"The Gin Closet"

I have just finished reading, in one big draught (I started it last night and finished it this morning), the novel "The Gin Closet" (Free Press, 2010), by Leslie Jamison. In brief, the plot involves Stella, a young woman unsure about what to do with her life, going to find her long lost aunt, Tilly, who left home after being raped and has spent the past 30 years as an alcoholic and prostitute. This novel is mostly about women: Tilly, Stella, Stella's mother Dora and grandmother Lucy, and Tilly's friends Fiona and Winnie. All are sympathetic characters, despite their frightening weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The men are mostly absent, dangerous, or useless, with a few exceptions, the most important one being Abe, Tilly's grown son, who truly cares about her and tries to save her. The main subjects of the novel are alcoholism and family. Readers are ineluctably confronted with the hard truths of alcoholism, and even when we are given brief reprieves and signs of hope, we are always jarringly and painfully forced back to the reality of the world of the alcoholic. The same dynamic plays out regarding family: the tangles, deep misunderstandings and longlasting resentments, fears, and love are all heartbreakingly portrayed, yet we are granted reprieves and hope as characters reach out and try to help each other. Even when they fail in their efforts, as they usually do, there is a residue of hope and possibility, and of belief in the family connections that are never completely severed. Although my description of "The Gin Closet" may discourage readers, I recommend the novel for its honesty and for the human kindness that leavens the bleakness of the main characters' lives. The author of this novel, amazingly, is only 26 years old, but exhibits the control and mastery of a much older writer.