cover image Vodka on My Wheaties

Vodka on My Wheaties

Ann Lloyd. Biographical Publishing (www.biopub.co.cc), $19.95 paper (361p) ISBN 978-1-929882-57-1

Lloyd's unconventional memoir is told with gusto and packed with honest, entertaining episodes. Raised by "intense and neurotic" parents, the quirky narrator with a "mind and a will of [her] own" endures a lonely childhood and tumbles through her colorful life. Tying the knot with her handsome boyfriend results in a dangerous marriage that threatens her life. Her second marriage leads the author to support her new husband's many "failed business enterprises" and then maintain a resort in the Bahamas. Her brief third marriage leads to substance abuse, as she starts "drowning her depression in vodka." Eventually Lloyd discovers a 12-step program to maintain sobriety, filling the "empty void left by the removal of alcohol" with the "fruits of spirituality." But the onset of an autoimmune disease changes everything and forces Lloyd to remake her life yet again. The author's constant digressions, excessive detail, and meandering narrative hinder this account of her adventures, but her voice remains determined and fearless nevertheless. Unapologetic name-dropping is made more convenient%E2%80%94and slightly more ridiculous%E2%80%94by the inclusion of a "Celebrity Index."