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I Was a Fat Drunk Catholic School Insomniac
After two full-length collections of fiction that mixed his irreverent treatment of form and gritty real-life candor (The Book of Freaks, Prose. Poems. A Novel.), Jamie Iredell delivers an assured and honest collection of personal essays. I Was a Fat Drunk Catholic School Insomniac reveals a writer who takes on his (literal) highs and (existential) lows with the unembellished voice of an anthropologist. Erudite, funny, and fearless, Iredell dives into subjects like drugs, alcoholism, body image, racism, feminism, and religion, and shines a light on some of the darkest moments of life. The essays are personal, confessional, and ultimately full of hope.
- GenresEssaysNonfiction
200 pages, Paperback
First published November 12, 2013
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243 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Iredell
15 books33 followersJamie Iredell lives in Atlanta. He is the author of Prose: Poems, a Novel, and The Book of Freaks.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 19, 2013
I really liked this book. I don't usually read essays but I'm more willing now that I've read these good ones. I'm looking forward to checking out Jamie Iredell's fiction as well. Kevin Sampsell has yet to steer me wrong with his book recommendations.
November 4, 2013
So excited to publish this book by Jamie. His fiction has always been strange and fun and now he shows his nonfiction muscles. Once I read the first three or four of these pieces published (online in places like The Rumpus and The Good Men Project) I realized he was on a new hot streak--and that streak was full of AWESOME ESSAYS! His probing, sometimes rough essays dig deep into his personal history but also pull back for a wider, more empathetic view on things such as love, family, friends, drugs, heroes, losers, and just bad behavior in general. There's also some great shit about reading and writing, and I'm a sucker for that. This book is full of substance. It is SUBSTANTIAL.
July 14, 2017
This book was just an okay read for me. Apart from three spelling errors (that I caught), it was well-written, but I had to really fight to stay awake while reading the second half (which I read between around 8:30p to 11:50p on July 13). :-(
I had hoped to count this book as "a humor book," but I never once felt amused.
While I commend Jamie Iredell for getting off the drugs, and stopping smoking (and the heavy drinking?), I cannot say that I enjoyed reading so many essays about his drug use. :-(
Partly, my aforementioned lack of enjoyment was due to the fact that I have never used drugs, I've only ever smoked maybe five cigarettes (but I think only two or three), and my own alcohol "abuse" was never so abusive as to be dangerous to myself or others. (Regarding the latter, I always say that once upon a time, I was almost a lush.)
Really, though, I spent much of this book thinking that Jamie Iredell was an unfavorable and objectionable human being and that it was a wonder his wife married him. :-(
(Thankfully, he cleaned up his act and then met the woman who would become his wife.)
And though the last essay, and maybe the previous two, featured a "clean" Jamie, I did not find his writing very engaging. As I said above, I was really fighting to stay awake. :-(
So this book gets just two "okay" stars from me. :-(
I had hoped to count this book as "a humor book," but I never once felt amused.
While I commend Jamie Iredell for getting off the drugs, and stopping smoking (and the heavy drinking?), I cannot say that I enjoyed reading so many essays about his drug use. :-(
Partly, my aforementioned lack of enjoyment was due to the fact that I have never used drugs, I've only ever smoked maybe five cigarettes (but I think only two or three), and my own alcohol "abuse" was never so abusive as to be dangerous to myself or others. (Regarding the latter, I always say that once upon a time, I was almost a lush.)
Really, though, I spent much of this book thinking that Jamie Iredell was an unfavorable and objectionable human being and that it was a wonder his wife married him. :-(
(Thankfully, he cleaned up his act and then met the woman who would become his wife.)
And though the last essay, and maybe the previous two, featured a "clean" Jamie, I did not find his writing very engaging. As I said above, I was really fighting to stay awake. :-(
So this book gets just two "okay" stars from me. :-(
December 21, 2013
This is Jamie Iredell in a glass-skinned body, except where veins and bones should be are neon coated flaws and all the beautifully disclosed imperfections of being. The honesty here is champion.
February 21, 2021
Really enjoyed this beauty! Deep empathetic truths! LOVE!
January 4, 2014
This is the introduction to an interview I conducted with Jamie about the book:
Belonging to a generation that was raised partly by Mr. Rogers, I find a number of my peers have trouble looking honestly at themselves and the choices they have made (or may be continuing to make). Jamie Iredell is not one of those people, and his new collection of essays, I Was a Fat Drunk Catholic School Insomniac, is a strong testimonial to that fact. Iredell addresses a variety of subjects throughout the collection, all through an eye that refuses to flinch even when things get ugly (both metaphorically and physically, as in the essay “How Unattractive People Really Are”). Writing with intelligence, self-awareness, and great tenderness, Iredell connects his own personal struggles and triumphs to a larger cultural fabric, which in part explains his chosen dedication for the book: “For ‘America.’”
Cumulatively, the essays cover Iredell’s transformation from bookish child, to drug-abusing college student, to self-described “bar slut,” to family man. Along the way there are essays on obesity, racism, gay rights, sexism, drug abuse, death, and the most disgusting things the author did when he was a smoker, the last of which includes the gag-inducing item: “Accidentally drinking from a beer-turned-ashtray.” While the essays are stylistically varied, the voice that emerges throughout the collection is consistent, compassionate, and better for the experiences.
The interview appears at Fanzine: http://thefanzine.com/the-biggest-vil...
Belonging to a generation that was raised partly by Mr. Rogers, I find a number of my peers have trouble looking honestly at themselves and the choices they have made (or may be continuing to make). Jamie Iredell is not one of those people, and his new collection of essays, I Was a Fat Drunk Catholic School Insomniac, is a strong testimonial to that fact. Iredell addresses a variety of subjects throughout the collection, all through an eye that refuses to flinch even when things get ugly (both metaphorically and physically, as in the essay “How Unattractive People Really Are”). Writing with intelligence, self-awareness, and great tenderness, Iredell connects his own personal struggles and triumphs to a larger cultural fabric, which in part explains his chosen dedication for the book: “For ‘America.’”
Cumulatively, the essays cover Iredell’s transformation from bookish child, to drug-abusing college student, to self-described “bar slut,” to family man. Along the way there are essays on obesity, racism, gay rights, sexism, drug abuse, death, and the most disgusting things the author did when he was a smoker, the last of which includes the gag-inducing item: “Accidentally drinking from a beer-turned-ashtray.” While the essays are stylistically varied, the voice that emerges throughout the collection is consistent, compassionate, and better for the experiences.
The interview appears at Fanzine: http://thefanzine.com/the-biggest-vil...
February 4, 2014
Addiction stories are a dime a dozen. And while they can be compelling, there is a need, while telling the story of your life, to somewhere along the way, tell me something about mine.
April 13, 2021
Loved this book and the parallels with my memoir "Bless Me Father for I have Sinned." It gives one permission to be human.
May 23, 2014
One of my favorite books about writing nonfiction is Vivian Gornick's THE SITUATION AND THE STORY; in it, she says that the writing we call personal narrative is written by people who, in essence, are imagining themselves in relation to the subject at hand. The connection is an intimate one; out of the "raw material of a writer's own undisguised being a narrator is fashioned whose existence on the page is integral to the tale being told." The narrator becomes a persona.
Iredell has found his persona - his voice - and it is full of heart, & humor. That voice is what I loved about this collection. As a reader I trust this voice. A through-line throughout the book is Iredell's new role as a father; his past, his observations, his self-examinations, are all seen through this filter. My favorite essay is probably "This Essay Cannot Sleep" - an essay that feels very much about the manic exhaustion accompanying insomnia. Then it ends and cracks wide opened into a sudden light-filled realization; he looks in on his daughter, fast asleep with her legs sticking out of the crib bars, "sneak-attacked" by sleep. It's an inspired, beautiful ending.
Iredell has found his persona - his voice - and it is full of heart, & humor. That voice is what I loved about this collection. As a reader I trust this voice. A through-line throughout the book is Iredell's new role as a father; his past, his observations, his self-examinations, are all seen through this filter. My favorite essay is probably "This Essay Cannot Sleep" - an essay that feels very much about the manic exhaustion accompanying insomnia. Then it ends and cracks wide opened into a sudden light-filled realization; he looks in on his daughter, fast asleep with her legs sticking out of the crib bars, "sneak-attacked" by sleep. It's an inspired, beautiful ending.
January 17, 2016
Years ago, Jamie Iredell blew me away with The Book of Freaks, one of the strangest books I've ever read, and I finally got around to this collection of essays.
There's a great balance here between contemplation, emotional resonance, and simple storytelling. Stylistically, it leans a bit heavy on the anecdotal. It leads me to believe there's a barstool out there hosting the same voice--textual evidence would back this up.
A big pull of this book is the honesty that Iredell lays everything out with. There's no bullshit or excuses or phony atonement or pussyfooting. It's certainly admirable, but that sort of honesty is only part of what makes non-fiction great for me, and in the end I felt like something was missing.
Regardless, Iredell's a strong writer, and when he hits (the short sections that bounced the narrative through in "This Essay Cannot Sleep" was a solid high point for me) it's very damn good. This thing went fast once I actually sat down to read it, and while I'm sure a lot of the details will fade from my memory soon enough, I'll never forget that I read it and thought, "Jamie Iredell. Now that's a dude I'd like to get a drink with."
There's a great balance here between contemplation, emotional resonance, and simple storytelling. Stylistically, it leans a bit heavy on the anecdotal. It leads me to believe there's a barstool out there hosting the same voice--textual evidence would back this up.
A big pull of this book is the honesty that Iredell lays everything out with. There's no bullshit or excuses or phony atonement or pussyfooting. It's certainly admirable, but that sort of honesty is only part of what makes non-fiction great for me, and in the end I felt like something was missing.
Regardless, Iredell's a strong writer, and when he hits (the short sections that bounced the narrative through in "This Essay Cannot Sleep" was a solid high point for me) it's very damn good. This thing went fast once I actually sat down to read it, and while I'm sure a lot of the details will fade from my memory soon enough, I'll never forget that I read it and thought, "Jamie Iredell. Now that's a dude I'd like to get a drink with."
December 19, 2013
Jamie Iredell has a straight-forward way of telling a story, at least in this collection of personal essays (I've not read his fiction). He puts facts in front of facts, stated clearly, and they build to tell a story without much garnish, which at first seemed a bit dry, but I soon changed my mind. More, I saw the artistry in the sturdy accumulation of solid and pure experience that creates structure. The early pieces in this book are about youthful excess and indiscretion, which I expected to lead into a recovery house, but rather than bottom out, he matures, marries, has a child. By the last story I was moved, again by his earnestness and trust in the story to speak for itself. There's an honest progression that lead me to think maybe I'll check out his other books of fiction.
January 26, 2014
I'm partial... We share a first name, we're both raising daughters and that process is a complicated part of who we are and our striving to be better people, we both have sleeping issues, we both write. This book is a series of essays like you'd read online (and most, if not all, were published online first), but I enjoyed working through them in a physical book. I enjoyed the arc -- following Jamie climb from more uncertain beginnings to a still-questioning-but-always-trying present -- many of those old uncertainties buried and new questions all around.
April 18, 2014
The essays in this book crawl under your skin. They stay there. Not as an irritant, but, like, maybe some kind of lubricant for the imaginary gears that are supposed to be your conscience. Don't take that the wrong way, Iredell isn't a moralist, or an apologist. He's just a straight shooter with a big heart. I don't know, these essays, to me, feel necessary. They are completely unpretentious, controlled, sad, and funny--and sometimes all at once. A highlight for me was The Shape of Ideas. Very sincere and moving collection.
July 3, 2014
This collection of memoir-essays was entertaining but not laugh-out-loud funny. I don't have a lot in common with Irdell, so I had some trouble relating to his experiences of growing up white in a predominantly Hispanic town or to his wild-and-crazy, semi-functional alcoholic younger days or to his more recent settling down for the sake of his wife and daughter. Of course, I wouldn't want to read a book about someone whose life was exactly like mine; this was certainly an enjoyable glimpse into someone else's.
July 28, 2016
Not a cure for insomnia!
I'm sorry to spoil the rating of this book. It really is well-written in terms of grammar, cohesiveness, etc. The structure is good! The actual story contained inside, though, is just so lackluster and boring. There was nothing that made me want to keep pushing forward other than refusal to leave it unfinished. I wasn't amused or entertained. I simply wanted to get through it. I can appreciate the writing for being polished, but the story was just not my cup of tea. I split the difference with 3 stars. Sorry.
I'm sorry to spoil the rating of this book. It really is well-written in terms of grammar, cohesiveness, etc. The structure is good! The actual story contained inside, though, is just so lackluster and boring. There was nothing that made me want to keep pushing forward other than refusal to leave it unfinished. I wasn't amused or entertained. I simply wanted to get through it. I can appreciate the writing for being polished, but the story was just not my cup of tea. I split the difference with 3 stars. Sorry.
April 24, 2014
While I read a lot of essays online, I don’t read many essay collections. I may start, though, because it was a treat to sit down with one voice, especially a voice that can slip from amusing to insightful in a single paragraph. Iredell tackles a wide range of topics, from drug use and racial slurs to superheroes and feminism. His gloves-off approach is definitely appealing.
August 10, 2016
This book, which is a compilation of short essays about the author's life, is refreshingly real. I appreciated Iredell's ability to be honest both with himself and his readers, and provide insight into struggles all of us may face (weight, addiction, relationships, etc.). I also like the he is a current resident of Atlanta!
January 13, 2016
I heard about this book on some blog. It has been sitting at home for months now and I finally opened it up. A collection of essays. I had never heard of the author, but did enjoy many of the essays, especially his last, a letter to his two year old daughter to read when she was older, essay titled, Dear Kinsey.
Would read more of his work.
Would read more of his work.
March 12, 2014
Does it make a difference that I love everything Iredell does?
More - http://bentanzer.blogspot.com/2014/03...
More - http://bentanzer.blogspot.com/2014/03...
January 7, 2015
great book!
August 4, 2015
On the one hand, he stole the name of my memoir.
On the other hand, he went to Sacred Heart, and seems to have been just as confused by the experience as me, which is comforting.
On the other hand, he went to Sacred Heart, and seems to have been just as confused by the experience as me, which is comforting.
November 6, 2015
Going deep inside Jamie's history, deep into his brain: never a bad thing.
January 26, 2014
Raw and open, like blistered skin, this book forces you to look. No flinching allowed.
March 30, 2014
Boom goes the dynamite.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews