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andriawrites's review against another edition
5.0
This story was so gripping and fascinating. Cahalan uses masterful and raw storytelling to recount her "month of madness" and the subsequent months following her recovery; you literally feel like you are with her every step of the way, from the moment she develops her psychosis, to her slow but crucial recovery into her formal life. Cahalan not only gives readers a perspective into her feelings and her crisis but also uses this book as a meditation on how many mental and neurological illnesses are misdiagnosed or ignored. Trully a memorable and intrusctive read, if you're somewhat of a hypochondriac you should probably avoid this book, but it's worth the read anyway!
sare1125's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Mental illness
book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
Book on CD narrated by Heather Henderson
3.5***
From the book jacket One day in 2009, twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a strange hospital room, strapped to her bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. A wristband marked her as a “flight risk,” and her medical records – chronicling a month-long hospital stay – showed hallucinations, violence, and dangerous instability. Only weeks earlier, Susannah had been … a healthy, ambitious college grad a few months into her first serious relationship and a promising career as a cub reporter at a major New York newspaper. Who was the stranger who had taken over her body? What was happening to her mind?
My reactions
This was a fascinating memoir – drawn partly from interviews with friends, relations, colleagues and medical personnel, her journal writings during the period, and her medical records – of a time period when Cahalan was nearly completely lost. It was luck that caused her diagnosis to come early enough in her disease process to not only correct the problem, but minimize the brain damage she might otherwise have suffered. For the cause of her apparent mental illness (some physicians felt her symptoms pointed to alcohol withdrawal, other drug use, and/or schizophrenia) was actually a little-known form of encephalitis. The fact that she had a major seizure brought her to the attention of neurologists, rather than psychiatrists, and one neurologist in particular who followed a hunch and suggested a brain biopsy which discovered the autoimmune disorder which was causing her brain to swell.
As she recovered, Cahalan was encouraged to write about her experience, and the first article (published by her employer, The Post) gained world-wide attention, and resulted in timely intervention for many other patients as well.
Her training as a journalist is evident here. She includes much background information on the research into the disorder – anti-NDMA-receptor encephalitis – and the history of mental illness (including “demonic possession”) and autism. I was engaged and interested from beginning to end, though I did feel it was a bit repetitive.
Heather Henderson does a fabulous job reading the audio book. Her performance really brought to life the deterioration Cahalan experienced, as well as how anxious and confused she felt. Henderson’s skill as a voice artist also allowed her to give the other people in the book unique voices, making it easy to distinguish who was speaking. The only thing missing from the audio, of course, are the illustrations – pages from Cahalan’s journals at the time, or slides of her brain scans, etc. – but this did not materially affect my understanding or enjoyment of the book.
3.5***
From the book jacket One day in 2009, twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a strange hospital room, strapped to her bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. A wristband marked her as a “flight risk,” and her medical records – chronicling a month-long hospital stay – showed hallucinations, violence, and dangerous instability. Only weeks earlier, Susannah had been … a healthy, ambitious college grad a few months into her first serious relationship and a promising career as a cub reporter at a major New York newspaper. Who was the stranger who had taken over her body? What was happening to her mind?
My reactions
This was a fascinating memoir – drawn partly from interviews with friends, relations, colleagues and medical personnel, her journal writings during the period, and her medical records – of a time period when Cahalan was nearly completely lost. It was luck that caused her diagnosis to come early enough in her disease process to not only correct the problem, but minimize the brain damage she might otherwise have suffered. For the cause of her apparent mental illness (some physicians felt her symptoms pointed to alcohol withdrawal, other drug use, and/or schizophrenia) was actually a little-known form of encephalitis. The fact that she had a major seizure brought her to the attention of neurologists, rather than psychiatrists, and one neurologist in particular who followed a hunch and suggested a brain biopsy which discovered the autoimmune disorder which was causing her brain to swell.
As she recovered, Cahalan was encouraged to write about her experience, and the first article (published by her employer, The Post) gained world-wide attention, and resulted in timely intervention for many other patients as well.
Her training as a journalist is evident here. She includes much background information on the research into the disorder – anti-NDMA-receptor encephalitis – and the history of mental illness (including “demonic possession”) and autism. I was engaged and interested from beginning to end, though I did feel it was a bit repetitive.
Heather Henderson does a fabulous job reading the audio book. Her performance really brought to life the deterioration Cahalan experienced, as well as how anxious and confused she felt. Henderson’s skill as a voice artist also allowed her to give the other people in the book unique voices, making it easy to distinguish who was speaking. The only thing missing from the audio, of course, are the illustrations – pages from Cahalan’s journals at the time, or slides of her brain scans, etc. – but this did not materially affect my understanding or enjoyment of the book.
curlyc90's review against another edition
4.0
This definitely had the right mix of science and story. Both easily understood to the reader. Really fascinating and begs to question how many people in our psychiatric units may have this rare and mysterious illness.
readingwithkris's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.0
csgiansante's review against another edition
3.0
I feel like you have to really be invested in the topic of a memoir if you're going to commit to one. The story was interesting, but I think I could have done with a news article rather than a whole book.