Why read Recovery?

Book cover of Recovery

Book description

In the author's words, Recovery is a novel about "the disease called alcoholism, recognized by the American Medical Association only in 1964."

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Literary fiction

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Why read it?

1 author picked Recovery as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Corey Mesler

Author

This book is more autobiographical, based on his struggle with alcoholism. Berryman had already written a book of poems, The Dream Songs (my favorite book of poems), which practically reads like a novel. It’s full of wit and playfulness and jerry-rigged syntax. Recovery is also witty but not quite as playful. It’s darker, of course. Perhaps one’s perception of it is colored by the knowledge that Berryman had committed suicide in 1972, a year before its release. So, it’s a melancholy book, yet its difficulties are human and common and, here, well-wrought by a poet’s grace.

From Corey's list on The best novels by poets.