read . . . an essential addition to literature of addiction.”
—Kristi Coulter, author of Nothing Good Can Come from This