Chris Volkmann and Toren Volkmann
“From Binge To Blackout”
NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY
“Hi, my name is Toren, and I’m an
alcoholic.”
He may have not understood the meaning of the words when he had
his first beer at 14, but by the time he was in rehab at 23, Toren
Volkmann and his family understood the phrase’s significance
all too well.
“From Binge To Blackout” is the product of
Toren’s real-life journey from avid party animal to
recovering alcoholic. Toren pens about half of the chapters, with
the remainder written by his mother, Chris.
While Toren’s chapters recounting his dorm drinking
infractions as a college freshman and encounters with
hallucinogenic substances while a student on the Semester at Sea
program will surely strike a chord with any college student or
teenager, it is his mother’s chapters that raise the story to
truly heartbreaking heights.
As Chris relates her spectrum of emotions to the reader ““
worry and shock upon learning her son has returned home early from
the Peace Corps to undergo rehab therapy, then isolation as she
honors Toren’s promise to not tell any friends or family
about his disease, and finally self-examination about parenting
habits ““ one can’t help but think that Toren and
Chris’ story could be that of any student walking on the UCLA
campus, of any mother who has ever had a child.
The authors do an excellent job of balancing statistics with
their personal stories. Readers learn facts such as one-third of
college students have alcohol disorders and 63 percent of students
under age 21 drink.
These numbers remain static on the page until we read about
Toren’s impaired memory, fever and trembles, and desperation
as he undergoes withdrawal. Suddenly, the tragedy of alcoholism
hits closer to home.
But the story isn’t one long, bleak portrait of
despair.
The book’s message is one of hope. To date, Toren has been
sober for over three years and is still going strong.
And if he can go to hell and back, then perhaps there’s
hope for all of us.
E-mail Fylstra at jfylstra@media.ucla.edu.