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A strong sense of the need for place pervades the story: New York, the inadequate unit he lives even, even the box-like writing studio he works from. The marketing of this book - and the reason I bought it - stated that it was 'a father's memoir' of his daughter's 'crack-up' (Michael Greenbery's term): but this book is so much more than that. A compelling book that holds nothing back and leaves you breathless with its open-ness. Around the tragedy of this young girl's mental illness is a whole other set of stories - none more so astonishing that Greenberg's mother's confession of her unintended neglect of his brother. Greenberg writes honestly, raw-ly and beautifully. His life is exposed: relationships with his mother, his brother (whom he also cares for), his wife and his ex-wife.
The little glimpses he does manage outside of himself (it's rather self serving this novel) were interesting. I read the five star reviews and they identify in some way to either Michael or his daughter and it's an emotional response to what occurs in the book, however, let me caution you that there are few insights in this book, (there are far more detailed and informative books on the market in regards to bipolar disorder, if that is what you seek, look elsewhere) This book is written in a journalist style prose, even with interjected footnotes from other authors (no I'm not kidding) and if you are looking for an understanding of mental illness, you won't find it here, what you will find is one person's account of his own experience when his daughter became ill. That is all there is here, but it was enough to hold my interest and to spite the fact he is a mediocre writer I didn't toss the book aside with an air of distaste. As an avid reader, picking up one book after the other I not only absorb the story, but naturally the writing, and it was the writing, the prose itself that at times made me cringe. In summation I would direct you, if you have interest, to rent this book from the library but I wouldn't advise any of my fellow readers to actually purchase this book. However, this book does not, in my view deserve a one star simply because he's not quite there yet, in the art of writing itself. It almost felt as if a technical writer were trying to find his way to emotion, but failed. The story is still interesting and emotional, even though he distracts you from that with lackluster prose.
I also really liked how the father was always there for his daughter, even when she was mean to him. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the part where the father takes the daughters medication and finds out that it is difficult to function when sedated.
It was engaging and interesting. The story was as described.a father's story about dealing with his daughter's break & discovery of her illness.
He can't go inside his daughter's head and tell what she's thinking. I think he has to tell this story from his perspective. It's not a novel. I thought this was an amazing book. He can only report what she's telling him. It's a tale of mental illness from the outside looking in. It is the story of the author's daughter's first bout of psychosis. Some readers have had problems with it saying it was too self-involved.
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