Early Sobrieties dealt with themes that have influenced my own life, so I found it to be a trail through parts known - in a good way.
I really enjoyed it, another piece of literary fiction to recommend in 2024.

This is a funny, but slightly monotonous novel. I sometimes found it a chore to read, and was often more interested in other books. I might like it more if in the mood, but would not recommend it.

As someone who's been through early sobriety, I was excited to dive into Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler. While I liked it, I didn't love it. The book is an honest look at what it's like to start a new life in sobriety, and I appreciated its authenticity.

Early sobriety can be pretty uneventful, and this book reflects that reality accurately. While I found myself wanting more to happen and hoping for a bit more inspiration and hope for our newly sober character, I still found value in the straightforward and honest portrayal.

If you're looking for a raw and realistic depiction of the early days of sobriety, this book might be for you. It offers an authentic glimpse into the challenges and quiet victories of starting a sober life, even if it doesn't always feel uplifting.

I'm not quite sure how I would describe this book, I would say coming-of-age however the protagonist is 26 so it's probably more a coming-of-maturity as he starts to deal with life as a sober adult.

Although the book may appear to some as mundane, I think it is a brilliant encapsulation of an individual.

The writing itself is beautiful and very witty. Definitely an author to keep an eye on

Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler is a novel about a realistically flawed and relatable character trying to figure his life out and navigate changes.

There’s an enormous amount of American debut fiction publishing this summer and Michael Deagler is no exception. Perhaps the best comparison to this novel (though I somehow doubt the author would be flattered by the comparison) is the disjointed and distanced narrative style of Sally Rooney. There are definitely some heavy Rooney-esque creations in the story of a disillusioned Dennis Monk who returns to his home city of Philadelphia with a new renunciation of drinking. Early Sobrieties is episodic in nature and each chapter begins with a narrative jump that finds Monk sofa-surfing into a new situation, romantic or platonic.

It’s a clever chapter structure in which Deagler manages to seamlessly blend deep childhood and more recent past friends that takes in the swirling changes of Monk’s life as he veers between the friends that he lost to his drinking and the ones that he wants to lost in his sobriety. It’s a clever novel but ultimately I think it founders on the great height of the narrator that offers the philosophy of Monk with such dispassionate eyes that it’s hard to ever feel fully relinquished into what the novel is trying to tell us. It’s a novel with a wonderful amount of thought but perhaps could have done with a little more body to make the thematic influences and the ironical humour really sing.

I really enjoyed this book! I look forward to reading other books by this author. There were so many twists in this book I didn’t see coming. But then again I rarely can figure books out. I would definitely recommend this book!