Customer Reviews

Hangover Soup: A Novel

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"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?

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!

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!

Having spent my entire childhood among alcoholics, I found this book to be heartbreakingly real. Her writing is pure prose. A must read for anyone who has ever loved or been loved by a drunk. It gives you hope that there IS life after tragedy. . .

This novel seemed like the outpourings of a real woman coming to terms with her alcoholic husband. Should Faith leave Jay, should she struggle to make the marriage work even without him changing, or should she try harder to make him change? Of course she is flawed too, and like most humans, the reader won't always think *she* is taking the right path. That is what makes this book feel like an autobiographical account.

Among other aspects of loving an alcoholic, the novel hints at the guilt when one partner stops heavy drinking and partying but the other doesn't or progressively drinks more. There is some self-hate due to feeling like a hypocrite. I think anyone who has loved an alcoholic, without being one his or herself, will see some of their experiences here. On the flip side, anyone who is tired of hearing complaints about their level of drinking may also finally HEAR what the "nagger" feels and is experiencing.
Like life, the story turns in ways you don't want it to and the characters change their minds when you don't expect them to or don't think they should.
The author does not try to give answers to questions that have no answers. It is a comment on family, love, alcoholism, martyrism, and the different facets of an individual's personality (some that are kept hidden from all, some that are reserved for only the people the person loves).

Jay does discuss AA, though briefly, and why he chooses to try to get sober with only the help of his independent group of supporters. I do not recall Al-Anon (support group for family members) being mentioned by name and that is certainly a valid point to critique. Nevertheless, the fact that loved ones often limit their involvement to the AA family meetings may be more realistic than a previous reviewer supposes and would be a great topic for discussion in a reading or support group.

(There are also some sample questions in the back of the book for use in a reading group)

All-in-all this is about a very disturbing subject but life breathes through the pages. The author often sprinkles in light humor to loosen the mood. In a way, the book itself is a wake-up call for those who may be going down the same path.

I was disappointed in this book. I just could not warm up to the characters. They did not seem real and I ended up not caring about them. I also thought that the dialogue between the characters was weak. It held my interest long enough to finish the book, however when I was done I wished that I had invested my time in a better book.

A very touching look into the life, thought and feelings of a spouse of an alcoholic/addict. If anybody is in this sort of a relationship it would do them good to read this book and know that there are others in the same boat. I hope this book goes far, it has a very important message.

The voice is smart, lively, optimistic (even in the face of tragedy), and the writing is precise in the voice. This book is about love lost and the dimensions of it: when love is not lost because of love, but because of the other person's addiction, and how the woman who loved this person (whether he is husband, boyfriend, relative, friend, or not; the hurt is the same - you love an addict, you get burned by an addict) deals with it. How does a woman in love with a drunk survive after a broken heart and a bashed-in face (as a result of her relationship with the drunk)? Redd writes about the wives of the drunks: "I go to the five-thirty family meeting at his halfway house and sit with the other wives while they chain-smoke and tell their sordid stories. They've been beaten, dragged around by their hair, they've seen their children go hungry while their husbands guzzled up the grocery money. I never say a word. There's never a part where my story seems to fit in, although it certainly has its sordid aspects." In the end, what is she left with? A longing for everything to be all right. And hope. I like hopeful books without pat endings. This one satisfies.

I found HANGOVER SOUP to be riveting. I could not put it down. Plus, being a Texan, I found the insight into student-athlete life at the University of Texas to be fascinating and funny.

Hangover Soup is funny, believable, heartbreaking and exceptionally well-written. Redd is a truly original talent whose wit and delicacy shine through her depiction of some of life's ugliest problems. The emotionally complex themes of love and addiction receive a very contemporary expression in Hangover Soup. Redd's keen eye and ear for humor in everyday situations still have me chuckling. I highly recommend this book to fans of elegant and witty contemporary fiction.