Reviews (7)

a brisk ride into disability rights
The chapters in this book are arranged chronologically, but each is a discrete story. The episodes varied enough so that I was never bored: Ms. Johnson protested telethons, resisted a search of her dorm by the Secret Service, ran for office, served as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention, visited Cuba for an international conference on people with disabilities, argued in a jury trial, and more.
A Provocatively Tilted Perspective
This new book by Harriet McBryde Johnson, a civil rights attorney in Charleston, SC and disability activist, is a must read! Her book, Too Late to Die Young, provides insight into aspects of her life and career, but the author states upfront that "This book doesn't have a tidy message." Ms. Johnson is a gifted writer with a provocatively tilted perspective that is worth hearing. She accurately describes herself as a story teller in the great tradition of southern story tellers. I knew her stories were worth reading when, early on in the book, in describing a German doctor's bedside overnight care, she wrote "Now I remember how he kept vigil at my bedside so my parents could sleep and then fell sleep himself. As I listened to his deep, barrel-chested rumble, I imagined he was snoring in German." Later in the book, Harriet, after having noted that her normal viewpoint of most people is at crotch level (due to her posture), described her first impression of someone she met: "It's love at first sight - at my first sight of his shoes." Wonderful!
An Entertaining and Provocative Memoir
While I disagree with a fundamental premise argued in the book, I do recommend it for many reasons. First of all, the author can write! She has filled the book with interesting and unusual experiences, described them with wit as well as passion, and she challenges people like me on some basic assumptions and conclusions. I do hope readers of this book will follow up with Peter Singer's Writings on an Ethical Life (referred to in Harriet Johnson's book) in order to hear Singer's opinions in his own words.
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Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Handicapped    3. Social Science    4. Sociology    5. Specific Groups - Special Needs    6. Women    7. Social Science / Handicapped   

Reviews (7)

this woman is truly insane, makes being nuts fun
I really have to say that this was a very unique book.This woman is funny, she has a lot to give,she does not sugar coat things in the least.She gives a realistic discription of life with bulimia, and does not try to wrap things up in a nice perfect package.There is no sugar coating.This woman is plain and simple crazy, but at least she admits it, is not ashamed of it , and does not make excuses.She is like the typical eating disorder patient.They really do to an extent enjoy the disease.I loved the fact that she slammed the insurance companies. This should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand more about the disease.

Incredible!
As a mother of three teen-age daughters and someone who has had no experience with eating disorders, this incredible tale of a bulimic mother was a true eye-opener.I encouraged my daughters to read it and after doing so, we were able to have some healthy, honest discussions regarding eating and body-image issues.Ms. Krikorian's raw, honest account of her struggle with bulimia is an inspiring story.I wish her the strength she needs to control this disorder and the hope for a possible recovery.

A Great Read!
I first came across this book in a mothers club. I had heard through my playgroup that she (the author) was in the local papers and believe it or not in the same mothers club! Out of curiosity I read her book, and as a person I was appalled (however the woman in me somehow understood), as a mother I was mortified. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Family & Relationships / Motherhood    3. Personal Memoirs    4. Self-Help / Eating Disorders    5. Specific Groups - Special Needs    6. Bulimia    7. Eating disorders    8. Family & Relationships    9. Motherhood    10. Self-help   

Reviews (13)

An insight into the roller coaster ride
This book contains a candid description of the experience of a manic episode and the social, career, family and financial devastation it can cause. I'm sure most bipolars will identify with Faye, and SOs of bipolars will get an insight into the illness that perhaps the rest of us don't always have the words to convey.
A touching story
Faye has written a touching and uplifting story about her struggle with bipolar disorder. She appears to have been afflicted with a pretty severe variety of the disorder, perhaps Bipolar I would be the proper diagnosis. The writing isn't as good as in the finest mental illness memoirs, such as "An Unquiet Mind" or "Girl, Interrupted", but she is still able to tell her story vividly and honestly. The reader is likely to find himself cheering for her, hoping she can get her life back together. Anyone with bipolar disorder should read this book. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

Just The Book I Have Been Searching For...
I rate this book five stars!This well written and fascinating book is about the author's experience with mental illness. Her perspective helped me put into words so many feelings I had. I especially enjoyed the part where the author wrote from a psychotic viewpoint, which makes the book all the more unique.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. General    5. Specific Groups - Special Needs    6. Biography: general    7. Manic-depressive illness    8. Specific Groups    9. Depression    10. Manic depressive persons    11. Bipolar Disorder    12. Mental illness   

Reviews (7)

Help and hope for the hurting
Even though I found this book hard to read at times because of the author's struggle -- presented in such intimate detail -- I found a thread of hope that compelled me to continue. This is a beautifully written book, real literature, that explores the human spirit's capacity for transformation in the face of tragic and overwhelming human depravity. As a victim of incest myself, I found it very encouraging. I recommend it!

Helpful, powerful and engrossing
This book held my attention and read more like a suspense novel than an autobiographical true story. I wouldn't usually read a book with a "Christian" view, but this one is down to earth, real, gritty and honest. If you have been a victim of abuse this book offers realistic hope.

Machree's testimony to God's healing powers
Judith Machree tells her devastatingly true story of being molested as a child and the ramifications of Multiple Personality Syndrom that followed.Through her remarkable faith in God and support from her husband, she is able to share her story today.The book is written in a journal format and relates the different struggles she lived through, but through it all, there is a deeply spiritual aspect interwoven.It is an excellent testimony to God's healing powers and the strength He gives us to overcome even the most horrendous events in our lives. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abuse - General    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Family & Relationships    5. Specific Groups - Special Needs    6. Coping with personal problems    7. Violence in society   

Reviews (9)

I found myself in the Power of the Powerless
I was 6 months pregnant with my first child when I received a prenatal diagnosis of a potentially fatal and severe brain malformation for my unborn son.On the slim chance that he would be born alive, I was warned that he would have severe cognitive impairments, would never walk, and would never talk.
The value of suffering
To me this is a story about the value of suffering. I wish I could have given this book four and half stars. It is truly a beautiful book with many profound statements,and I will read it again. Christopher De Vink is not shy about sharing the presence of his Catholic faith in his life with Oliver. That being so, I kept hoping Mr. De Vink would use the long standing teachings of the Catholic Church on the value of suffering to make his point. Instead, the author only skirts around theological arguments (Catholic or otherwise)that I think would have made the book more solid. For those who have made their peace with suffering through a theological understanding of its value, this will be a beautiful book that will affirm their faith. For those who have learned to embrace suffering through experience, this book will be encouraging to say the least. But for those who insist on avoiding suffering at any cost, this book will be eye opening,life changing and, frankly, necessary.

if only there were more than 5 stars...
Honestly, this is the best book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It sent me through a whirlwind of emotion, discovery, and affirmation. I cried through the whole book, sobbed even. The messages of human value, compassion, love, and hope are so inspiring and real. Each story is artfully tied into de Vinck's goal of writing about life and purpose. This is a book for everyone. I couldn't recommend a book more strongly than this one. It's astonishing really, pain is part of the process. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Catholics    4. De Vinck family    5. De Vinck, Christopher,    6. Family relationships    7. Motivational & Inspirational    8. People with disabilities    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Religious    11. Religious life    12. Self-Help    13. Specific Groups - Special Needs    14. United States    15. Advice on careers & achieving success    16. Religion / Inspirational    17. Self-Help & Practical Interests    18. Self-Help / Motivational   

Reviews (2)

An important piece of AA history
This book contains great information and insight about the man who was instrumental in the formation of the 12 Step programs.I even bought one for my sponsor, who knew of Ebby, but didn't know some of the history this book provides.A wonderful addition to every recovery library!

Essential AA History and a Fun Read!
Mel B. has given us a gift in "Ebby, The Man Who Sponsored Bill W.". Finally, the question of, What ever happened to Ebby, is answered fully and interestingly. I especially enjoyed: 1. the social background of the relationship and friendship which led ultimately to Ebby's call on Bill W., 2. Ebby's particular but familiar character qualities that made continuous sobriety difficult for him, 3. Bill W.'s never ending love and respect for Ebby, his Sponsor, that literally sent AA's to the edge of the earth in a quest to 'get Ebby sobered up again', and 4. Mel B's tasteful insertion of "fun facts" throughout the text which will delight readers.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1896-1966    2. Alcoholics    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Self-Help    6. Specific Groups - Special Needs    7. Substance Abuse & Addictions - Alcoholism    8. Thacher, Ebby,    9. Twelve-Step Programs    10. United States    11. W., Bill    12. Self-Help / Substance Abuse    13. Thacher, Ebby   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Military    3. New Age    4. Religion    5. Specific Groups - Special Needs    6. Spirituality - General    7. History / Military / World War II   

Reviews (5)

Son Goes Mainstream, Father Goes Fringe
This book should really have been split into two different works.The first book would have been about raising a son (Ned Palmer) with Down syndrome as he transitioned into manhood.The second book would have been made up of the vocation and philosophical leanings of both author and father, Greg Palmer.
Denny descendent delivers...
I first read about Greg and Ned in Pacific Magazine in the Sunday Seattle Times.It was a brief but intriguing view into Greg and Ned's relationship and Ned's move into adulthood and the "mainstream".Both Greg and Ned, (father and son)seemed to be witty, talented, smart men learning to deal with each other and life as they moved into the next chapter of their lives.I wanted to know more, so I got the book.
Too many unrelated personal biases
The first section of the book is very entertaining.From there, the action slows down. The content really drags towards the end.As the parent of a child with DS, I can relate to much of the writers comments, however, the author includes way too much personal bias and opinions unrelated to his son in the areas of politics, religion, public television, etc in his own separate experiences.The book would have been much better without them. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Children with Special Needs    4. Diaries    5. Down syndrome    6. Education    7. Family & Relationships    8. Family relationships    9. Family/Marriage    10. Handicapped    11. Palmer, Greg    12. Palmer, Ned    13. Parenting - Fatherhood    14. Patients    15. Specific Groups - Special Needs    16. United States    17. Advice on parenting    18. Coping with disability   

Reviews (5)

Accepting oneself as less than perfect
I found this book to be extremely powerful. Bonnie wholely admits to being in denial about her deafness til she was 38. At first I found this disturbing as she KNEW she was deaf, but claimed to be in denial. Three months AFTER I read the book it finally hit me what she was saying!!! She was not in denial about her deafness, she was in denial about the fact that her deafness made her different from other people, AND she was in denial that it impacted on her life! This was a huge lesson to me, because I was (then) doing the EXACT same thing!! I blamed a madrid of other "things" that affected my life EXCEPT for my hearing loss! What a relief it was to be able to accept the truth and get on with my life, and go forward! I now accept and do know that it is just a part of me that I have to live with every day!!! I must constantly educate others about it, and I am always appreciative of those who make the extra efforts to accommodate me and keep me informed on what is going on around me.
Miscataloged but worth reading
I ran into this book by accident looking for a book about law. (LOC cataloged it in the Dewey system as 340.092, near books like Legal Realism at Yale.) It's actually the autobiography of Bonnie Poitras Tucker, born (so far as anyone can tell) totally deaf but who eventually became a lawyer and a law school professor. Tucker's strength is in communicating the burden of being deaf even for a gifted lip reader. I must say that I never thought about how terrifying darkness must be for the deaf, how much it would hurt to be thought rude because one couldn't hear everyday sounds or conversation, or even how a moustache might completely frustrate a lip reader. Tucker's reluctance to tell others about her handicap undoubtedly made some periods of her life more difficult than they might have been otherwise, but it takes little imagination for the reader to sympathize with her desire to be "normal." Curiously, although Tucker, is an expert on the law of disabilities, her book does not address legal issues in any rigorous way. For her, it is a self-evident truth that a theater owner should provide a seat for her interpreter at no charge. Likewise, the brief attempt she makes at discussing her religious beliefs (basically none) is more simplistic than one would expect from a law school teacher. Nevertheless, the book is worth reading. As a teacher who has had a number of deaf students over the years, I will certainly think twice before regrowing my moustache.

Gratitude, compassion and frustration
I would have never heard of this book if not for a dear friend's recommendation - whose 15-year old daughter has been deaf since birth. And I am as profoundly grateful to my friend Anna Marie, as I am to Bonnie Tucker, the author - for a lesson in gratitude. compassion and frustration . . .Read more

Subjects:  1. 1939-    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Deaf lawyers    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Sign Language    8. Specific Groups - Special Needs    9. Tucker, Bonnie P.,    10. United States    11. Women    12. Biography: general    13. Coping with disability    14. Disability: social aspects   

Reviews (4)

A Page-Turning Story of Triumph Over Disability
I read this book over the course of four days -- record time for me -- since I took every opportunity to pick it up.The book represents the triumph of human determination to overcome disease and an overwhelming variety of disabilities.The author's attitude is amazing, as he shows gratefulness for every opportunity and challenge that comes his way.I also appreciated his insistence on maintaining his own unique approach to life and its challenges, despite what the experts had to say.I hope that Darryl succeeds in achieving his dreams of returning to Merrill Lynch -- if he really feels that is still where his call is -- getting married, and starting a family.

'Forces' you to look at life from another perspective...
All of us can become disechanted with life on occasion, but Force a Miracle "forces" you to look at life from a different perspective, and I guarantee after reading this book you'll come away a better person. I know (or at least I "think") I did!

A MUST-READ!
Every so often a book comes along that begs you to read it. This is that book! Filled with everyday observations that make you stop and think just how lucky you are, it's part memoir, part self-help, part funny papers, ALL inspiring. I urge you to check it out whenever you get to thinking, "Why does this only happen to ME?" As my wife says, "We don't know what real problems are." This book really proves that... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Diseases - General    5. Family Relationships    6. Inspiration & Personal Growth    7. Personal Memoirs    8. Religious    9. Specific Groups - Special Needs    10. Biography & Autobiography / Religious   

Editorial Review

In his first book of essays, Read more

Reviews (14)

A Patchwork Quilt
A book of occasionally lovely short essays surrounded by a battery of incidental writing that should've been omitted.Dubus at his best, only evident here now and then, offers us writing that builds slowly, gathering a few seemingly unrelated details and weaving them into something uniquely powerful.It shouldn't be surprising then to know that the essays in this book that don't hold up well are all too abbreviated and short, more editorial than essay, ending just as they've begun.His religious thoughts, obviously sincere but still cloying, further interrupt the book's best moments. Thought provoking
Many people are familiar with Andre Dubois's son and his book(an Oprah pick) The house of Sand and fog.Andre Duboius has long been considered a master of the short story, and the eye that served him well at that craft is equally appreciated when turned inward.DuBois was confined to a wheelchair when injured in an accident, and as a result, accepted the challenge to look inward.In essays detailing his struggle with mortality, his failings, his life as a writer and the struggle to find the sacred in the everyday Mr. DuBois is honest and open.At times, you may think the conclusions are a bit too pat or packaged, and yet, there is no doubt in regards to the sincerity.

I met all of his family this January.
On January 2000, I visited Mr. Andre Dubus' old house and grave inHaverhill, MA. His house was silent like a library and his grave has notbeen constructed. I showed his letter for me to his family (his son) AndreDubus III in Newburyport, MA. Though we have not met before we have hadsame feeling like a deep grief. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Essays    3. Literary    4. Literary Collections    5. Literary Criticism    6. Specific Groups - Special Needs    7. Literary Collections / Essays    8. Modern fiction   

Reviews (8)

Just an Amazing Read of Determination & Joy in Living
What should our attitude be towards the deaf?Kisor gives us good insight with his memoir which is beautifully, sensitively and humorouly written.Some would term him an outcast to both the deaf culture and the hearing culture, since he lipreads and doesn't sign.Can't possibly be happy because he can't fully participate in hearing world, he's missing so much.But Kisor disagrees.
A belated discovery
I have only just caught up with this book 14 years after it was published. Kisor is very good on how he managed a life as a deaf person who operates orally in a hearing world, and manages to be quite tactful in dealing with the subject of the Deaf -- people who use sign language. He is perhaps more tactful than he really should be in discussing the ignorance of a lot of educators of the severely hearing-impaired and the rather patronizing "poor-you" attitude they often take.
What's That Pig Outdoors
I read this book for an ASL class in college and wow.This book is great.An amazing autobiography written by a deaf man, Henry Kisor who has managed to exist in a hearing world as a deaf man strictly by lip reading.He has been a journalist and this is amazing to me.A wonderful story written in the point of view of a deaf man and his lifelong journey to success and living in the hearing world.Reading this book has made me take a look at my life and made me feel as if I could do anything. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Deaf    6. Kisor, Henry    7. Personal Memoirs    8. Specific Groups - Special Needs    9. United States    10. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Reviews (20)

ItWas Food vs. Me... and I Won.
I loved it.I liked the friendship she tries to develop with you as the book progresses.
Wow!
This is the only book I have ever read where I felt like the author knew exactly how I was feeling.I have never been able to describe my relationship with food until now.Now that I have a better understanding, I can be in control.This is an excellent book.

Probably not the Solution that you are looking for
To prevent repetition, please read Carla Baku's review because I believe that the review highlighted some very important aspects of the book that the reader should acknowledge. If you are looking for a book that you can relate to because you have similar experiences with food and emotions as Nancy had, you've found it. I am still amazed at her ability to share and then publish some of her experiences. I have gone through very similar experiences and I can barely write about any of it on paper, let alone share with anyone else. If you are a person who is looking for a solution or an answer to what might be your problem with food... this is the wrong book. It is a comforting book though if you are someone with similar issues like Nancy because it makes you realize that you are definatly not alone. Nancy talks how she goes to see a therapist or a counselor and at first it was really difficult, difficult to admit her problems and difficult for her to face someone and to ask for help. Nancy realizes that her family and her marriage interplay with her issues with food. What I realized at this point was the power of asking for help. Not the kind of help from the late night infomercials selling equiptment that already filled my basement, not the kind of help from the latest diet books or solutions, but the kind of professional help like Nancy sought out and helped her to overcome her issues with food. Like I did and before I knew it, my issues weren't around food at all, food was just the distraction and for me is no longer a problem anymore. I think an important part of the book is the challenge and the power of asking for help. After 2 years with an eating disorder, I asked for help and found a therapist. Its the best thing I've very done for myself. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Compulsive eaters    4. Compulsive eating    5. Eating Disorders    6. Goodman, Nancy    7. Health    8. Overweight women    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Psychology    11. Psychopathology - Eating Disorders    12. Specific Groups - Special Needs    13. Treatment    14. United States    15. Women    16. Self-Help / Eating Disorders   

Reviews (8)

Poignant and Beautiful
This poignant and beautifully written tale is both inspiring and hysterically funny!An easy read, but brilliantly written, it ties the reader to the book.Without pity, Kathy portrays herself and shows her life through wit and humor that can bring a tear to your eye without making you feel sorry for her.Instead it helps you see your life in better perspective and inspires the reader to attain higher goals.Excellent read.

Very Inspiring
I totally enjoyed this book. Kathy is an inspiration and I wish her nothing but continued success in the future. The book is hard to believe in some points - that so many bad things can happen to one person. It is amazing to see the metamorphasis Kathy goes through in her life and how the total of all of her life's experiences both good and bad have shaped who she is today. She's triumphant!

A powerful memoir and personal account of hope
Kathy's severe hearing loss lead to an early diagnosis of mental retardation: she was also molested, run over, and stricken with cancer all before the age of thirty but she never lost her sense of humor. If You Could See What I Hear provides her life story and how she kept this sense of humor through the darkest of days. A powerful memoir and personal account of hope. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Comedians    6. Deaf    7. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Comedians    8. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    9. Inspirational - General    10. Specific Groups - Special Needs    11. United States    12. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs    13. Biography: film, television & music    14. Personal Christian testimony & popular inspirational works   

Reviews (63)

The greatest person ever lived
i really loved this book if i was born around his time i would have been his friend i love how he stood up for his beliefs and went back to school in stuff even though he didn't get to gradulate, but he still lived a great in fun life it was short but he did things with it i'm young but my aunt past away with AIDS and after reading this book it really touch me i was crying because i felt so bad what ryan went though but he didn't let it get to him. He was so strong he got people believing again.

Intrest in school
In fifth grade we were introduced to an illness called AIDS. We also learned about a boy named Ryan White. I took an interest to this story because I have an illness called diabetes and have to deal with how different people react and treat me because of it. Just like Ryan and AIDS diabetes is not contagious and there are no know ways to prevent or cure it. I have heard many different reactions when they find out that I have Diabetes. The most commom being "Did you eat too much sugar or something?" Most of the time I just laugh at this and explain that you have no control over getting Diabetes. I took an interest in school that year and by doing so I found myself a role model...Ryan White.

Inspiring with a tear jerker end...
When I was young I remeber a copy of People magazine that my mom had lying around with Ryan White on the cover.For some reason I always took an interest to him, and his life, and all the article that I could find on him. In high school I remeber reading part of it to do an exta credit project.Finally 2 year out of high school I decided to reread the story of his life.It is amazing how people really are. It really hit home, not living too far from Kokomo, Indiana where he was from, that people in my community would treat people this way.It is also amazing how much determination he had to be who he was and not let anyone or anything get in the way.This book is great!!!!Everyone should read it and put themselves in this families shoes!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. AIDS & HIV    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Specific Groups - Special Needs    4. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography   

Editorial Review

When the author began taking Prozac in 1988 she was 26 and had already struggled for over a decade with hospitalizations, suicide attempts, anorexia, and self-mutilation resulting from a variety of mental illnesses, obsessive-compulsive disorder the most recent among them. The newly released drug liberated her from debilitating anxiety and pain even as it raised unsettling questions about her own identity, as she had always been defined by her afflictions. "The world as I had known it my whole life did not seem to exist," writes Slater in a characteristically incisive sentence. She was happier, but she found it difficult to write without the inner voices that had sparked her fevered creativity; even the philosophy books she had once loved now seemed irrelevant to her newly healthy state.With utter candor (even about her dampened sexuality) and a surprising amount of humor, Slater chronicles the ups and downs of life on Prozac. A nightmarish relapse when the dosage suddenly proves inadequate ("Prozac poop-out") ultimately helps her discover inner resources to combat her illness in conjunction with the medication. She finds new love and a better understanding of her past; she avoids the equally unrealistic extremes of Prozac boosters who ignore the drug's costs and doomsayers who depict it creating a generation of zombies. Slater's balanced final assessment is voiced, as usual, in exact, lyrical prose: "This is Prozac's burden and gift, keeping me alive to the most human of questions, bringing me forward, bringing me back, swaddling and unswaddling me, pushing me to ask which wrappings are real." Read more

Reviews (39)

Inspirational story
This book follows the story of learning, recovering, and adjusting of a woman, confused
effective, honest, scary
well written.scary details about mental illness.both scary w/ respect to what i might see in myself and what exceeds greatly in a dystopic fashion what i see in myself.is a testament to how well prozac can work, and in that fashion, this memoir is quite effective and honest, although some may call it "over salted" (as Hamlet didn't want his plays to be like over salted dishes.)

A Worthy Addition To The Genre
Lauren Slater's 1999 memoir Prozac Diary is a worthy addition to the "women and madness" genre or for the millions currently taking antidepressants.What makes Slater's book a standout, though, is that it's the experience of one of the first people to use Prozac for depression. Slater writes her diary ten years after she first started taking the drug regularly in 1988, so we get to read of the long-term affects of daily dosing and how the drug changed her life over time.What was most interesting about Slater's story is how she had to learn to live life as a no-longer-depressed person.Her entire life, depression and its consequences dominated her life, gave her life meaning and routine, and defined who she was.When the "Zac" started working, she struggled to develop a new sense of herself, separate and apart from the depressed Lauren.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Case studies    4. Chemotherapy    5. Depression    6. Fluoxetine    7. General    8. Mental illness    9. Mentally ill    10. Psychology    11. Social Scientists & Psychologists    12. Specific Groups - Special Needs    13. United States    14. Medical / Psychiatry / Psychopharmacology    15. Reading Group Guide   

Subjects:  1. 1974-    2. Anorexia nervosa    3. Ayelet,    4. Biography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Eating Disorders    7. Eating Disorders - Anorexia Nervosa    8. Mental health    9. Patients    10. Psychology    11. Psychopathology - Eating Disorders    12. Psychotherapist and patient    13. Psychotherapy - Counseling    14. Specific Groups - Special Needs    15. Women    16. Cognitive theory    17. Eating disorders & therapy    18. Illness & addiction: social aspects   

Editorial Review

When he was 10 years old, the author watched as his brother Michael losthis mind. High on LSD and screaming uncontrollably because God was torturinghim, the 14-year-old smashed everything in his bedroom, his feet red with bloodfrom broken glass. Michael collected snakes and let them slither around hisnaked body; he beat Greg nearly senseless, then smashed his own forehead into asharp branch in repentance; he stayed up all night, watching Christiantelevision or "puzzling over his strange and cruel distance from God." Theirparents, preoccupied by the ceaseless work that had taken them from a dirt-poorVirginia town to an affluent suburb that they really couldn't afford, thoughtdrugs the problem and throwing Michael out the answer. Not until 1977, when hewas 21, did they learn that he was an acute paranoid schizophrenic, so severelymentally ill that he probably would never be healed, although medication mightcontrol his behavior. Michael became increasingly dangerous, but could not beinstitutionalized against his will; when he set their house on fire in 1993, thefather's reaction was relief: "This was the best thing that could havehappened.... He'll be put away." He was, and, Bottoms acknowledges, "We've allfound a peace without Michael that we're not willing to give up." There's nofalse sentiment in this unflinching memoir of a family that's alienated, insteadof united, by tragedy: "We all hid from each other," Bottoms writes withcharacteristic candor. "We shared a space, a roof, nothing else." There is,however, tremendous sorrow for a blighted life and the havoc that it wrought.Bottoms's finely crafted prose offers no consolation or easy answers--simplyemotional precision and the satisfaction of hard truth. Read more

Reviews (34)

very well written
My wife got this book for school and I happened to pick it up and read it before she did. While the story itself is rather depressing the insight given by Greg's story is enlighting. We have so far to go yet in truely helping people with mental and emotional needs, yet we continue to throw drugs at people and hope they will just go away. Awesome book!

Honest Truth
This book is amazingly written. Reading it is a rollercoaster ride and some parts are just plain crazy. I think this writer has a true understanding of pain. I've read other painful books like Requiem for a Dream, Naked Lunch, and I just read this book called His Shining Light. This book is evenly written. If you need some perspective on pain in life, read this book. I hope I explained myself well enough.

A Life In Madness
Greg always wanted a normal life but with Michael as a brother who was diagnosed as a acute paranoid schizphrenia it wasnt passible.The book was by Greg Bottoms, born in Hampton Virginia in 1970.He has had essays and journals in the Beaconbest of 1999, creative Nonfiction, nerve, prism International and else where. he now lives with his wife. i liked his book very much it was wonderful but very sad.To see the things that Greg the author had to go through.Watching his brother lose his mind after taking LSD at the age of ten not realy understanding what is going on.BEing beaten by Michael becuase he wouldnt mow the lawn.Even after he moved away he was still stuck when Michael set the house on fire and tried to kill his family.It is still very sad because Michael didnt understand what was going on in his head everything was confusing and twisted to him.I would recomend this book for anyone who asked me. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Bottoms, Greg    6. Bottoms, Michael    7. Family Relationships    8. Mental Illness    9. Reference    10. Schizophrenics    11. Specific Groups - Special Needs    12. United States    13. Biography & Autobiography / General    14. Biography: general    15. Psychiatry   

Reviews (44)

What is the price of life...
This book by the once husband of Terri Shiavo sits right next to the book written by the parents of Terri Shiavo.I am giving this book 5 stars not because I agree with it, but because you and I need to read it because we are facing a very serious threat to America today:Are we as Americans, much less earthlings, going to consider life sacred and something to treasure no matter what or are we (as Michael Shiavo shows) just going to throw life away whenever it is convenient for us to do so?
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