Structure

The book as a whole is structured around the recovery process. It mirrors the psychological changes that one goes through as they become addicted to a substance, become aware of the addiction, fight the addiction, struggle with withdrawal, and ultimately come to be independent of the addicted substance. The novel opens with sections like "Wonder" and "Abandonment," where drinking alcohol is still exciting and the damage has not yet taken its toll. As the book continues, Jamison captures the escalating consequences and her increasing awareness of her dependence upon alcohol in chapters like "Blame" and "Shame." It is not until the later chapter, "Surrender," that she is able to begin the recovery process and not until the last chapters, "Salvage," "Reckoning," and "Homecoming," that she is able to commit to the hard work of recovering.

The book also shifts from a singular voice to the first-person collective...