
Quitter
A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery
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Narrated by:
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Jean Ann Douglass
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By:
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Erica C. Barnett
About this listen
"Barnett's prose style is brassy and cleareyed, with echoes of Anne Lamott." (Beth Macy, The New York Times Book Review)
"Emotionally devastating and self-aware, this cautionary tale about substance abuse is a worthy heir to Cat Marnell's How to Murder Your Life." (Publishers Weekly starred review)
A startlingly frank memoir of one woman's struggles with alcoholism and recovery, with essential new insights into addiction and treatment.
Erica C. Barnett had her first sip of alcohol when she was 13, and she quickly developed a taste for drinking to oblivion with her friends. In her late 20s, 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 30s, 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 mottoes 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 12 Americans suffers from alcohol abuse disorder, Quitter is essential listening for our age and an ultimately hopeful story of Barnett's own hard-fought path to sobriety.
©2020 Erica C. Barnett (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“I can’t think of another memoir that captures the nightmare of drinking relapse like this one. Erica Barnett’s tale is brutal, maddening, and beautiful. Quitter will give hope to anyone afraid they can't ever get this thing. Hang in there. You just might.” (Sarah Hepola, New York Times best-selling author of Blackout)
“[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 best-selling 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)
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- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Like many women, Clare Pooley found the juggle of a stressful career and family life a struggle, so she left her successful role as a managing partner in one of the world's biggest advertising agencies to look after her family. She knew the change wouldn't be easy, but she never expected to find herself an overweight, depressed, middle-aged mother of three who was drinking more than a bottle of wine a day and spending her evenings Googling 'am I an alcoholic?'
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The performance makes this one worthwhile...
- By River Holmes-miller on 04-24-18
By: Clare Pooley
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Dry
- A Memoir
- By: Augusten Burroughs
- Narrated by: Augusten Burroughs
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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At the request (well, it wasn't really a request) of his employers, Augusten lands in rehab, where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey Jr. are immediately dashed by grim reality of fluorescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. When Augusten is forced to examine himself, he finds himself in the worst trouble of all. Because when his thirty days are up, he has to return to his same drunken Manhattan life - and live it sober. Dry is the story of love, loss, and Starbucks as a Higher Power
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Sobriety with a sense of style....
- By heidi on 09-28-03
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A Thousand Wasted Sundays
- A Hilarious and Heartfelt Memoir about Partying, Parenting and Sobriety
- By: Victoria Vanstone
- Narrated by: Victoria Vanstone
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Victoria Vanstone grew up in 1980s England in a happy home full of laughter, booze and a disturbing amount of fancy-dress parties. From her youthful days downing cheap wine at the local park to dodging disastrous relationships, her reliable mate alcohol was never far from reach. Eventually, Victoria found herself with a husband and a child on the way. After sobering up for her first pregnancy, becoming a boring, bottom-wiping, cleaning machine meant she soon returned to her binge-drinking ways, and had to grapple anew with the habits and beliefs that had gone unchecked since childhood.
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Honest and Helpful
- By Amanda Mcgeshick on 12-12-24
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Glorious Rock Bottom
- By: Bryony Gordon
- Narrated by: Bryony Gordon
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Bryony Gordon is a respected journalist, a number one best-selling author and an award-winning mental health campaigner. She is also an alcoholic. In Glorious Rock Bottom Bryony opens up about a toxic 20-year relationship with alcohol and drugs and explains exactly why hitting rock bottom - for her, a traumatic event and the abrupt realisation that she was putting herself in danger, time and again - saved her life.
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absolutely fabulous ⭐
- By pixie on 03-05-23
By: Bryony Gordon
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Push Off from Here
- Nine Essential Truths to Get You Through Sobriety (and Everything Else)
- By: Laura McKowen
- Narrated by: Laura McKowen
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In Push Off from Here, McKowen delves deeply into each of her nine points: what they mean, how they work, and how every person can live them. She addresses topics such as the correlation between trauma and addiction, the importance of radical honesty, letting go of the illusion of control, the value of community, a reminder that healing is a continual process, and that the process is a gift. Whether you’re just starting out or have been sober for decades, McKowen instructs us to be kind to ourselves: Change is messy and progress is rarely linear, but we can always push off from here.
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As a "Quit Lit" connoisseur, this is a new fave!
- By Cheri Howard on 06-24-23
By: Laura McKowen
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This Side of Alcohol
- Random Thoughts and Candid Words of Pain, Hope, Humor, Love—and All That Is Possible in Sobriety
- By: Peggi Cooney
- Narrated by: Peggi Cooney
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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This Side of Alcohol is borne out of the cathartic journaling I did during the first two years following my break-up with alcohol. It tells the story of what I did to get and stay sober, allowing me to transform my shame, guilt, and anger into self-compassion, self-discovery, and forgiveness—of myself and others. From self-loathing isolation to a joyous community of support and rediscovered intimacy with my family.
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The pure emotion and story telling
- By Samantha hansen on 09-26-24
By: Peggi Cooney
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We Are the Luckiest
- The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life
- By: Laura McKowen
- Narrated by: Laura McKowen
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
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What could possibly be “lucky” about addiction? Absolutely nothing, thought Laura McKowen when drinking brought her to her knees. As she puts it, she “kicked and screamed . . . wishing for something - anything - else” to be her issue. The people who got to drink normally, she thought, were so damn lucky. But in the midst of early sobriety, when no longer able to anesthetize her pain and anxiety, she realized that she was actually the lucky one. Lucky to feel her feelings, live honestly, really be with her daughter, change her legacy.
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Influencer Recovery, Part One
- By Keith Keller on 01-31-20
By: Laura McKowen
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Last Call
- A Memoir
- By: Nancy L. Carr
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Memoir Synopsis “That evening I wanted to go to a teenage party, and I wanted to drink alcohol, the grownup beverage of choice, the potion glamorized on TV and in movies, the stuff the older cool kids were drinking every weekend. I wanted to be cool. I wanted to fit in. Whatever it took.” She was attractive, popular and determined to grow up in a hurry. How would she have known that at age thirteen, during her first teenage drinking party, her life would play out in such a way that it would rule her life decisions going forward? The handsome boys and pretty girls were guzzling a certain...
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Couldn't finish, AI was terrible
- By Janel Shaughnessy on 04-12-25
By: Nancy L. Carr
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The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober
- Discovering a Happy, Healthy, Wealthy Alcohol-Free Life
- By: Catherine Gray
- Narrated by: Catherine Gray
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever sworn off alcohol for January and found yourself drinking by the 7th? Think there's 'no point' in just one drink? Welcome! There are millions of us. This inspirational, aspirational and highly relatable narrative champions the benefits of sobriety with a three-pronged approach combining the author's personal experience, factual reportage and contributions from expert sources and self-help advice for anyone who wants to reduce their alcohol intake or eliminate it completely.
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Best Book on This Subject!
- By Polly on 05-14-20
By: Catherine Gray
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Girl Walks Out of a Bar
- A Memoir
- By: Lisa F. Smith
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Lisa Smith was a bright young lawyer at a prestigious law firm in New York City when alcoholism and drug addiction took over her life. What was once a way she escaped her insecurity and negativity as a teenager became a means of coping with the anxiety and stress of an impossible workload. Girl Walks Out of a Bar explores Smith's formative years, her decade of alcohol and drug abuse, divorce, and her road to recovery.
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A Good Look At The Dual-Diagnosis...
- By Gillian on 06-14-17
By: Lisa F. Smith
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Drunk Mom
- A Memoir
- By: Jowita Bydlowska
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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A best seller in its native Canada, Drunk Mom is a gripping, brutally honest memoir of motherhood in the shadow of alcoholism. Three years after giving up drinking, Jowita Bydlowska found herself throwing back a glass of champagne like it was ginger ale. It was a special occasion: a party celebrating the birth of her first child. It also marked Bydlowska's immediate, full-blown return to crippling alcoholism.
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A not very lovely story that I love anyway.
- By Alixandra Hice on 01-12-15
By: Jowita Bydlowska
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This Naked Life
- Forty-Eight True Stories of Finding Freedom from Alcohol
- By: Annie Grace
- Narrated by: Annie Grace
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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This Naked Life offers 48 raw and real stories of people, who have found freedom from alcohol. In this audio, discover how Bryan went from hopeless certainty that drinking would eventually kill him, to absolute peace over the course of a single day. See how listening one book gave Jennifer total freedom after 20 years of binge drinking. Watch Becca thrive in ways she had never thought possible, all because she learned it was okay to question her relationship with alcohol before she hit rock bottom.
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It’s an infomercial
- By Alison Cooke on 09-03-22
By: Annie Grace
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Strung Out
- One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me
- By: Erin Khar
- Narrated by: Jayme Mattler
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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This deeply personal and illuminating memoir about her 15-year struggle with heroin, Khar sheds profound light on the opioid crisis and gives a voice to the over two million people in America currently battling with this addiction. Growing up in LA, Erin Khar hid behind a picture-perfect childhood filled with excellent grades, a popular group of friends and horseback riding. After first experimenting with her grandmother’s expired painkillers, Khar started using heroin when she was thirteen.
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Surface material
- By blythe mayfield on 03-06-20
By: Erin Khar
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My Fair Junkie
- A Memoir of Getting Dirty and Staying Clean
- By: Amy Dresner
- Narrated by: Amy Dresner
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of Orange Is the New Black and Jerry Stahl's Permanent Midnight, Amy Dresner's My Fair Junkie is an insightful, darkly funny, and shamelessly honest memoir of one woman's battle with all forms of addiction, hitting rock bottom, and forging a path to a life worth living.
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if you don't read this I'll brandish a bread knife
- By Jackie Lange on 03-02-18
By: Amy Dresner
Truthful portrayal of the insidiousness of alcoholism
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Great read
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Tough subject some won’t fully grasp
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Addiction can happen to anyone
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One of the best recovery books ever!
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Best, authentic story I've read/listened yet.
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Powerful
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What a story of hope when the story seemed hopeless.
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Very relatable!
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One of the better Alcohol Addiction Memoirs
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