Our Drink

Wisconsin Bookwatch, Dec, 2004

Our Drink

Chris Volkmann & Toren Volkmann

Elton-Wolf Publishing

2505 Second Avenue, Suite 515, Seattle, Washington 98121

1586191063 $19.95 www.ourdrink.com

Our Drink: Detoxifying The Perfect Family is the personal testimony of a mother and son, and the son's struggle with alcoholism. The first time she learned of her son's sickness was when he telephoned her, just a year out of college and having served the Peace Corps, with news that he'd checked himself into an alcoholism rehabilitation program. Yet the seeds of his addiction had begun long ago; he was binge drinking as early as high school, and managed to keep his worsening dependency hidden from not only his parents, but also himself. In his own words, "I thought the problem with being alcoholic was you just drank a lot. I did that just fine and things were great. No one ever said, 'Dude, you're gonna start losing your money, your memory, and above all, your longevity and tolerance... and when you stop a mean bender you're going to be a fevering, shaky, paranoid, halfwit for a day or two who can't think, sleep, even relax or eat until withdrawals are over...' That page of my D.A.R.E. book must have been ripped out." A gripping, raw, and absolute testimony, highly recommended as an educational tool to show young people the dangers of alcohol and to reveal to parents how easy it is to miss the warning signs.