His girlfriend is horror famous, his own writing and acting is floundering, and he is drinking to make sense of it all.
Kyle Kouri's debut non-fiction collection is full of 'whiskey courage' staring at the abyss of family, writing rejection, relationships, and his own drinking. From hijinks at AWP to hustling in the movie business, Kouri bridges the gap in drama between indie and horror.
At turns hilarious and heartbreaking, The Problem Drinker is the story of an artist living with another artist, yearning to move the needle in his career, amidst a sea of personal tragedies and comedies. If F. Scott Fitzgerald had one foot in the 2020s horror scene, that's the spirit of Kouri's caustic and big-hearted, lush and refreshingly candid debut.
About the Author :
Kyle Kouri (@kylekouri on Instagram) received his MFA in Fiction from Columbia University. He is the co-founder of Slashtag Cinema, a film production company, and has directed and acted in several films and plays. This includes directing and starring in the award-winning horror short film Keep Coming Back, and acting in Family Movie, which premiered at SXSW. His writing has appeared in Hobart Pulp, Maudlin House, Pool Party Magazine, Cleaver Magazine, the Columbia Journal, Farewell Transmission, Bruiser Magazine, BULL, and Icebreakers Lit. The Problem Drinker is his first book. His first novel, Graveyard, is forthcoming from Rejection Letters. He lives nowhere with his rescue dogs and his girlfriend, the writer CJ Leede.
Review :
"A tongue-in-cheek collection of essays about failing as a writer, feeling like a loser, and the shenanigans that unfold when you’re just trying your best." —Debutiful
“The Problem Drinker is brilliant, somehow both minimalist and gorgeously sweeping. Kyle Kouri is casually, effortlessly honest in a way that is so utterly propulsive, it makes the raw elegance of The Problem Drinker difficult to express without reading it for yourself. A potent, lyrical narrative." —Chuck Tingle, LOCUS Award-winning author of Bury Your Gays
“Best book I've ever read. Author's super hot." —CJ Leede, USA Today Best-Selling author of Maeve Fly and American Rapture
“Reading The Problem Drinker is like sitting in group therapy with all of your inner demons. At first, they just get fucking hammered and cry about all their own shit. Then, they fight about it. Then, they turn on you about it. And that’s when you pour yourself another and hope to hell you make it out alive." —D.T. Robbins, author of Leasing and founder of Rejection Letters
"Exquisitely raw, self-aware, and fresh out of fucks to give, The Problem Drinker threads the world’s finest needle by giving voice to a dying art: late nights, stiff drinks, and the fickle agony of love and family. Kouri’s voice lives somewhere between Hunter S. Thompson and David Sedaris. It’s as messy as it is intellectual, with a wholly unique, heart-wrenching irreverence. From one so-called problem drinker to another, I am so glad this book exists." —Liz Kerin, author of Night’s Edge
"Kyle Kouri’s The Problem Drinker is a mystical tour-de-force through the terror of personal and poetic histories. Populated with stiff drinks, film, the art of writing, love, tragedy, fear, and glee, Kouri shares all in this book, letting us into the failures and celebrations of his existence in equal parts. Part memoir, part lyric essay, part epic poem, The Problem Drinker eviscerates through the nonsense of life and presents us with a pure and gleaming I, glinting in the sun of its own discovery." —Dorothea Lasky, author of The Shining
“A Moveable Feast for modern day. Like Hemingway, Kouri writes about debauchery, art, the pain and pleasure of existence both comically and poignantly. Pour yourself your drink of choice and read this bold and surprisingly heartfelt meditation of a man examining his life and relationship to drinking.” —Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of Pizza Girl
"Searing, sobering, powered by an immense heartbeat all its own, The Problem Drinker effortlessly brings to life a singular literary voice, as humorous as it is grave. With candid and profoundly moving prose, Kouri journeys through grief, duty, art, apocalypse, and the absurdity of human life to create nothing short of a manifesto for the goriness and glory of being alive. I cried, and laughed, and I could not put this book down." —Mina Seçkin, author of The Four Humors
"A masterclass in booze-soaked realness, The Problem Drinker is honest and obfuscating all at once. The liquored-up pages of this brutal, funny, and tender memoir will leave you breathless, despondent, and hopeful. Kouri's frank depiction of grief, addiction, and the ways we cope with the chaos of the everyday and our own desires, dreams and shortcomings is beautifully rendered and refreshingly self-aware." —Sarah-Jane Collins, author of Radiant Heat
