pickIt is a family drama on the surface. A love story that spans decades. It is also about parental love, kindness, and forgiveness. It was overwhelmingly heartbreaking for me in parts. I would read it during work lunch, tear-up and then have to close the book. It looks deep into characters and seeks to unravel layers of the rhyme and reason as to why people are the way they are. Plot is okay, additional characters are also okay, overall 3.5 stars.
Catie!! My neighbors are mad at you because I made a shriek sound at the cuteness off the Bear Hugs and it‘s not quite 6:00am! You definitely spoiled me BIG and I LOVE everything! Your friendship is my favorite gift of all 💚❤️
“I was too awake, it was all taking too long. I turned into a feral position. A loneliness that can be rocked. The great female tragedy. My mother, my love. It was too late. I ate books. I could live here”.
“I don‘t think I‘d heard of Prozac before, it was still so new. There was nothing like the so-called direct-to-consumer advertising we‘re so used to now. A few years later there would be books : Peter D. Kramer ‘s Listening to Prozac and Elizabeth Wurtzel‘s Prozac Nation. And soon after those creepy commercials. Ask your doctor if Zoloft might be right for you. Etc”.
Yup, yup, yup!
pickI really liked this book. I thought it was a really great view of a woman‘s struggle with mental health, but also her relationships as a woman. She combines a look at her issues along with her experiences relating to men and reflects on this and also raises a lot of thought provoking things about what it is to be a woman who struggles with mental health. Very brave to share and finish.
pickThis is a fantastic read. Using the UK context it examines mental health from a sociopolitical and economic context. It is critical of the shift made during the Thatcher era to all cause medicalisation and depoliticising, shifting to centre responsibility for mental distress on to the individual. Big Pharma and their cosy and close ties with regulatory bodies are also covered.
Interviews a range of fascinating contributers.
pick1-24 Nov 24
A recommendation from Hill of Content, this is a beautiful, terribly sad book.
It alternates between the viewpoints of John, Margaret and their three children as they deal with the suicide of a parent and then the mental illness and addiction of one of the children. Haslett considers the familial links of depression, treatment and the impact it has on immediate family members. And it is relentless - there is no cure in this scenario.
so-so⭐️⭐️⭐️ I barely even know who Tendler‘s famous ex-husband is, and that‘s because I had to google him, so that held zero bearing on my opinion. Celeb gossip isn‘t my strong point. This is tough because everyone has a story to tell, and memoir lends itself to freedom of expression and self indulgence. The discussions around mental health were good, relatable. But some of this went off the rails for me. I didn‘t love it, nor the title / cover combo.
