Julia Wertz has long shared funny stories that happened to her while drunk in her "Fart Party" series, but she finally shares the full story of her alcoholism and steps (forward and back) on her road to recovery. It is sort of average, as the cover claims, but still kept my interest and amused me even as it backs away from the rapid-fire humor of her previous books.

A lot of other books I've read by or about alcoholics tend to focus on people with big extroverted personalities, so it was fascinating to get the perspective of an introverted person who sort of kept her alcohol abuse to herself while simultaneously sharing it with all her readers across various media.

Her self-examination is pretty thorough but she doesn't get so focused that she omits the people around her, as these sort of books sometimes do. In fact, at a certain point she goes overboard, giving most of her dozens of cartoonist friends a cameo or two in the back half. ( )

I absolutely loved this book and its many layers - friendship, family, career, and of course, the very heart wrenching story of the author's substance abuse and recovery. I fell in love with the author's wit and vulnerability.
Recommended! ( )