Scan barcode
A review by nssutton
Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety by Daniel B. Smith
2.0
As an increasingly anxious person, I normally find reading about other people's anxieties soothing. It's sort of a reminder that what I feel is part of the human experience, and greater than my own petty troubles, like did I lock the front door when I came in from work. It's finding kinship in the experience of the other person. (And also maybe .5% reminding myself that maybe my own anxiety is not THAT bad.)
But this book was too much for me. It was more memoir than anxiety and I found it hard to connect with Smith, despite our shared neurosis. When reading a memoir, it's hard to keep judgement of the storytelling and the author separate, but here I found it impossible. There's the troubling story of his coming of age, which is one thing, and then his choices with regard to his Atlantic article and personal life, that just sort of made me wonder if this story was about experience with anxiety or some sort of stab at personal exorcism.
But this book was too much for me. It was more memoir than anxiety and I found it hard to connect with Smith, despite our shared neurosis. When reading a memoir, it's hard to keep judgement of the storytelling and the author separate, but here I found it impossible. There's the troubling story of his coming of age, which is one thing, and then his choices with regard to his Atlantic article and personal life, that just sort of made me wonder if this story was about experience with anxiety or some sort of stab at personal exorcism.