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A review by mallott
The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon
2.0
Especially after "Far From the Tree," I was expecting to get more out of this book, another extended personal/journalistic essay of a medical/social nature.
Maybe it's having grown up with an awareness of major depression from family history, a psychiatrist parent, or my own personal history with it, but the book didn't feel that revelatory. It is a well-written account of the author's experiences, with a few interesting explorations of different aspects of depression (the cross-cultural chapter's visit to Greenland Inuits is particularly good), but it's a bit dated at this point, and I didn't feel like my overall understanding of depression was advanced that much.
There's nothing egregiously wrong with this book, and I'm sure others will find it more helpful and affirming, but it didn't do that much for me as a whole.
Maybe it's having grown up with an awareness of major depression from family history, a psychiatrist parent, or my own personal history with it, but the book didn't feel that revelatory. It is a well-written account of the author's experiences, with a few interesting explorations of different aspects of depression (the cross-cultural chapter's visit to Greenland Inuits is particularly good), but it's a bit dated at this point, and I didn't feel like my overall understanding of depression was advanced that much.
There's nothing egregiously wrong with this book, and I'm sure others will find it more helpful and affirming, but it didn't do that much for me as a whole.