Madness: A Bipolar Life
by Marya Hornbacher
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Book Reviews of Madness: A Bipolar Life
Book Review: O This Poor Brain! Ten Thousand Shapes of Fury are Whirling There and Reason is No More - Henry Fielding
Summary: 4 Stars
It seems that every bipolar believes that they need to write a book about themselves. Look at me. I am writing a blog. I have read a bunch of them. That says more about me than about the books. Some are pretty good. Some are not so hot. But I like this one.
Marya is bipolar I. I'm sure every bipolar I would say, "What's so weird about her life." The rest of us would say, "I'm glad I'm not her." She takes us everywhere; professional life, love lives (of course she drove lovers away), family life, suicides, nuthouses, medications, all that.
She is actually a writer. She paints a visual and emotional picture of the real thing. I was invited to become part of her life and I accepted the invitation. I was in the doctor's office crawling on the file cabinets with her. I was riding in the car with her on a bipolar trip to California. She could have left that out of the book. I have already done that one.
It doesn't seem that she makes any part of her life out of bounds. It is a real book about a real person. I don't guess that anyone who is bipolar needs to know what it is like to be bipolar, but maybe family, friends, or someone else does. Or if you have allowed yourself to fall back into self-pity this might be good company. I thought the book was a good one.
Book Review: Amazing, Insightful, Thought Provoking!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Once again she has written another amazing and thought provoking book!!! After reading Wasted I realized for the first time that someone knew all the secrets I was keeping inside. I felt ashamed and alleviated at the same time for her excellent and amazing portrayal of what it is like to suffer with different eating disorder.
Then I read Madness and again I felt like someone was exposing my thoughts and letting me know that it was ok, as if there was hope and I just needed to let someone know. I have suffered for so long and luckily I have not gone the depths that she did but I was comforted that Marya took them on in a very raw and in your face way. She leaves nothing unexposed and delves into her life in a very personal way that the reader can relate to. She bares it all and lets us into her life with no reservations.
Even if you don't suffer bi-polar or an eating disorder I highly suggest reading both books, just to get an insight into what it might be like. Although I suffer with an eating disorder and could relate to many of the symptoms in Madness reading the books has made me a more compasionate and aware person. She is nothing less than remarkable and both books have helped me talk about my "secrets" and not feel so ashamed.
Book Review: Another brilliantly-written memoir by Marya Hornbacher
Summary: 5 Stars
'Madness' lives up to Ms. Hornbacher's first memoir, 'Wasted', and in the same take-no-prisoner style that is hers almost exclusively, gives readers a first-hand glimpse inside the head and heart of a typical victim of the insanity that is (untreated) bipolar. She is honest and unapologetic, she is in-your-face, and she is raw. I sympathized with Marya so much in this memoir that I couldn't help but feel elated when she found moments of peace, and desperate during each of her countless hospitalizations...even if some of them were hastened by her own hand. She shows readers that a person can be both severely mentally ill and outrageously successful at the same time. She dispels many myths about mental illness in this book, as she did with eating disorders in 'Wasted.' Marya Horbacher is brilliant, and the unimaginable setbacks she has suffered in her young life have done nothing to change that; in fact, they have made her stronger and infinitely more compassionate. With a quick wit and self-deprecating humor, Ms. Hornbacher has penned another brilliantly intense memoir that, in my opinion, is on-par with any of Elizabeth Wurtzel's writings, and perhaps even better.Book Review: A Riveting Memoir
Summary: 4 Stars
Madness: A Bipolar Life is a riveting memoir about the most severe form of bipolar disorder called: Rapid Cycling Type 1. She describes her struggles with the demons she faces every day, wavering between madness and deep bouts of depression.
As early as the age of 4 Marya Hornbacher was unable to sleep and night and talked endlessly. Once she was in school, other children called her crazy. By the age of 10 she discovered alcohol helped her mood swings, and by age 14, she was trading sex for pills. In her late teens, her eating disorder landed her in the hospital when he weight fell to just 52 pounds. She also cycled into another body obsession, cutting. In and out of psychiatric hospitals numerous times, she was 24 before she was accurately diagnosed as Bipolar.
Hornbacher, 34, is the author of (3) books. To me it would seem impossible to be able to write (1) book never mind (3) with this disorder as horrific as she describes. In the end, however, this was a satisfying, page-turning memoir. In addition, the book includes a detailed resource section with statistics and information on bipolar disorder.
Book Review: Living my hell through her hell
Summary: 5 Stars
I have some addiction issues with Klonopin and I started reading this book when I was going through some serious Klonopin withdrawal. I am not bipolar but I found this book helpful and comforting while going through my own personal madness.
Like she says in the book, I honestly don't know how she made it through all this without killing someone (by mistake of course) or herself, accidental or intentional. It is a miracle and she is blessed to come through this. Her writing is so convincing. I really felt like I was in her head and this is how it feels to be bipolar.
I don't know how she drank as much as she did!! I kept thinking, Wow, considering her situation she was able to travel for her book tour and become an accomplished woman.
I hope she stays on the straight and narrow and am glad that she told her story. I feel like anyone who reads this will finally understand what it is to have mental illness. Because so many people don't understand and I know I have a very hard time explaining how I feel sometimes.