Clearly Drunk / Selvästi juovuksissa

Otava, 2006

By Juhani Seppänen.

Helsingin Sanomat review

From the Otava 2006 Foreign Rights Catalog:

This book could change your attitude to alcohol – for good. The author spins the bottle and questions many of the things we take for granted about the demon drink, shaking up some long-held misconceptions.

Out of a population of around five million, Finland boasts around 500,000 “heavy users” of alcohol. Liquor is an everyday thing for increasing numbers of people, not to mention its use on festive occasions. Does the idea of a party with just a glass of water for company leave you shaken but not stirred?

Just who is dependent on alcohol? Is alcoholism a sickness, and where does the fault lie when the hard stuff leads people astray?

For Juhani Seppänen, who himself confesses to be among those heavy users, the idea of a year without a drink seemed impossible. He decided to try. The book tells what thoughts alcohol prompted in his mind. And how his “going dry” attempt fared.

As a health centre physician, Juhani Seppänen encounters on a daily basis people for whom alcohol has become a problem. Clearly Drunk passes on its lessons using the same cocktail of the amusing and the profound that was found in his earlier books And the First Word is “Daddy” (2000) and Working Like Mad (2004), both of which won attention, plaudits, and a host of enthusiastic readers.

Extract (PDF)