At times sad and bleak, and at other times joyous and hopeful, Georgia Toews' "Hey, Good Luck Out There" is the story that any alcoholic or anyone who loves an alcoholic will be able to relate to.

Is there life after alcohol? After an uncomfortable intervention with her divorced parents and her gentle brother, Bobbi finds herself off to rehab and to a fresh start. After the six required weeks she finds herself on the outside with no where to go, surprisingly minimal support from the loved ones who wanted her in rehab in the first place, and no idea what to do next.

What follows is the shockingly honest story of when Bobbi's recovery really begins. I wanted to hug her, mother her, but mostly reassure her that there is life after alcohol addiction. I, myself, have people close to me who have struggled and continue to struggle with various addictions and I appreciated Toews' honest account of life outside of the rehab bubble and how our society is not set up for those looking to turn their lives around..

Despite the often bleak subject matter this story is well worth the read. There is, after all, light at the end of the tunnel.

Divided into two parts — twenty-two-year-old Bobbi’s experience in a residential rehab program and what happens after her release thirty days later — Hey, Good Luck Out There is a decidedly alternative story of addiction and recovery. Perhaps based on debut author Georgia Toews’ own experiences (there are hints of this in the Acknowledgments at the end of the book), Bobbi is a character who goes to rehab after an undramatic intervention by her imperfect family, and although she can recognise that the other women in the facility need to be there, she doesn’t believe that she has personally hit rock bottom, and as a consequence, doesn’t embrace the program or the therapy; solely confronting her demons and her past in the sparkly pink journal her grandmother gave her. There’s discomfort in Bobbi’s halting dialogue and inability to connect with others, some sardonic humour in Bobbi's inner musings, and dramatic irony in the disconnect between how normal Bobbi outwardly insists her life has been and the revealed details of her party days; much of the specifics of the writing are well-crafted and compelling. On the other hand, the overall plot left me a bit cold: Despite some frequently appalling particulars, this didn’t feel “gritty” as the publisher’s blurb states — likely because these are the hinted at experiences of third parties and fuzzy memories that Bobbi brushes off; not much gritty happens in the present moment — and if this is meant to be a critique of residential rehab and twelve step programs, Toews doesn’t really dig into that either. Bobbi is simply a broken human drifting through life — accepting abuse or aid as it comes — and this driftiness gave me little to grab on to. I would give three and a half stars and am rounding up for the sentence-level writing.

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada, Georgia Toews, and NetGalley for an ARC of Hey, Good Luck Out There in exchange for an honest review.

I was drawn to this book as a resident of Ontario. Being able to picture many of the streets and locations mentioned helped make the story feel very real. However, even if you are not familiar with the Toronto area, Toews will draw you into a very well-drawn and realistic world.

The writing in this book, especially the dialogue, is quite effective. Everything feels real. While I commend the style of writing and empathized with the hardship faced by the narrator throughout the story, I had a hard time truly connecting with it. I wasn’t enthralled with the characters or their stories. I wanted to be but couldn’t get fully invested. With that being said, I appreciate that this book portrays a more realistic version of addiction and the struggles that come with it. It is not glamorized or embellished with action like the stories we see in film and television, it is simply a slice of (bleak) life.

3.5 stars.