Take a photo of a barcode or cover
412 reviews for:
What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen
Kate Fagan
4.2 AVERAGE
412 reviews for:
What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen
Kate Fagan
4.2 AVERAGE
You can find this review and others on my blog https://montanasmusings.wordpress.com
Early in February 2018, I went to an event geared towards mental health on my college campus. I was a part of a suicide prevention organization at Ohio State called Peers REACHing Out (PROs) and we had a booth set up there. Kate Fagan, the author of this book, was the guest speaker at the event where they gave out free copies of her books with a signing at the end. Fagan is a very personable woman and was one of the nicest authors I've ever met.
I remember hearing about Madison Holleran's death. It was front page news and at the time it struck a cord with me because I was a freshman in college just like her. Whenever young people die it's considered tragic because of all the potential they had, and Maddy was one of those people.
I had read plenty of the news articles about her but I had never read something so in-depth as this book. Fagan became close with the family and they ultimately gave her Madison's laptop so she could read through all of her texts, emails, and internet searches. Including interviews with family and friends, the book also gives a play-by-play of everything Maddy did the day she died. Hearing such personal testimony by her friends and family members was heartbreaking, to say the least. Fagan, a former college athlete herself, included her own college experiences and relates to Maddy as someone who was juggling practices, workouts, homework, and classes. It's rather interesting reading her take on how NCAA student athletes are treated by their coaches and how the pressure to win at all costs can create an intense atmosphere for these young adults fresh out of high school.
This book is mainly a biography of Madison Holleran with some of Fagan's own personal anecdotes. Perhaps I was reading it from the perspective of someone deeply involved in mental health advocacy, but I thought it fell a bit flat when it came to mental health. It certainly discussed it because of the topic of the book, but I felt it was stuff most people already know, such as "Don't suffer alone", "Get help", "Call the National Suicide Hotline", etc.
It's an easy read, and if you're interested in seeing a close-up, outsider's perspective to the spiraling that occurs in people who suffer from depression, this book will give you an accurate portrayal of that.
Early in February 2018, I went to an event geared towards mental health on my college campus. I was a part of a suicide prevention organization at Ohio State called Peers REACHing Out (PROs) and we had a booth set up there. Kate Fagan, the author of this book, was the guest speaker at the event where they gave out free copies of her books with a signing at the end. Fagan is a very personable woman and was one of the nicest authors I've ever met.
I remember hearing about Madison Holleran's death. It was front page news and at the time it struck a cord with me because I was a freshman in college just like her. Whenever young people die it's considered tragic because of all the potential they had, and Maddy was one of those people.
I had read plenty of the news articles about her but I had never read something so in-depth as this book. Fagan became close with the family and they ultimately gave her Madison's laptop so she could read through all of her texts, emails, and internet searches. Including interviews with family and friends, the book also gives a play-by-play of everything Maddy did the day she died. Hearing such personal testimony by her friends and family members was heartbreaking, to say the least. Fagan, a former college athlete herself, included her own college experiences and relates to Maddy as someone who was juggling practices, workouts, homework, and classes. It's rather interesting reading her take on how NCAA student athletes are treated by their coaches and how the pressure to win at all costs can create an intense atmosphere for these young adults fresh out of high school.
This book is mainly a biography of Madison Holleran with some of Fagan's own personal anecdotes. Perhaps I was reading it from the perspective of someone deeply involved in mental health advocacy, but I thought it fell a bit flat when it came to mental health. It certainly discussed it because of the topic of the book, but I felt it was stuff most people already know, such as "Don't suffer alone", "Get help", "Call the National Suicide Hotline", etc.
It's an easy read, and if you're interested in seeing a close-up, outsider's perspective to the spiraling that occurs in people who suffer from depression, this book will give you an accurate portrayal of that.
Ugh! I wanted to read a book about Maddy, what made her run, and her tragic death. Instead, I read the author’s story. Let’s see: a chapter about the author’s dream, a chapter detailing the author’s text messages with a friend experiencing depression, a chapter about the author’s college basketball experience, etc.
I feel like the author took the original ESPN article she published added a LOT of filler and published it as a book. Guessing this was cathartic for her as it was very self-reflective. This would be fine if it was titled and presented as this.
Instead, I really wanted to read about Maddy and was left wanting.
I feel like the author took the original ESPN article she published added a LOT of filler and published it as a book. Guessing this was cathartic for her as it was very self-reflective. This would be fine if it was titled and presented as this.
Instead, I really wanted to read about Maddy and was left wanting.
A stunning depiction of the mind of someone who is suicidal. I think the author did an excellent job trying to help others understand the pressures of perfectionism and how deadly mental illness is. Beautiful, life changing, and heartbreaking book.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
fast-paced
An understandably rough read that I, as a millenial runner with perfectionist tendencies who derives a sense of comfort from control, saw parts of myself in. Overall the story is necessary to tell and engrossing, but I found the story disjointed and chaotic - jumping from Maddy's life, to the author's, to facts and figures in no cohesive way.
I received this book from a Good Reads First Reads Giveaway. Now onto the review.
To start, this is another one of those books that makes me wish Goodreads had half stars. This was a 3.5 for me.
I came to this book curious but a little skeptical about its content. I had read Fagan's article on Maddy Holleran. I had also read critiques of the article and its violation of many of the accepted best practices of reporting on suicides. That being said I was still interested to look at the larger picture of what this book expressed.
As has been expressed in a number of other reviews, Fagan's writing style is nothing spectacular but she has still made a very readable book. The depth of research and the time she spent with Maddy's family and friends makes it clear that she cares about this young women even though they never met. Her inclusion of multiple personal conversations helped paint a picture of Madison, but it made me wonder how Madison would have felt about it. The picture she paints of Madison makes me think she would have been very uncomfortable with the existence of this book and the attempt to delve into her personal world.
I had mixed feelings about some of the personal interjections that Fagan included, certainly her experience as a college athlete mirrored some of the pressures that Maddy must have felt, but the connection seemed tenuous at times. I think these were Fagan's attempts to empathize, but more often than not it came out feeling like she was trying to make more of a connection between their experiences than there actually was.
What I did appreciate was the inclusion of narratives from those actively involved in mental health education- survivors and activists. I think the inclusion of these narratives is what took this book from being the story of a single girl to showing that this is an issue that touches individuals from all facets of life. Fagan touched on many of the issues that scholars and mental health professionals believe have contributed to increased cases of mental illness and suicide in young people, however, it was a somewhat superficial examination of these ideas.
I think the value of this book is somewhat cautionary-- parents of high-achieving children (or really parents of any child about to transition from home to college) may want to read this to better recognize how different that transition is for students today than it likely was when they were in school. I think the other value of this book, as trite as it sounds, is that it adds to the conversation. It may help people recognize signs of depression and ways that people hide their feelings. It may encourage us to increase the availability of mental health services to young people. To embrace the idea that "playing through the pain" does not always indicate strength or a healthy attitude. It may also help society as a whole look at those with mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety as individuals who are more than just their illness. To recognize that sometimes just getting up in the morning is a sign of strength, not weakness.
To start, this is another one of those books that makes me wish Goodreads had half stars. This was a 3.5 for me.
I came to this book curious but a little skeptical about its content. I had read Fagan's article on Maddy Holleran. I had also read critiques of the article and its violation of many of the accepted best practices of reporting on suicides. That being said I was still interested to look at the larger picture of what this book expressed.
As has been expressed in a number of other reviews, Fagan's writing style is nothing spectacular but she has still made a very readable book. The depth of research and the time she spent with Maddy's family and friends makes it clear that she cares about this young women even though they never met. Her inclusion of multiple personal conversations helped paint a picture of Madison, but it made me wonder how Madison would have felt about it. The picture she paints of Madison makes me think she would have been very uncomfortable with the existence of this book and the attempt to delve into her personal world.
I had mixed feelings about some of the personal interjections that Fagan included, certainly her experience as a college athlete mirrored some of the pressures that Maddy must have felt, but the connection seemed tenuous at times. I think these were Fagan's attempts to empathize, but more often than not it came out feeling like she was trying to make more of a connection between their experiences than there actually was.
What I did appreciate was the inclusion of narratives from those actively involved in mental health education- survivors and activists. I think the inclusion of these narratives is what took this book from being the story of a single girl to showing that this is an issue that touches individuals from all facets of life. Fagan touched on many of the issues that scholars and mental health professionals believe have contributed to increased cases of mental illness and suicide in young people, however, it was a somewhat superficial examination of these ideas.
I think the value of this book is somewhat cautionary-- parents of high-achieving children (or really parents of any child about to transition from home to college) may want to read this to better recognize how different that transition is for students today than it likely was when they were in school. I think the other value of this book, as trite as it sounds, is that it adds to the conversation. It may help people recognize signs of depression and ways that people hide their feelings. It may encourage us to increase the availability of mental health services to young people. To embrace the idea that "playing through the pain" does not always indicate strength or a healthy attitude. It may also help society as a whole look at those with mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety as individuals who are more than just their illness. To recognize that sometimes just getting up in the morning is a sign of strength, not weakness.
I wish this book didn’t exist. I wish Madison Holleran was still living today to tell the story of what could have been, instead of Kate Fagan telling the story of what happened. It seemed like everything was there for Maddy to make a different decision, but she didn’t. This story is compelling because Maddy is reflected in so many kids, so many people, and we often don’t know how to address suicide prevention in an effective way.
I wish everyone would read this book, especially those of us who work with young people. It’s heartbreaking.
I wish everyone would read this book, especially those of us who work with young people. It’s heartbreaking.
A well-written, very empathetically written, biography about Madison Holleran and reportage about the rising rate of suicide and depression in student athletes. Fagan has expanded her original article "Split Image" into an investigation about perfection, depression, social media, the athletics "mind set", college transition, and suicide. She includes interviews and work she has done with other students and a discussion about how to talk about suicide in the media.
This book is a rough read, I'm not gonna lie, but Fagan prioritized Madison's life and personality over the details of her death. I didn't cry until it hit me that Madison would have graduated from college in 2017, the year of this book's publication.
This book is a rough read, I'm not gonna lie, but Fagan prioritized Madison's life and personality over the details of her death. I didn't cry until it hit me that Madison would have graduated from college in 2017, the year of this book's publication.
A gut wrenching portrait of one woman's struggle with mental illness in college. A must read!