... a chilling, moving memoir ... Through a sensitively drawn, stream-of-conscious narrative...she stitches together remembered fragments and pivotal scenes from the life she, her mother and father shared with Kait ... Leddy's raw search for understanding, meaning and peace grants readers a rare personal glimpse into the universal mysteries of mental illness and the long-lasting traumatic effects it has on those afflicted, as well as those in its orbit.
Leddy’s explorations into schizophrenia and its relationship to traumatic brain injury enrich the story and beg comparisons to Susan Cahalan’s Brain on Fire (2012), which she references. Not easy reading but exceptionally thoughtful and insightful, this memoir is a testament to Kait, Leddy, and their mother.
Gutting in its intensity, Leddy’s narrative grapples with the unearned guilt she still carries regarding Kait’s difficult life, but it also celebrates the 'exuberantly bright' light her 'confident and hilarious' sister once shined upon the people around her. By refusing to allow this to become a story of utter despair, Leddy offers a humanist portrait of the nuances of loving someone with a mental illness. This one isn’t easy, but it’s well worth the effort.
Threading commentary on traumatic brain injury and its relationship to psychiatric disorders throughout, Leddy seeks courageously to 'break the stigma' and silence that still surround schizophrenia and similar disorders while paying tribute to the woman whose life so profoundly transformed her own. A moving and deeply felt memoir about family and mental illness.
