The Problem Drinker
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
His girlfriend is horror famous, his own writing and acting is floundering, and he is drinking to make sense of it all.
Kyle Kouri’s debut non-fiction collection is full of ‘whiskey courage’ staring at the abyss of family, writing rejection, relationships, and his own drinking. From hijinks at AWP to hustling in the movie business, Kouri bridges the gap in drama between indie and horror.
At turns hilarious and heartbreaking, The Problem Drinker is the story of an artist living with another artist, yearning to move the needle in his career, amidst a sea of personal tragedies and comedies. If F. Scott Fitzgerald had one foot in the 2020s horror scene, that’s the spirit of Kouri’s caustic and big-hearted, lush and refreshingly candid debut.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Actor and filmmaker Kouri debuts with a shallow collection of vignettes on drinking, family trauma, and self-actualization. He recounts his efforts to find artistic success, first in fiction, then acting, and finally achieving his literary ambitions through the publication of this book. Along the way, he reflects on his complicated family, including a sister who was hospitalized multiple times due to alcohol consumption, the death of his mentor at 17 and his father at 19, and a diving accident in Manhattan Beach that paralyzed his brother and divided his family. To cope with "this bombardment of tragedy," he turned to drinking alcohol and writing fiction. While Kouri struggled to find professional success, his partner hit it big as a horror writer, complicating his relationships with her and his art. Kouri's tone is intentionally antagonistic ("I want my books to be as exclusive as possible, totally esoteric and elitist, only relatable to a privileged few, pissing on the rest of the world and then setting fire to it, laughing while everybody burns and whines about it"), but this blunt approach frequently eschews meaningful insight. He will likely succeed in attracting a narrow audience.
