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409 reviews for:
What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen
Kate Fagan
4.2 AVERAGE
409 reviews for:
What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen
Kate Fagan
4.2 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
This was, of course, as absolutely brutally heartbreaking as you would expect a book about the suicide of a young woman to be, and Kate Fagan deserves without a doubt all the critical and popular praise she'd receiving for it. I think ultimately it's an important book not because it seeks to understand mental illness -- because you can't, because on a bad day there is literally no way for me to explain to someone who doesn't struggle with mental illness that the inside of my head is anything other than "just really not good at all" -- but because it is, ultimately, seeking to change the way we talk about mental health, people's struggles with it, and suicide. It is worth reading. Everyone should read this.
And, oh, holy fuck, did it make me glad that social media wasn't A Thing when I was at Carleton, because I was not fully happy there until mid-way through my sophomore year, and if I had been surrounded by the social media of all my high school classmates and my college classmates who seemed like they were adjusting way way better than I was, I would have struggled even more. Ultimately I was genuinely happy at Carleton, but it took a long damn time, and I could hide some of what I struggled with while I was struggling. Social media would have ... yeah. I am not sure that I would have ended up where Madison Holleran did, but I am not sure that I can say I wouldn't have, either.
I'm glad I survived, I'm glad that my mental health is as under control as it possibly can be (in Trump adjusted terms, this year, I suppose - in Trump adjusted terms, I'm good right now), but ... Madison's story definitely felt like a "what could have been" for me. And that's frightening, and that's sad. For the world we live in, and the kids in college now who are struggling with what I struggled with, but in a world where we are expected to curate ourselves online for the entire world to see.
And, oh, holy fuck, did it make me glad that social media wasn't A Thing when I was at Carleton, because I was not fully happy there until mid-way through my sophomore year, and if I had been surrounded by the social media of all my high school classmates and my college classmates who seemed like they were adjusting way way better than I was, I would have struggled even more. Ultimately I was genuinely happy at Carleton, but it took a long damn time, and I could hide some of what I struggled with while I was struggling. Social media would have ... yeah. I am not sure that I would have ended up where Madison Holleran did, but I am not sure that I can say I wouldn't have, either.
I'm glad I survived, I'm glad that my mental health is as under control as it possibly can be (in Trump adjusted terms, this year, I suppose - in Trump adjusted terms, I'm good right now), but ... Madison's story definitely felt like a "what could have been" for me. And that's frightening, and that's sad. For the world we live in, and the kids in college now who are struggling with what I struggled with, but in a world where we are expected to curate ourselves online for the entire world to see.
This book is about awareness, about how your perceptions of others can distort your view about yourself and how depression can affect anyone. Read it and/or read about mental health.
One would think from the title that this book is a biography, but it is a book about mental health. Some very good chapters detailing the affect of all forms of social media on the young people who are so dependent on them.
Lots of good food for thought re: connection and social media, etc.
Heartbreaking book about Maddy’s story. Very real-told the truth, but was not exploitative. As a non-athlete, I had no idea that this extreme pressure was such an issue within the world of college sports. The book painted a nice picture of who Maddy is, and even though I knew she was going to die, I was still sad when it happened. Any college student or parent would benefit from reading this. What wasn’t good about this book was that every other chapter the author would talk about her own journey in writing this book. That’s not what I’m here to read, and it’s far less compelling than Maddy’s story. The authors personal sections does discuss research she found along the way, which complements the book, but those sections should have been strictly research and not personal narrative.
I read this book my senior year of college. I was an athletic training student and one of our professors assigned us this book as a reading assignment. I remember being irritated at first because I typically only enjoy reading fiction….
BUT LET ME TELL YOU, this book was eye opening. As a young adult, college student working with athletes everyday … just wow.
Kate Fagan did a great job truly diving into Maddy’s story and the struggles that young adults face. I recommend this book to anyone, regardless of what genre they like to read.
BUT LET ME TELL YOU, this book was eye opening. As a young adult, college student working with athletes everyday … just wow.
Kate Fagan did a great job truly diving into Maddy’s story and the struggles that young adults face. I recommend this book to anyone, regardless of what genre they like to read.
This was an incredibly sad read. I, like many other readers, did not like the author inserting herself into the story. It seemed like a filler. It would have been a stronger book without it. The book would have been better if the author ended with more details on how her life became a catalyst for change.
This book was very insightful and heartbreaking. I believe every highschool senior should read this book.
I dropped a star because I felt that the author rambled alot about her own life and it didn't really connect to Maddy's story. I would have preferred a shorter book solely focusing on Maddy.
I dropped a star because I felt that the author rambled alot about her own life and it didn't really connect to Maddy's story. I would have preferred a shorter book solely focusing on Maddy.