Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood
by Tanya Frank
Zig-Zag Boy (3/1/2023)
Zig-Zag Boy is a mother's love letter to her son who has psychosis.
As a mother who also has a son who struggles with mental illness, I understand this memoir of grief. One cannot judge how far you will go as a mother but Tanya Frank gives us her journey.
The sacrifices she makes unfortunately effects her and the rest of her family.
Her story demonstrates how a mental illness is complicated by the lack of
mental health care and resources. Yet, I hesitate to criticize the author because there is no blueprint for how to parent a psychotic young adult but it was hard to understand Tanya's decisions sometimes.
Another issue I had with the memoir was the organization. The flow of the memoir was interrupted by Frank's jump's from Zach's psychosis to her earlier marriage, then moving to Los Angeles
From London, back to psychosis and birthing.
This is an important book because it shines a light on the lack of resources for the mentally ill. The scarcity of resources puts pressure on the family to provide the cohesion and interventions needed to help their loved one. The other pain was watching her young adult son refuse care when he so desperately needed it. Frank is a tireless advocate for her son.
Sometimes I Lie
by Alice Feeney
Truth or Lies? (11/25/2017)
Told from her hospital bed, Amber is locked in by a coma as she relays her story. She begins by saying: "Sometimes I Lie". The tone is set for this thriller as she slowly shares her memories.
At first the tale is fragmented and lends to confusion, yet the technique serves the purpose of the book. Do the chapters titled "Before", "Then" and "Now" tell the truth? Is the narrator reliable? What is the accident or was it a crime?
Feeney creates a suspenseful story with a satisfying conclusion. Pay close attention there are plot twists!
Mercies in Disguise: A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and the Science That Rescued Them
by Gina Kolata
Blessings from Tragedy (11/26/2016)
In life there can be many trials and tribulations. Mercies in Disguise by Gina Kolata delivers this message in her new medical thriller. It reminds me of a song called "Blessings" by Laura Story that highlights the theme of this story that there are "mercies in disguise". Mercies are blessings or gifts that come from despair, suffering, and hardship. We can be positively changed by our tragedies This true story focuses on one extended family that seeks to understand what their degenerative disease of the central nervous system is and partners with medical science to define and research this protein gene abnormality. The Baxley family is a Christian family in South Carolina who are tested in love, faith and determination to persevere in the face of a terrible genetic disease. When finally there is a diagnosis, the next question is: do you get tested to find out if you carry the debilitating brain disease that killed your father, aunt, uncles, grandfather and possibly you? It is a suspenseful tale as it transcends countries, time and many different people who are all committed to solving this tragic medical dilemma.
The Midnight Watch: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian
by David Dyer
The Flawed Watch (3/4/2016)
This is a compelling account of the Titanic disaster and the ship that did not come to her rescue. As an avid reader of everything about the Titanic, I did not know the story of the SS Californian. Dyer is able to draw us into the story with all the forces that motivated the officers, crew and their flawed actions while serving the Californian on that fateful, cold, dark night.
Dyer brings a solid characterization of this time period. The sensational journalism, the unsinkable shipping industry, the emerging Suffragettes and the British and American inquiries conducted about the sinking of the Titanic are rich and fascinating. Dyer delivers a great read! The Midnight Watch is a story to contemplate and the sad truth of "what if" haunts me…
Descent
by Tim Johnston
The Descent into madness, isolation and survival. (11/16/2014)
Descent is about the devastating consequences for a family after a kidnapping.
I recommend this book because of the powerful character development and imagery. The descriptions of isolation, coldness and loss are paralyzing. The author nails the exchanges between the locals, their conversations,and the unevenness of their lives, the hardships and the paucity of words. The dialogue is tight and reflects the conservation of energy needed to exist in this landscape. Tim Johnston knows this territory and the flawed characters that survive in spite of hostile circumstances. To be honest, I had difficulty with the first third of the book. The story is a bit fragmented in the beginning, I found the going back and forth from character to character in each chapter was disorienting. It is understandable that nothing makes sense when your college bound daughter is lost in the wilderness, but the author's method almost lost me. I realized his technique is in essence a metaphor for the experience of this family, as their lives are thrown into disarray. The author guides us through the characters' descent into madness, rage, isolation, depression & hopelessness. Johnston knows his terrain and is able to take us on this journey, a thriller no one would want to experience.
The Edge of Normal
by Carla Norton
An Intelligent Psychological Thriller! (7/14/2013)
An intelligent psychological thriller…. Reeve LeClaire, 22 years old, is trying to regain her life. It has been six years since her kidnapping and horrific years of captivity. With the help of her psychiatrist she struggles to recover to "normal". When another kidnapped girl is rescued, Reeve is asked to mentor the victim. Drawn by the similarities between their cases, Reese begins to connect the dots on a serial sadistic kidnapper with eventual repercussions.
Reeve is a tough, smart, and my new hero! A captivating and timely novel by Carla Norton. This author clearly knows her subject matter as her previous non-fiction book- Perfect Victim is used by the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit and makes her an expert in captivity and survival. As a psychiatric nurse who worked in the prison system and with victims of crime, this is a very real page-turner!
Where You Can Find Me: A Novel
by Sheri Joseph
A Haunting, Messy Account of a Horrific Crime and Its Aftermath (3/23/2013)
Sheri Joseph's "Where You Can Find Me" is a haunting study of the messy dynamics of a family recovering from a kidnapping. Caleb Vincent, 14, returns to his family after being kidnapped when he was eleven years old. The family has suffered during his absence and his return brings confusion, guilt, media focus and a decision to retreat to Costa Rica where they can find privacy from the relentless media attention.
The parents are instructed at the very beginning to not ask any questions of Caleb about the time he was kidnapped, "Give him some space" says the FBI. And so the family waits for Caleb to tell what happened to him during the "Gone". The tension builds as bits of his imprisonment by a pedophile are leaked during the progression of the story. We watch for any signs of damage, trauma and try to make sense of who is Caleb.
There is rawness to the family as they display their vulnerabilities. Marlene, the mother, wants Costa Rica to give her, Caleb, and his sister normalcy when she has been addicted to the search for Caleb along with drugs and alcohol. The father stays behind in the U.S., missing. I did not like all the characters but found them very real.
But Caleb seems ambivalent about his family and remembers "Jolly", the man, who saved him from the pedophile network. Who is Jolly, savior or exploiter? Who was "Nicky", Caleb's alter identity during the period he was "gone". At times meandering, all tangents lead to the story of the reconstruction of a fragmented family in ways that would not be expected and might surprise.
As a psychiatric nurse, I found the messy reconstruction of a broken family very real and think Sheri Joseph did a good study of the Vincent family.
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