Take a photo of a barcode or cover
dunguyen 's review for:
What Made Maddy Run about Madison Holleran and her suicide really shocked me. It shocked me because in a different life, it could have been me. And it could have been so many others who suffered in silence.
Kate Fagan tells the story of Madison Holleran honestly and without sensationalizing it. Maddy was a promising student, a star athlete, well-liked with a supportive family in high school. She was part of a dominant soccer team and switching to track, she won the state championship. But underneath this facade, this flawless image was someone who was constantly pressured to be perfect. Maddy switched to University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school and here the image was kept up, not perfectly but certainly much better than anyone would have expected. Except the cost of that was Maddy's mental health. She killed herself in her first year at UPenn.
Fagan writes in a very sobering way, without romanticizing anything. In between the story of Maddy is Fagan's own story, of her own struggles as a basketball player in college and how pressure to be perfect also affected her own mental health.
And to some extent, I felt it too. That dreadful feeling that you were letting everyone down if you didn't always project this perfect image of yourself. That you didn't work in the most prestigious company or didn't have the best grades. And if affected my own mental health.
Fagan makes the point that in today's world, with our options to connect has meant that while we connect more with people, we connect more shallowly. Because everything is public, we have been trained to always put a cheery face on before posting on social media, furthering the gap between what we feel and what we show.
I highly recommend this book. And after reading this, perhaps reach out to someone and ask them how they really are. Because in this world we need each other, we need real connections, we need the difficult talks, the honest emotions and the ability to be ourselves.
Kate Fagan tells the story of Madison Holleran honestly and without sensationalizing it. Maddy was a promising student, a star athlete, well-liked with a supportive family in high school. She was part of a dominant soccer team and switching to track, she won the state championship. But underneath this facade, this flawless image was someone who was constantly pressured to be perfect. Maddy switched to University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school and here the image was kept up, not perfectly but certainly much better than anyone would have expected. Except the cost of that was Maddy's mental health. She killed herself in her first year at UPenn.
Fagan writes in a very sobering way, without romanticizing anything. In between the story of Maddy is Fagan's own story, of her own struggles as a basketball player in college and how pressure to be perfect also affected her own mental health.
And to some extent, I felt it too. That dreadful feeling that you were letting everyone down if you didn't always project this perfect image of yourself. That you didn't work in the most prestigious company or didn't have the best grades. And if affected my own mental health.
Fagan makes the point that in today's world, with our options to connect has meant that while we connect more with people, we connect more shallowly. Because everything is public, we have been trained to always put a cheery face on before posting on social media, furthering the gap between what we feel and what we show.
I highly recommend this book. And after reading this, perhaps reach out to someone and ask them how they really are. Because in this world we need each other, we need real connections, we need the difficult talks, the honest emotions and the ability to be ourselves.