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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
I gave up. I was reading this for a book club. UGH, Mark Vonnegut is a total hippie which was fun (kinda) to read from his standpoint. Then his (what is clear to me as bipolar disorder) gets worse and ends up with psychotic features so he is diagnosed with schizophrenia. He then hates the meds (big surprise, they are dreadful!), he hates being treated, he hates not being treated...
The book is clearly written by someone with disorganized thought which made it a tough read. I will not finish it!
The book is clearly written by someone with disorganized thought which made it a tough read. I will not finish it!
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Not my cup of tea. Felt the buildup took forever and then even the interesting bits didn't really hold my attention long. I didn't abandon it because I felt I would then be abandoning the the author and his life story.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I wanted to read this before his recent book (Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So). It rambled furiously, but I think that's just a reflection of his psychotic state at the time. I was amazed at the detail he provided about his thinking and perceptions as he went into and through his schizophrenic episodes. The book was also an interesting portrayal of the I-went-to-the-woods movement of the 60's, although Vonnegut and his friends all seemed to be children of privilege (all people he knew from Swarthmore), so I don't know how representative this group actually is of the movement as a whole.
This book is so scary in that it shows how mental illness can affect anybody, and makes you feel vulnerable.
He’s not s good person, but he does honest and brutally vulnerable work here exploring his sanity and schizophrenia. I appreciate the memoir in solidarity with mental illness, but am so confused about why he felt the need to include so much sexism, racism, homophobia, etc...
3.5 –– Maybe because I am part of a generation who has grown up with less stigma surrounding mental health, but no part of this work was that groundbreaking or impactful for me. There is radical openness and honesty here, which I appreciate; there is also fantastic writing here that allow Vonnegut to at least hold his own against his father. Structurally unorganized and at times overly self-aggrandizing, but does lend insights into the ideologies of the hippie movements of the time.