Wasted and Mad
Marya Hornbacher, who last wrote about suffering with an eating disorder, has now published another book -- this time on living with bipolar disorder. I'm working on my own memoir now (or working on thinking about working on it), so I understand the urge to purge (metaphorically) in print. But something about writing multiple accounts of multiple disorders kind of makes me queasy. Augusten Burroughs did is quite deftly, I thought, and perhaps Hornbacher has pulled it off as well.
It seems Hornbacher, like many other chroniclers of bipolar disorder, struggles primarily with mania. Stay tuned for my book, which is going to be called: Rarely Manic, But Depressed As Shit.
Comments
this is not a comment but might interest you anyway
http://terenceboal.blogspot.com/search?q=shyness
Posted by: terry | June 12, 2008 04:49 PM
I look forward to your book. ;)
There are enough books about mania being the main problem, but for those of us who experience far, FAR, more depression than mania, there is next to nothing. Actually, nothing that I can think of.
Posted by: Anthony | June 12, 2008 05:12 PM
Love the title...
Posted by: Mitchell Gobrick | June 13, 2008 11:17 AM
I've read both, and I actually found Madness to be a fantastic effort. Enormously unsettling, but I think that was the point. It was less of a purge than Wasted, and more of a book with a purpose. (The fact that she clearly grew as a writer during the intervening years didn't hurt.) Seriously, go give it a read. She's a little more rah-rah about medicine than I'd like generally speaking, but when one takes into account her experience, it makes perfect sense. I don't think Hornbacher's ever had a mild version of anything.
Posted by: Orange Peacock | June 13, 2008 11:25 AM
Well I'm in for that book!!
I am interested in how one can be bipolar and not experience the manias (without antidepressants).
Posted by: Kerri-Jo | June 13, 2008 01:50 PM
When you do write the book, please give it that exact title. It's perfect.
Posted by: Michelle | June 19, 2008 06:14 PM
having read both of Marya Hornbacher's memoirs, I can say that her latest, Madness, is a really articulate and moving account of her struggle with bipolar. I enjoyed (if that's the right word) this one even more than Wasted.
Posted by: Iheartfashion | June 22, 2008 09:16 AM