**Reviewer’s note about Drunk Drivers, I am going through my TBR list. Unfortunately, I am woefully out of date on sum, and this book has since gone unavailable in the market. I will leave the link still for when it comes back.
Drunken Drivers is a bit of an enigma to me. It is a blur of debauchery that scrapes the barrel: a raw and unexpected take on alcoholism, with all its lows, that yet somehow manages to stagger on into unexpected highs of storytelling.
Lindgaard’s prose is surprisingly sophisticated and immersive. The first person take hooks with emotion, and brings the reader along on an intimate level – as if we are some old friend. Each new, albeit strange) scenario staggers along, giving glimpses into a gritty world full of drinking, and lots of sex. Which is perhaps as alien as any science fiction world to all but the most hardened of partiers.
Like most novels of this subject, it can be quite self-indulgent. And there are times when the sophisticated prose becomes a bit too heavy handed. The first act is also the strongest, the and the rest tends to drag on, sometimes becoming a bit too much to slog through if not for the investment already made. Lastly, I felt the narrative was a bit too predictable.
Even so, the characters are genuine, if not all likeable. The level of insight is surprising, and despite the protagonist’s antics, the dialogue and introspection comes across as measured rather than rambling. Taken all together Matthias Lindgaard’s Drunk Drivers is a poignant introduction to a new author, and worth the read.
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