Hangover Soup: A Novel [Hardcover]

Louise Redd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1999

Tired of watching her husband Jay drink himself into a stupor every evening, Faith leaves, and Jay embarks on a twenty-six day marathon of sobriety to win her back, in a humorous story of one woman's battle to save her marriage, cure her husband, and find her true self.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"I met my husband in college, where it's hard to tell who's a true alcoholic and who's not," explains Faith Evers, the deliciously astute narrator of Redd's second novel, which describes life with Jay Evers, a popular jazz DJ, a gorgeous man and an unrepentant drunk. In between her duties as head tutor for the "student-athletes" at the University of Texas-Austin (she calls them, affectionately, her "hired thugs"), Faith begs and nags Jay to quit drinking. After too many evenings "when Jay's face began to lose its structure, when forming a sentence and a smile required incredible effort and a long period of rest afterward," Faith very reluctantly leaves him. Jay then launches a "High on Wife" alcohol-free marathon at his radio station, trying hard to win her back by serenading and cajoling her over the air waves. His sobriety marathon is upbeat and jubilant until he discovers that Faith has slept with a grad student. Distraught, he embarks on a drinking binge that leads to vehicular homicide and a jail sentence. Friends and family want Faith to get a divorce. "Honey, that's what we call a starter marriage," says her aunt in New York. But Faith finds she can't stop loving Jay, in spite of his egregious faults. Then a chance meeting in a cemetery brings Faith into a tricky, unstable friendship with the husband of Jay's victim. Redd (Playing the Bones) intersperses comic relief when Faith works on grammar with her Texas sports stars, meanwhile guiding her story toward a horrifying climax and then to a sad but hopeful denouement. Expert pacing, pitch-perfect dialogue, fully dimensional minor characters and Redd's ability to depict the wondrous and the terrifying in everyday life create an immensely appealing narrative. Like the novel she inhabits, Faith Evers is wise, funny and utterly memorable. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Given all the emotional hardship Faith Evers endures, Hangover Soup could easily have been a dreary, whining novel. Thankfully, it isn't. The beauty of Redd's second novel (following Playing the Bones) is that it is tightly plotted and briskly paced, funny at times, raunchy at others. Set in Austin, TX, it traces the story of Faith's determined efforts to sober up her husband, Jay, a pot-smoking, beer-guzzling, poetry-quoting, smooth-talking DJ. Jay's on-air marathon toward sobriety starts off well but then takes a drastic turn when he finds out about Faith's brief night of unfaithfulness. Throughout, the novel is sprinkled with advice from Faith's mother, a tomato-growing guru, and enlivened with scenes of Faith's efforts to cram good grammar and basic science into the heads of the university athletes she tutors. Compelling, searching, realistic, and hopeful, this is a novel for all public libraries.AYvette Weller Olson, City Univ. Lib., Renton, WA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 259 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1st edition (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316479004
• ISBN-13: 978-0316479004
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,544,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WHY?, October 11, 2000

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hangover Soup: A Novel (Paperback)

"I met my husband in college, where it's hard to tell who's a true alcoholic and who's not. It's not an excuse but I think it should be mentioned."

The opening lines of Louise Redd's second novel make her setting and topic immediately clear - college and drinking.

College, in this case, is the University of Texas where Faith Evers tutors the football and baseball teams. The drinking is done by her husband, Jay, a popular late night DJ, host of "Revel Without A Pause."

After five+ years of marriage punctuated by Jay's seemingly sincere vows of sobriety, promises that have "the life span of a paper towel," Faith calls it quits and moves out, taking her books, CDs, and clothes to a room at the college dorm where she agrees to be on 24-hour-call for student-athletes.

There is little emotional support from her parents - her mother is fixated on breaking the world's record for growing the largest tomato, and her father, a surgeon, is distant at best.

Faith throws herself into frenzied activity - repeatedly explaining to recalcitrant young athletes the differences between simile and hyperbole, futilely trying to help them craft sentences using the word relatively, and pushing them to recognize when to use may rather than can. She does laps around the track at midnight. Nonetheless, she cannot forget Jay, and is drawn to the radio just to listen to his voice.

When she hears of Jay's marathon for sobriety, his "High on Wife Marathon," she goes to the radio station, eager to believe in him again. But, during their brief reconciliation, she confesses to a one-night stand. This pushes Jay off the wagon and behind the wheel of a car. He drunkenly collides with another auto, killing a young social worker.

With the help of his lawyer, Jay receives a light sentence - 2 ½ years in a correctional facility.

When Faith's best friend, Darrah, hears the news, she comments: "Knowing Jay, I'm surprised it wasn't an entire school bus full of handicapped Christian orphans or something. Please tell me you're divorcing him."

The Texas coach counsels, "You're still young, Faith. You can still have a life, remarry, have children."

The embarrassment, hate mail, threats, and averted glances that Faith receives because of what Jay has done would seem to be enough. Yet, there is more pain awaiting her. This time from a totally surprising and unexpected source.

Nonetheless through all of this she waits for Jay.

The question is - why?

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Faith, Hope and Tenderness ..., September 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hangover Soup: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book is a rare find, this story of Faith Evers' quest to see her marriage through the heartbreak of addiction, and to teach her beloved "student-athletes" at the University of Texas the correct usage of the word "hopefully." It is a tale of the myriad ways that people betray and care for one another. As a former teacher, I loved Redd's tender portrait of Faith's students--a lesser writer would have held these characters up to ridicule, particularly Corey, who is prone to heartfelt public prayer, but in Redd's capable hands these boys, like all good characters, are rich and funny and flawed and sweet. Faith's quest to keep hope alive for her marriage, for the very idea of eternal love, despite her husband's struggle with alcoholism, is always surprising. This is a wonderful book!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love, Texas style, August 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hangover Soup: A Novel (Hardcover)

Louise Redd's second novel is a wise and witty tale of a tragic relationship between a passionate and clever young woman and her all-too-human spouse. For anyone who has ever loved against all logic, this novel touches deeply. I loved the racy heroine of her first novel, Playing the Bones, and in Faith she has again created a vivid character of great depth and humor. Faith embodies the mixed emotions of those old enough to know better who nevertheless can't help themselves from loving against the odds. Redd has an incomparable ear for language, and her voice sings clear and true. A must read!