Helpful Score: 3
If you, or anyone around you, has lived with mental illness, this book will ring very true. I think it is an amazing account of an accomplished woman who is living with bipolar disorder. Marya Hornbacher does not play down the devastating impact of her madness. Yet, I grew to like her and enjoy her perspective on things. My only warning--don't start the book unless you have some time to sit and read it. It ruined me for all other activities until I finished.
Helpful Score: 3
This book is difficult to read, because Hornbacher is so unflinchingly honest in her recollections. She describes her history with intense bipolar disorder: the terrifying highs and lows, the suicide attempts, the disappeared memories of hospitalization, she omits nothing. It might make the reader uncomfortable in its honesty, but I recommend it to everyone who has ever dealt with a mental disorder.
Helpful Score: 3
The writer shared her life long struggles with the reader. I found it hard to put down. I really enjoyed this book. She shares her high's and low's with her bipolar. I haven't read any books like this. I suggest this book for anyone who has or knows someone who struggles with mental illness.
I could not put this book down! It tells you what a bipolar person is going through. It is also humorous at times. Great Book!!
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent book! Written in a similar style to Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, Madness serves as a glimpse into Marya's life before her diagnosis as well as her struggles and trials after diagnosis- hospitalizations, relapses, etc. I read this book in a single sitting- I even skipped supper!
There is no real "happily ever after", tidy wrap up ending to Madness- Marya is treating her condition, to be sure, but she is not cured, and Madness still lurks.
If you are the kind of reader that needs a book to be wrapped up with a tidy bow, this is not for you. It is, however, an enlightening read about the struggles faced by an ordinary woman with a frightening mental illness.
I would give this six stars if I could.
There is no real "happily ever after", tidy wrap up ending to Madness- Marya is treating her condition, to be sure, but she is not cured, and Madness still lurks.
If you are the kind of reader that needs a book to be wrapped up with a tidy bow, this is not for you. It is, however, an enlightening read about the struggles faced by an ordinary woman with a frightening mental illness.
I would give this six stars if I could.
