Drinking at the Movies

It's hard to pick out specific moments that I want to talk about for this book, because it was such an entertaining read that I just end up wanting to quote it. In a way, it resists being thought about too critically. Julia herself avoids taking herself and her problems too seriously. Every struggle that she goes through must be prefaced by an acknowledgement of her problems as largely inconsequential. In fact, in the first few pages of the book, Julia explains how her life in San Francisco was really great. She had a great apartment, great friends, a job that she "actually liked" and a boyfriend who "wasn't an asshole." She goes on to talk about why things weren't quite as they seemed- her life was actually hard in a lot of ways. I think that sort of acknowledgment of those who have it worse off, and that impulse to downplay your problems while also mentioning them is very contemporary. I notice it in the way people will casually say, "there are starving kids in Africa," and the Internet obsession with identifying first world problems as such.

I found it interesting in that regard how rather than talk directly about her problems, Wertz uses personification to animate her wallet and her brain (who she presents as her adversaries,) separately, to do the job. In other words, we as readers learn what Julia thinks of herself through witnessing how her brain, and later, her wallet interact with her. For instance, on page 95, Julia's brain escapes in order to inform her "for her own good," why she hasn't been on a date in years:  "A date!? Oh hell no. You hate dating. It's awkward, unpleasant, and you spend the whole time wishing you were at home watching 30 rock [...] you dress like a trashcan from 1996, you're a selfish fart who prefers to be alone rather than make the effort to cultivate meaningful relationships." Her brain goes on to reference her drinking problem in the next panel. Julia's wallet, it seems, also has a drinking problem. Aside from her wallet's habit of soliciting prostitutes, one could say that Julia's wallet (and her brain, who is also kind of an unsavory character) represents a reflection of the character of Julia, and actually says a lot about her as a person. While both the wallet and the brain are constantly trying to escape from Julia (in the way that perhaps she is trying to escape from herself,) and the anecdotes that Wertz tells revolve in both instances around either her wallet or her brain "making a run for it," (see "The Wayward Wallet" starting on page 183) Julia's booze sticks by her and never judges her.

All of this is emphasized by the last page, where Julia gives her readers an amusing update of the lives of a few of the characters in her memoir in a bit entitled, "Where Are They Now?" Julia provides glimpses into the lives of only minor characters, most of whom are politicians who she doesn't even know personally. She certainly doesn't reveal anything about herself, or about any efforts on her part to get sober. Julia Wertz avoids the usual truth-seeking that one tends to encounter in memoir, as demonstrated by her inability to cope with what it takes to stop drinking. She confronts her drinking problem in a myriad of ways throughout the book, but it's almost as if her character has to hope that acknowledging it is enough, at least for now, much in the same way that acknowledging her privilege makes it okay to write about her problems.

I hope some of that makes sense. I really loved this book, and can't wait to read more by Wertz, and also to discuss with you all on Tuesday!