Against the backdrop of Anchorage, Alaska, this memoir weaves an account of growing up in a family with multi-generational mental illness, affecting the author's mother and brother with schizophrenia and the author herself with depression.
Pushcart Prize nominee and lauded essayist Sardy displays her superb skills for criticism and cultural journalism in this remarkable, beautifully written memoir ... Some readers may need to adjust to the author's nonchronological approach that nevertheless succeeds brilliantly in conveying the realities of mental illness in a memorable manner. Should be required reading for mental health professionals; essential for all libraries supporting the mental health curriculum.
Sardy’s writing is accomplished yet disjointed, with no adherence to structural norms ... If this sounds confusing, it’s because it is. But by ignoring traditional narrative structure, jumping back and forward in time, subject and thought, Sardy skillfully reflects the 'narrative crisis' that occurs in people with mental illness. The book itself offers a glimpse of the reality of living with schizophrenia and the multiplicities and contradictions that accompany the disease.
