Until after the last drink....

(Vatchi):    Not only do I think that alcohol robbed him of his adulthood (some say, and, of course, it's an exaggeration, that an alcoholic stops maturing at the beginning of his drinking career and remains stagnant, never reaching adulthood, until after he drinks his last drink), but in some sense, Jim was robbed of his childhood, too. 
   His childhood memories seem memories of memories of memories. A life not lived, and what was lived, barely remembered, and what's remembered- distorted.    Mirrors in a Funhouse, Sotto. You asked if nothing could have stopped him. I don't know. But I do think that nothing could have stopped his alcoholism. What has not yet been destroyed could yet be saved. His history cannot be rewritten. With any luck and a lot of hard work, he can save what he has left. Who, alcoholic or not, can do more than that, Sotto?   from All Drinking Aside (Rough Draft, Chapter 10)