7 Comments
User's avatar
Paula Van Lare's avatar

Thank you. I am so much more fortunate than most, but 2025 was, in the end, too much for me. I have been struggling to get through my normal routine for about two months and recently decided (was forced to?) to just pare my obligations and interactions down to the bare minimum of decency and attend primarily to recovering my balance. I’m sure I’m not alone in this, nor in being grateful for permission to step back and heal.

Schubert and Jeeves are excellent suggestions.

Expand full comment
Richard Hughes's avatar

Enjoyed your piece. Thank you from Cape Cod where we double our knots just in case.

Expand full comment
Delanie's avatar

Amis is one of my favorite writers and Lucky Jim features prominently in my top 10 all time favorite books. His grasp of both the hangover and the thought process while getting there is one of the truest things ever written in the English language. Zero notes. Fun article, thank you for it!

Expand full comment
Kevin Howley's avatar

Wonderful treatment of this universally relatable experience! I’ve added Virtue to the queue and vowed to finally re-read Lucky Jim, 45 years hence, to confirm my impression of it as the funniest work of English literature ever. Amis’ depiction of the dread of public speaking flops is on par with his hangover account.

Expand full comment
Melissa Arriaga-Gomez's avatar

Thank you for the piece. I'll watch Into Great Silence.

Expand full comment
Anna's avatar

Book 24 of The Iliad is a banger for catharsis

Expand full comment
Sue Sanders's avatar

Good article, but personally “hair of the dog” was the only way for me. That MIGHT be why I’m in an anonymous 12 step program?

Expand full comment