Powerless: A Memoir: The Girl Takes a Drink, The Drink Takes the Girl

by Lela Fox

I used to blame it on those freaky albino sisters in the alley. I tried to blame my over-caring parents and living in a town much smaller than my dreams.I even blamed the hungry bear who liked our campsite a bit too much. Either way, I blamed anybody or anything that wasn’t me. My tale begins with the first lukewarm beer. I was thirteen. It was like adding gasoline to an inferno, and my life turned on a dime. Suddenly focused on the ease and comfort alcohol brought, I launched a rocket that was the comedy and tragedy of my early drinking years. Powerless is the first book, a story of my drunken fuckups and stupid adventures in the 1970s, my high school years. In those days, all I wanted was to chug as many beers as possible and be the life of every party. And there were lots of parties. I turned group camps and field trips into laugh-out-loud disasters that prompted a visit to the shrink. Dr. Rose to my “She’s bi-polar as hell.” And so it began.The Powerless series is a memoir told as a story; a story so twisted that it took seven books to reveal it all. So buckle in for one helluva ride, my friend. Take a tour through five fucked-up decades of my life – a zany story about getting drunk, getting sober, and the quest for grace.

278 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 19, 2018

Reviews

[Jeanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose the book series hoping to gain insight into alcoholism. My brother committed suicide last year and it was only after his death that I learned he was an alcoholic. I knew he drank heavily and I had suspected alcoholism but did not know for sure. He was 66 years old and from all I’ve read since his death, I believe he was in the end stage of the disease. He used every ounce of energy he had trying to keep his drinking from his family. I have a strong family history of alcoholism on both sides of my family. I just feel this need to understand it more. I do not drink at all because I simply do not like the taste of any of it; my ‘vice’ is a food disorder - I am a compulsive over eater and binge eater. There is also a strong family history of suicide in my Mother’s side of the family. This first book in the series reads like a novel and covers her introduction to alcohol and her early years of abuse. I look forward to the remainder of the series and gaining more insight into this horrible disease and what it is like to live an alcoholic life. Very good book.

[Shannon Reinhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down.....

The minute I began reading this book I knew I was home. Instantly relatable, my early days of drinking were in front of me. I devoured, page by page, this honest look of how we find escape and ease in the bottle. How that awkward time in our early teens is softened by drinking and how easily "king" alcohol creeps up behind us stealing our childhood innocence and forever changing our lives. Today I celebrate my own sobriety and am forever grateful to those who have come before me sharing their own personal stories of healing and recovery.

[Elisabeth Brookshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good start

I'm glad I found this series when I was looking for a new memoir to read. This book deals with the life of a young girl suffering from bipolar disorder and an unfortunate drinking problem. Lela is a wild but likable girl and I look forward to reading the next book to see what eighteen year old Lela is going to do next. The book is funny and sad in turn. Quite enjoyable.

[Jill Heinbigner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun but serious read!

So much reminded me of myself or a couple of girlfriends growing up. We all dealt with alcohol differently. The author was fun!