MADreads

Madness, indeed

November 26th, 2008 Mary - Lakeview

Anyone who has visited a library or bookstore in the last 10 years knows that memoirs have recently become a publishing phenomenon. Of course memoirs have always been around, but those of you who doubt the recent spike in popularity of this genre need only read Entertainment Weekly magazine’s nearly exhaustive list of memoirs published since 1995. I’ll readily admit that I’m addicted to memoirs: I’ve read everything from the super popular (Angela’s Ashes) to the quirky (Devil in the Details); from the can’t-put-it-down-because-it’s-that-good (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) to the just plain awful (Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood). After a self-imposed three month break from reading memoirs, I finally fell off the wagon and started reading Madness: a Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher.

I’ve already read Hornbacher’s previous memoir Wasted about her battle to overcome anorexia and bulimia. Finally, one novel (The Center of Winter) and 10 years later, Hornbacher returns with an emotional yet humorous depiction of her life long struggle with mental illness. All the depressing elements are here: Addiction? Yes, Hornbacher describes her descent into alcoholism and anonymous sex as she self-medicates her mood swings. Body obsession? Yup, not just the aforementioned eating disorders but also self-mutilation in the form of cutting. Manic episodes and depressive states? Check and check. Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, Hornbacher describes yet another hospitalization in the psychiatric ward.

So what compelled me to continue plowing through the seemingly never ending psychotic episodes and subsequent hospitalizations? For starters it was the glimpse into a disease that I truly don’t understand. Secondly, although Hornbacher comes across as a tad self absorbed (but really, how could you not be in her case?) her writing is witty and articulate. What could have been merely a seriously depressing memoir actually ends on a hopeful note as the author acknowledges that she will always struggle with her illness, but her family and friends (and her love story with her husband) help her through it all. This might not be the book that you’d read curled up by the fireplace over the holidays, but its still worth the time investment.

Entry Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Nonfiction