Scan barcode
butlerebecca's review against another edition
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Car accident and Suicide
Minor: Death of parent
leigh_reidelberger's review
3.0
Reading this book is not unlike going to Goodwill- after wandering aimlessly around, you leave with a few treasures, happy you found them, but also a little disappointed at how much time you spent inside.
thatpatti's review
3.0
This book felt sort of disjointed for me, without enough of any one topic, but with enough interesting tidbits and insights that i zipped through it pretty quickly.
bkish's review
4.0
This is unlike most of what I read as it is not a current book. Mark Vonnegut MD Pediatrician wrote it in 2010. It was recommended by someone from where I work. I do have strong background in issues with mental illness and it is something about which I read rather often.
Mark Vonnegut is the son of the acclaimed writer Kurt and why that is important is with the issue of mental illness. It is rampant in Mark's family from his mother Jill Cox and his father.
This is the second writing of Mark the first at a young age was Eden Express. He can write and here he has taken to talking about his life and that includes his illness and breakdowns and recoveries. He is also talking about being a MD both before and after it got co opted by the insurance corporations.
Mark had at least two severe mental breakdowns the first in Br Columbia where at a very young age he set up a commune. After that he was on Thorazine which I know is practically debilitating (from when I worked at VA Hospital). In this book he doesnt talk about his move to vitamin therapy which is very very controversial esp when the patient is diagnosed as a schizophrenic.
That he went on to acceptance at Harvard Medical School and became MD is a tribute to him. Then at some time during his residency at Mass General Hospital he had another breakdown and was hospitalized. He is now married and they have two children. There is a severe complication which he begins to grasp his alcoholism. At some time Mark decides he is not schizophrenic that he is bipolar. At some time he begins to take Lithium for bipolar or manic depression.
It is much to his credit that he joined AA and has not done any alcoholic in decades. He also got separated from his first wife met another woman and he married and has a third child w Barbara.
This is a book that is not for everyone and for some of us it is really excellent reading of what he shares about his medical and psych views ...
Judy
Mark Vonnegut is the son of the acclaimed writer Kurt and why that is important is with the issue of mental illness. It is rampant in Mark's family from his mother Jill Cox and his father.
This is the second writing of Mark the first at a young age was Eden Express. He can write and here he has taken to talking about his life and that includes his illness and breakdowns and recoveries. He is also talking about being a MD both before and after it got co opted by the insurance corporations.
Mark had at least two severe mental breakdowns the first in Br Columbia where at a very young age he set up a commune. After that he was on Thorazine which I know is practically debilitating (from when I worked at VA Hospital). In this book he doesnt talk about his move to vitamin therapy which is very very controversial esp when the patient is diagnosed as a schizophrenic.
That he went on to acceptance at Harvard Medical School and became MD is a tribute to him. Then at some time during his residency at Mass General Hospital he had another breakdown and was hospitalized. He is now married and they have two children. There is a severe complication which he begins to grasp his alcoholism. At some time Mark decides he is not schizophrenic that he is bipolar. At some time he begins to take Lithium for bipolar or manic depression.
It is much to his credit that he joined AA and has not done any alcoholic in decades. He also got separated from his first wife met another woman and he married and has a third child w Barbara.
This is a book that is not for everyone and for some of us it is really excellent reading of what he shares about his medical and psych views ...
Judy
jenmillie's review
4.0
Really, really well done memoir of what it's like to just be living your life and have it thrown off course by mental illness. And then to do what it takes to get things back on track repeatedly. It also has mention of becoming sober, which I found especially touching, seeing as how my personal experience with mental illness is that it is best tended to without the addition of drugs or alcohol.
Use your resources, you're gonna be okay!
Use your resources, you're gonna be okay!
kickpleat's review
3.0
This is an enjoyable, easy-to-read little ramble about the author's struggle with being bi-polar and the state of American medical care. It's a bit jumpy and fragmented and I never felt like I was getting the whole picture about anything, but it's well-written.
jcbelk02's review against another edition
4.0
This memoir written by Mark Vonnegut, son of author Kurt Vonnegut, teaches a great lesson about mental health and success. Vonnegut is a pediatrician, excelled in medical school, and has written multiple books. After learning of Vonnegut and family’s history with mental illness, I have hope that success is waiting for me. By recounting his life, Vonnegut opened my eyes to endless possibilities and definitions for me outside of the constraints of my mental illness. The raw retelling of some of the worst parts of his life allowed me to realize that things do get better, even if they get worse again afterwards. This book enforced my belief of the fluidity of progress.
This book is written in fragmented pieces of a story. Though many people disliked this aspect of the book, I felt that it added the effect of true mental illness throughout the discussion of Vonnegut’s mental breaks. The rapid changing of subject illustrated the process of how life can feel erratic and thoughts can race with no end.
“Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness, Only More So” includes great commentary on the medicinal industry and the greed of big pharma, and it provides evidence of greed being one of the greatest motivators in the medicinal industry now. This book also includes commentary on the stigma of mental illness, highlighting the avoidance of relying on those with mental illness in fear of instability or anything other than normalcy.
If you are one who is interested in conversations about mental illness, someone with mental illness yourself, or even someone interested in the life of Kurt Vonnegut’s son, this is definitely a book for you. Reading a story that made my life feel more reasonable and normal was extremely reassuring for me, and it felt good to finally be able to relate to a memoir I have read and see the successes of that person as well.
This book is written in fragmented pieces of a story. Though many people disliked this aspect of the book, I felt that it added the effect of true mental illness throughout the discussion of Vonnegut’s mental breaks. The rapid changing of subject illustrated the process of how life can feel erratic and thoughts can race with no end.
“Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness, Only More So” includes great commentary on the medicinal industry and the greed of big pharma, and it provides evidence of greed being one of the greatest motivators in the medicinal industry now. This book also includes commentary on the stigma of mental illness, highlighting the avoidance of relying on those with mental illness in fear of instability or anything other than normalcy.
If you are one who is interested in conversations about mental illness, someone with mental illness yourself, or even someone interested in the life of Kurt Vonnegut’s son, this is definitely a book for you. Reading a story that made my life feel more reasonable and normal was extremely reassuring for me, and it felt good to finally be able to relate to a memoir I have read and see the successes of that person as well.
hellofred99's review
3.0
For someone with such a fascinating life he sure goes off on a lot of boring tangents
simplymeg's review
4.0
I stopped short of saying that this book was "amazing" — but it was touching and funny and inspiring. This guy's family history and personal history would be completely unbelievable if I didn't know it was all true. Mark Vonnegut seems to be cursed with the thinking problem. My own daughter asked me one day (she was probably 14 or 15 at the time), "What's it like for people who don't think all the time?" And the only answer I had for her was, "How the hell would I know??" It sounds to me like Vonnegut's issue is so severe that his brain actually overheats. He has been through some incredible stuff and come out the other side if not unscathed then at least intact. And he has certainly retained his sense of humor. The book rambles a bit, but it kept my attention no matter what direction he headed off in.