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.
With lyrical descriptions and a creative, nonlinear structure that mimics the erratic nature of schizophrenia—the book’s form shifts from prose to disembodied lists—Sardy traces the course that mental illness has cut through her family ... By opening up and writing frankly about her experiences, Sardy does more than indulge readers’ morbid fascination. She writes to help herself make sense of traumatic events, but in doing so she forces readers to consider mental illness more familiarly[.]
The Edge of Every Day is one of a very few books—Michael Greenberg’s Hurry Down Sunshine is another—to capture a sense of the sheer agonizing helplessness one feels in seeing a family member robbed by mental disease. It’s a kind of map for how to negotiate that excruciating circumstance, but a map hung right side up.
Essayist and critic Sardy delivers an extraordinarily ambitious and accomplished narrative ... The structure keeps readers off balance, as the author refuses to follow conventional notions of chronology or connection, illuminating mental illness from the inside out ... Both powerful and disturbing, this impressive debut memoir suggests just how challenging it can be to regain some semblance of balance after that balance is lost.
