#16: The Cracker Factory

I must admit that this is not a new read for me. The Cracker Factory is an old favorite that my mother recommended to me after she first joined AA and got sober. I read it the first time when I was in high school and I have read it several times since then. This reading was probably my fourth or fifth, but it never gets old.

The Cracker Factory is the story of Cassie Barrett. She is a housewife in her late twenties. She has three kids, a husband, a meddling mother, a lover, a twin brother, a shrink, and she is a raging alcoholic. Throughout the book, Cassie is in her second stay on the seventh floor psychiatric ward of her local hospital, which she refers to as The Cracker Factory.

Cassie is tormented by the feeling that she has lost herself to her life and the feeling that she may have possibly chosen the wrong life. Because of this, she drinks. And when she drinks, things in her life get worse. This has led her husband to commit her, even though he and her mother are not entirely sure that psychiatric care will help with her problem.

The wonderful thing about The Cracker Factory is that it is written in the first person, from Cassie's point of view, and Cassie is a wonderful character. She is wonderfully sarcastic and completely honest. If I didn't know any better, I would say that the author who created her was an alcoholic or at least knew one intimately.

All of Cassie's adventures and thoughts are worth reading. You'll find yourself cheering for her and hoping that she makes it out of the psych ward without her drinking but with her personality still intact. I think that every woman who has ever been or loved an alcoholic should read this book. It is truly one of the best I have ever read.