Book Review: Drunk: A Novel by Ben Stearns

Title: Drunk: A Novel
Author: Ben Stearns
Pages: 268 pages
Published: September 3rd 2019 by Wylder Dance Press LLC
Source: NetGalley

GoodReads Description: "Anne McKenzie is missing.

Unfortunately for her, the only person who cares is Beck Sherwood, an alcoholic hipster she befriended after meeting him at a house party they were both a decade too old for.

Now she’s gone. Everyone else thinks Anne ran away - that she’s one of hundreds of girls fleeing lives they’re tired of living but Beck decides to investigate anyway. Soon he’s chasing her ghost through grimy Baltimore streets, probing her dark online past, and fighting his demons every step of the way because he knows he’ll either find Anne McKenzie or end up back on a barstool drinking himself into an early grave.

Drunk is a classic detective story with a philosophical twist that one reviewer called “A punk rock Alchemist.” Heart-rending, laugh out loud funny, DRUNK explores essential questions about what identity is and why crafting one has come to so dominate our lives. A millennial masterwork, Drunk will appeal to anyone who has ever struggled to find meaning, sobriety, or the next cool bar and establishes Ben Stearns as an exciting literary talent and the voice of a generation."


MY REVIEW:
First off I want to say I’ve read some of the other reviews and I think it’s pretty hilarious the way some people are shocked there was so much drinking. Did you read the blurb? ... or the title?? Moving on.

via GIPHY

Drunk is the story of a semi-functioning alcoholic with an identity crisis. He works at a grocery store, has essentially no meaningful relationships aside from his friend Yanni, and is just floating through life feeling disillusioned and meaningless. Then he meets Anne. She intrigues him - the author says he feels himself fall a little bit in love with her - though he seems to also feel that way about the bartender as well, so I don't think it's too serious. They do seem to click, though in their short conversation. Later on he finds that she has disappeared. He sets out on a semi-ridiculous search as probably the world's most unlucky detective.

I really liked Stearns’ writing. I thought he was funny and sarcastic. I thought that the things that happened to Beck (great name by the way) were funny and outrageous - though also at times completely gross. But that’s ok, this is life, as Beck might say. It’s like that sometimes.

My issue is with the ending. The end left me wanting... more. It was like he decided to wrap up the book with Beck still in the middle of his story. I liked the way things ended with the Anne mystery, but after that part of his story was over, I wanted him to find his direction, find peace with his mother (I liked her character)... something. Stearns’ ending might be more realistic? But it's a book and I wanted more hero in the antihero. Because I liked him until the end.

Anyways, I would read another book by this author because it was funny and I liked his writing style. So 3.5 drunk stars - rounded to 4.