RaveBarrelhouseA talented memoirist is able to ride the line between experience and perspective and to relay both effectively. The Collected Schizophrenias manages to do this not only competently, but in a way that highlights the grace of Wang’s writing against the backdrop of her various lived experiences ... The inherent risk of a collection like this is that the essays must be able to function individually, but also be coherent as a collection. Here, Wang has struck a nearly perfect balance; though the initial diagnostic history is a somewhat slow start, the following pieces are all complete and independent, but contribute well to forming a kind of collage of Wang’s experiences ... Wang’s style is as elegant as can be. Regardless of the subject matter, she never compromises her voice ... Each of Wang’s descriptions, whether of herself, others, or the inanimate, is carefully measured. Wang exerts immense control over her prose with an impression of effortlessness. She never wastes time by softening the reality she must face on a regular basis, yet she does not exaggerate, hyperbolize, or oversell ... Wang’s writing is concise and technical without leaving the reader behind. The reader may expect that this style would make for dry writing, but this is not at all the case ... The true beauty of Wang’s work is that it accomplishes so much so efficiently and with such a committed aesthetic sensibility. Each sentence reads as crisp and sharp; the descriptions are honest and thorough; the experiences are significant, well-considered, and artfully rendered. The text is enveloping and unrelenting ... This refusal to simplify or reduce any part of her life leads to a great richness in the text.
