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What makes this book so compelling is that it seeks to erase the stigma of suicide, arguing that only by removing the social judgement can we see it more clearly as a disease to be treated. Somehow, even in 2022, we still tend to think of suicide as a personal failing, or even a choice, and hospitals who treat the suicidal seem to us more like prisons than places that will help restore health. Antrim seeks to correct these perceptions and that alone makes it a very important book.
I simply cannot wait for this book. It’s getting my five-star rating now, despite its October publication date. For anyone else on tetherhooks over this book, I’d suggest reading or re-reading Antrim’s New Yorker piece, Everywhere and Nowhere: A Journey Through Suicide. It blew me away and left me hoping to read much more of his story. Fortunately, it’s almost here.currently on page 22What a strong beginning. Antrim is hanging from his rooftop and his neighbors seem not to notice. For him, that
Does for suicide a lot of the things I loved that Anne Boyer's The Undying did for cancer. A really effective mix of vulnerably autobiographical and analytical/reasoned.
I read this in one sitting and recommend that. It is a very powerful and beautifully written meditation on the pain of suicidal thoughts, and how those thoughts affected Antrim physically. It's also a sort of good news report not the state of psychiatric hospitals and ECT, both of which served Antrim well. My heart goes out to him and all who suffer this way.
CW // & TW //: please read the title of the book clearly, and be mindful to take care of yourself.Ask not what disease the person has, but rather, what person the disease has. ~ Sir William Osler.Oh dear, this is such a brilliant description and heartfelt perspective of that 'burning fire' inside ["We may feel as if we are burning, as if our cells have caught fire."]. It is brilliant because the feelings and thoughts are narrated unfiltered and so well, and the reader is provided with such deep
“As long as we see suicide as a rational act taken after rational deliberation, it will remain incomprehensible. Stigma, society’s unacknowledged violence toward the sick, will remain strong. But if we accept that the suicide is trying to survive, then we can begin to describe an illness. I believe that we must make this leap in our thinking. We must rule out myth and speculation. This letter, this report, this book, seeks a paradigm shift in our understanding of suicide in society. It finds nei...
“Can we say whether our brains control our bodies, or whether our bodies inform our brains? Does my heart pound in anxiety, or am I anxious because my heart is pounding?” Author Donald Antrim brings us along on his complicated and difficult journey through his illness, suicide. He was supported and received the treatments he needed as he begged for help with his symptoms, aware that he was not well. His memoir of his closeness to suicide and the importance of empathy and the connection we have w...
Heard about the book from a New York Times review, which brought me to a New Yorker article written by the author. His writing is so compelling, I bought the book. Read it through in one sitting. The author is a tremendous writer and has some thoughtful insights into his disease and the the challenges of living in the modern world and dealing with loneliness and isolation.
Raw and moving and for anyone who has wanted to commit suicide, tried and failed or has lived thru long periods of clinical depression will find themselves in this memoir.Two favorite lines that I know to be true : page 52 -' We don't understand as children that our loneliness and lack of care will become a fate - a loneliness that we will feel all our lives '.page 65 - ' Children bullied at school may find asylum at home, but for children abused in the home, there is no asylum. '
My goodness, this memoir. It started out as a slow burn but then became a bonfire of self admission, sharing, and bravery. Carrying in my head the suicides of my father and close friend, I've read extensively, the usual collection, including most works by DFW, who makes a brief appearance and would tragicallyone day take his own life. I thought this menoir might be just another to add to my ever growing dark but comforting collection. It's not. This memoir is not for everyone, but for those of u...
This will be brief. I think it was helpful to me to have read all of Antrim's novels before reading this wrenching memoir of his period of near-suicide. Perhaps that is because his novels showed me how brilliant he is, and then to learn how often he was so close to ending it all. Mental illness can be so unsettling when you find out it is part of the life of someone you know or think you know because you're a fan of their public (writing) self. The physically painful part of it all was new to me...
Powerful. The sober tone of the writing intensified the horror of the narration. An eye opening insight into suicide and depression.
Although I’m happy with relived to read that Donald’s life has improved, I did feel like there was a lot missing in his story. I was expecting to learn more about past experiences that may have led him to the mental state he was in but instead found a lot of repetition in the ward he was in. The psychology was not mentioned very much and I wasn’t drawn in as much as I hoped I would be. With that being said, it was an alright story that shows you a bit of life struggle with depression, but I prob...