Hangover Soup: A Novel

By Louise Redd

Book Overview

Faith met Jay in college, "where it's hard to tell who's a true alcoholic and who's not". Five years later they're living in Austin, where Faith tutors and Jay works as a sweet talkin' DJ at the local... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316479004
• ISBN13: 9780316479004
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co
• Length: 259 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 6.0"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 and higher

Customer Reviews

Pure Prose

Having spent my entire childhood among alcoholics, I found this book to be heartbreakingly real. Her writing is pure prose. A must read for anyone who has ever loved or been loved by a drunk. It gives you hope that there IS life after tragedy. . .

Very touching

A very touching look into the life, thought and feelings of a spouse of an alcoholic/addict. If anybody is in this sort of a relationship it would do them good to read this book and know that there are others in the same boat. I hope this book goes far, it has a very important message.

Faith, Hope and Tenderness ...

This book is a rare find, this story of Faith Evers' quest to see her marriage through the heartbreak of addiction, and to teach her beloved "student-athletes" at the University of Texas the correct usage of the word "hopefully." It is a tale of the myriad ways that people betray and care for one another. As a former teacher, I loved Redd's tender portrait of Faith's students--a lesser writer would have held these characters up to ridicule, particularly Corey, who is prone to heartfelt public prayer, but in Redd's capable hands these boys, like all good characters, are rich and funny and flawed and sweet. Faith's quest to keep hope alive for her marriage, for the very idea of eternal love, despite her husband's struggle with alcoholism, is always surprising. This is a wonderful book!

Love, Texas style

Louise Redd's second novel is a wise and witty tale of a tragic relationship between a passionate and clever young woman and her all-too-human spouse. For anyone who has ever loved against all logic, this novel touches deeply. I loved the racy heroine of her first novel, Playing the Bones, and in Faith she has again created a vivid character of great depth and humor. Faith embodies the mixed emotions of those old enough to know better who nevertheless can't help themselves from loving against the odds. Redd has an incomparable ear for language, and her voice sings clear and true. A must read!

Poignant and clearly written

The voice is smart, lively, optimistic (even in the face of tragedy), and the writing is precise in the voice. This book is about love lost and the dimensions of it: when love is not lost because of love, but because of the other person's addiction, and how the woman who loved this person (whether he is husband, boyfriend, relative, friend, or not; the hurt is the same - you love an addict, you get burned by an addict) deals with it. How does a woman in love with a drunk survive after a broken heart and a bashed-in face (as a result of her relationship with the drunk)? Redd writes about the wives of the drunks: "I go to the five-thirty family meeting at his halfway house and sit with the other wives while they chain-smoke and tell their sordid stories. They've been beaten, dragged around by their hair, they've seen their children go hungry while their husbands guzzled up the grocery money. I never say a word. There's never a part where my story seems to fit in, although it certainly has its sordid aspects." In the end, what is she left with? A longing for everything to be all right. And hope. I like hopeful books without pat endings. This one satisfies.