Fury: A Memoir

Book: Fury: A Memoir

Author: Koren Zailckas

Grade: B+

After catapulting herself onto the bestseller scene with her explosive memoir of teenage binge drinking (Smashed), Koren Zailckas turns her attention to her next non-fiction: an in depth exploration of treatment of anger as it varies from culture to culture. The fact that Zailckas chooses anger as a topic, while insisting she has none is just one demonstration of the power of denial we all erect in varying degrees.

After hitting a brick wall with the writing of her book and enduring a devastating breakup with a man who is referred to only as "the lark," Koren retreats back to her parents house to wallow and wilt until she reaches the point at which people start referring to her as "the computer" because of the complete lack of expression in her. As a last ditch effort - and with an insane degree of reluctance and bitterness - she is forced to see a therapist. She enters to talk about "the lark" but discovers through the process where the anger ball started rolling in her life - and how it shaped what she sees today. With her new insight, she begins to make changes in her interactions with those around her and she starts changing (life doesn't change, but she does - a fact that I find reassuringly realistic).

Fury would not be nearly as powerful as it is were it not for it's refusal to lend itself to predictability. As a self help guru and avid reader/intellectual, I related heavily with her as the patient with all the research but none of the actual answers. Once she can put that defense down, progress can begin - as it is so in my life. Koren avoids the temptation to wrap everything up neatly with roses and sunshine in the end - that's not reality. And I fully appreciate that willingness.

Part textbook and part memoir; Fury is informative, fun, page turning and inspirational. Gets my recommendation.