Helpful Score: 7
This is a true life story that is written in a simple and haunting way. You can see exactly how 'sane' it feels to be depressed and suicidal. I have not read any other book that describes so well the absolute hopelessness that you feel when you have no one to turn to, have tried and failed conventional treatments, and feel like the only option is to simply stop participating in life.Anyone who has ever battled feelings of despair, depression, and suicidal thoughts will carry this book in their head for a long time.
Helpful Score: 5
A well written look into the life of one persons struggle with Bi-polar disorder. Leaves you with a better and more empathetic insight of what people suffering with this illness feel and think. She allows the reader to experience her highs and lows regardless of any remorse or embarrassment. It was truly a courageous body of work.
Helpful Score: 3
I read this months ago so I can't really remember exact details. I'm a memoir lover at heart and this is an excellant memoir. I'm only now listing it because I was going to keep it- I don't keep many books. Cheney did a wonderful job letting her readers into her life. I definitely recommend this one!
Helpful Score: 3
Great insight on the struggles a person deals with in living with Bipolar disorder. The author gives an honest, revealing description of life as a manic depressive. Very informational, very well written, and has me rooting for her success in bringing relief to others dealing with this disorder.
Helpful Score: 2
This book is filled with fascinating situations and Cheney brilliantly brings us along in her journey of bipolar disorder. This book is extremely powerful and Cheney even manages to make you laugh when all you want to do is cry. Manic captures the real experiences of what a person with bipolar disorder endures. This book is a must-read for the masses, physicians and novices alike, who are interested in genuinely understanding the struggle of having bipolar disorder.
Helpful Score: 1
I liked the way the author recounted her actual incidences of manic/depressive behavior rather than try to tie everything together to make a story line. It made it very real for me, and I cold really relate. I identified with so many of the accounts.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a open and heart felt book about her mania. You get an insiders veiw into insanity, and depression and the progression it has taken in her life.
Also if you are honest with yourself you see a bit of yourself in Terri.
This is a good book and I appreciate the courage the author had to write it.
Also if you are honest with yourself you see a bit of yourself in Terri.
This is a good book and I appreciate the courage the author had to write it.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a very honest and deep look into manic depression. It tells Terri's story and all the ups and downs she has had while dealing with her mental illness. It's a very eye opening book for anyone who likes memoirs or wants to know more about Manic Depression on a personal level.
This was a roller-coaster ride of a book. I really liked the way she wrote it out of sequence due to her not recalling when her episodes happened or in what order, that's quite unusual but it worked. This really opened my eyes to bi-polar disorder and the turmoil involved, I had no idea how bad it could be. My heart truly goes out to her and to anyone battling with this disorder.
I loved this book. It's a savage song of survival, and a rebuttal of conventional life. The average life would be a wonderful thing, but it's not attainable by everyone. Cheney's book may not celebrate that, but she acknowledges it.
(Quote Review from book cover)
**"Cheney's chilling account of her struggle with bipolar disorder brilliantly evokes the brutal nature of her disease. Manic... has heart and soul to spare. --People.
**This book also features a new interview with the author.
From Publishers Weekly
Cheney, a former L.A. entertainment lawyer, pointedly dispels expectations of a safe ride through this turbulent account of bipolar disorder. With evocative imagerytime-shuffled recollections meant to mirror her disorienting extremes of moodCheney conjures life at the mercy of a brain chemistry that yanks her from soul-starving despair to raucous exuberance, impetuous pursuits to paralyzing lethargy. Caught in a riptide of febrile impulse, she caroms from seductions to suicide attempts while flirting recklessly with men, danger and death, only to find more hazards in the drastic side effects of treatment. More than a train-wreck tearjerker, the memoir draws strength from salient observations that expose the frustrations of bipolar disorder, from its brutal sabotage of romance and friendship to the challenge it poses to the simplest emotions, such as the terrors of being happy that augur mania's onset. Though she sustains an ominous mood and relays horrifying incidents with icy candor, Cheney lightens up at times, as when she marvels at the ease of masking her condition at an office that brings out everyone's manic side. But the narrative hopscotch frustrates readers' need for grounding and context that might clear up Cheney's muddled history and satisfy readers' urge to learn the fallout of her impulse-driven episodes. Her startlingly lucid descriptions of illness merit a more concise chronology. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
(Quote Review from book cover)
**"Cheney's chilling account of her struggle with bipolar disorder brilliantly evokes the brutal nature of her disease. Manic... has heart and soul to spare. --People.
**This book also features a new interview with the author.
From Publishers Weekly
Cheney, a former L.A. entertainment lawyer, pointedly dispels expectations of a safe ride through this turbulent account of bipolar disorder. With evocative imagerytime-shuffled recollections meant to mirror her disorienting extremes of moodCheney conjures life at the mercy of a brain chemistry that yanks her from soul-starving despair to raucous exuberance, impetuous pursuits to paralyzing lethargy. Caught in a riptide of febrile impulse, she caroms from seductions to suicide attempts while flirting recklessly with men, danger and death, only to find more hazards in the drastic side effects of treatment. More than a train-wreck tearjerker, the memoir draws strength from salient observations that expose the frustrations of bipolar disorder, from its brutal sabotage of romance and friendship to the challenge it poses to the simplest emotions, such as the terrors of being happy that augur mania's onset. Though she sustains an ominous mood and relays horrifying incidents with icy candor, Cheney lightens up at times, as when she marvels at the ease of masking her condition at an office that brings out everyone's manic side. But the narrative hopscotch frustrates readers' need for grounding and context that might clear up Cheney's muddled history and satisfy readers' urge to learn the fallout of her impulse-driven episodes. Her startlingly lucid descriptions of illness merit a more concise chronology. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
honest and inspiring
Hard to get into. I hate starting a book and not finishing it so this is just paused for now and probably for a long time.
