The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober, by Catherine Gray

Reviewed by Georgia Stephenson

The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober is an amazing book which explores the authors experiences of alcoholism, with well written and funny stories. Throughout the book, Catherine shares her bad experiences with alcohol and talks about how they built up over time, until she got to a point where she knew she had a problem. I couldn’t relate to her more extreme experiences, but they were so captivating, and it made me realise how alcohol can slowly begin to ruin someone’s life.

Catherine managed to change her life for the better and now helps others to do the same, but without being too preachy. For anyone who is the ‘life of the party’, cutting out or limiting alcohol consumption may not appear to be an option, however Catherine teaches you how to dance sober and be a party animal without the booze.

Something I’d really like to praise about Catherine’s book, is the fact that she highlights the stigma around alcoholics. She reminds us that it is seen as perfectly fine to be addicted to nicotine/ smoking but not addicted to alcohol, even though alcohol is also an addictive substance. Catherine talks about this in depth so if you think your relationship with alcohol is becoming dangerous, or if you’re worried about someone else’s drinking habits, please read this book.