A Drinking Life

What a sroryteller and what a story to tell.I can't believe it took me so long to "find" this wonderful writer.I had never read anything by him or even heard of him.I do recall, seeing the name on books in the bookstore;but since I tend to read mostly non-fiction,I guess I've just been passing him by. This book has been on my bookshelf for some time,so I decided to pick it up and see what it was like;not really expecting much. I hadn't even recognized him as an Irish-American writer. I have read all the books by Frank and Malachy McCourt,Roddy Doyle,Brendan O'Carroll,Brendan Behan and numerous other Irish and Irish-American writers; and enjoy them immensely. I found this book a real gem for many reasons.The author was born the same year as I was. Even though he grew up in Brooklyn in the 40's and 50's and I grew up in a small town of about 5,000 in Nova Scotia ,life was very similar.All the things he talked about were familiar to me. Warships in the harbor,Servicemen everywhere,Rationing and shortages (I never saw a banana till I was 10 years old),Air Raid Wardens,etc. I sympathized when he told of giving his skates for the war effort.I can remember Aluminium drives at the school,where there was an effigy of Hitler hanging from a pole and the kids were to bring aluminium stuff to throw at it. Was my mother ever mad when she found out what happened to some of her pots and pans. Peter brought back the many memories of the comics,Comic Books,Big Little Books and all the heroes .I followed all the same ones too. And then the movie theatres,especially on Saturdays. The one big difference was that there were no bars in my town,The arena and the Pool Room was where the young guys "came of age",,or could get anything they were not supposed to have. My town had an Army base nearby.When soldiers were off duty they had to get beer or wine from the Bootlegger (no Bars ,and Liquor Stores closed at 5 p.m.).There was a big orchard back of my house,and that was where they did their drinking. Since the bootlegger did not deal in returns,the empties were given to us kids and kept us in spending money.I still remember going to the junk dealer with my wagon piled high with bottles ;2 cents for quarts and 1 cent for pints.Man,we thought we were rich! So much for being a kid during the war! Then Peter takes us along with him as his interests develop,how he wanted to be a catoonist,writer etc.He tells us about all his exploits in finding his way through life and impact that drinking had on him. In the end,he finally quits drinking; but if you expect this book to deal with great problems in drinking,extreme difficulties in quitting etc.,you're going to be disappointed. Quite to the contrary,drinking was a real part of his daily existance and the solution to many of his hard times and also very much part of his good times. Virtually everything and everyone mentioned will be familiar to anyone who was born in and grew up at the same time. As with other Irish writer

I grew up 8 blocks from where Pete Hamill grew up in virtually the same type of apartment with virtually the same type of family (albeit 25 years later). I felt like I was reading my life. He realistically and dramatically captures the attitudes and bigotries of Park Slope Brooklyn at that time, the indifference of the Catholic church to the actual needs of it's congregants, the absence of fathers because of their need to be in the "fill in the blank" Irish Bar down the block". For his dad it was Rattigan's for mine it was McGrorities but the resulting effects were very similar. I was shocked when I realized after finishing the book, he was accepted to Regis, which meant he must have had at least a 98% on the acceptance test. This was the toughest Catholic Boy's high school in New York to get into, only the "best of the best" were allowed entry. Getting accepted to Regis is parallel to getting into the Harvard of High Schools and Pete Hamill dropped out. What a tragedy! Then it hit me...it was his drinking at 15 that caused that. Point made Pete. You didn't have to say it, it was right there between the lines. Mr. Hamill's writing style in this work is captivating in a way that the reader feels right there with him in the candy store, at the kitchen table drawing cartoons or on 23rd Street when he was 16 waiting for his 41 year old lover. I totally loved and enjoyed this book and was very sad when I finished it. I am now an official Pete Hamill fan!

Along with Malachy McCourt's "A Monk Swimming," Hamill's book is an essential 'growing-up-NYC' book end. They both tell of the restless yearning and wanderlust that two jaded Irish-Americans have as they search for kicks, enlightment, familial acceptance, and redemption. Both are somewhat long on heartache, the loss of female companionship, and post-alcohol remorse. But both works move along nicely without resorting to smaltzy over-sentiment and pathetic self-pity. In "A Drinking Life," Hamill interjects enough touching and comedic passages into the narrative that the reader forgets all the heartache that Pete's father put the Hamill family through. It's only after you are deep into Pete Hamill's own adulthood that the irony hits like a shot of cheap bourbon -- Pete has essentially "abandoned" his family, like his father did many years before. From there, Pete accepts his own missteps and rights the ship for a respectable journey into comfortable middle life. A breezy read and a grand book.

I loved this book. Hamill puts you on the streets of Brooklyn, in an artist's studio - every place he was. I was sorry to see it end. It was fantastic, but . . . if you're buying this book to examine someone's (or your own) battle with alcoholism, you'll be disappointed. He rarely discusses his "problem" and barely correlates alcohol to other difficulties in his life. Knocking down the door of a Mexican whorehouse may seem innocuous to those of us in AA. Other than some instances of frat-boy pranks, his drinking seems rather tame. That aside, pure joy and entertainment. If you want an intensely personal and shakingly accurate account of what it is to be alcoholic read Caroline Knapp's, Drinking: A Love Story.