Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #134404 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 304 pages

From the Author
There is no creativity in madness.
I wrote this book as a way of describing mental illness without the romanticisation that it underwent in the sixties and seventies when people were Taking LSD to stimulate what they thought was a liberating experience. During those days people often confused creativity with insanity. There is no creativity in madness; madness is the opposite of creativity, although people may be creative in spite of being mentally ill. I also wanted to steer away from melodrama, and to deal with the stigma of mental illness, but not to concentrate on it.

Customer Reviews

IT GAVE ME HOPE
THE BOOK WAS GIVEN TO ME BY A FRIEND. SHE THOUGHT IT WOULD HELP AS I HAVE SCHOZOPHRNIA. I HAVE READ IT AND RE-READ IT AND HAVE TO ADMIT I AM NOW A COMMITTED DEBORAH FAN. THE BOOK HAD ME HOOKED FROM PAGE ONE. IT IS BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND AS OTHERS HAVE SAID LEFT ME WANTING MORE. WAS A SEQUEL EVER WRITTEN? I KNOW THERE IS A VIDEO BUT AM HAVING TROUBLE FINDING IT ON UK VHS FORMAT CAN ANYBODY HELP. PLEASE E-MAIL ME ON CLAIREA@ZOOM.CO.UK IF YOU CAN.

Brilliant. A classic. I couldn�t put it down.
Rarely does there come a book that transcends genre, time, and cultural barriers speaking directly to the human heart. This is one of those rare books. Rather than showing the mysterious and foreign world of insanity I had expected, it reveals that the mentally ill struggle with the same needs and battles as we all do: The need for love and acceptance, the power of undiluted truth, and of undeserved kindness and forgiveness. Comparable to victor Hugo's Les Misérables this book is not merely about a certain minority group, but about major life issues and struggles that touch us at the core of who we are, no matter what our background.

Insanity is a form of defense, a way of not seeing. Rather than offering an "alternate reality", it creates a wall that keeps out hurt, but also keeps out the love that we all need. I couldn't help but see the similarity between the hiding from life of the insane, and the hiding from life of the polite, trivial, distraction-obsessed, non-introspective world of the "normal". To live in reality is a fight for us both. It is tempting to take the easy way out for both groups, and swallowing the lies of an easy struggle-free existence is tempting, but as the main character Deborah Blau says, "To be alive is to fight". This book made me glad to be alive. Read it!

Brilliant. A classic. I couldn�t put it down.
Rarely does there come a book that transcends genre, time, and cultural barriers speaking directly to the human heart. This is one of those rare books. Rather than showing the mysterious and foreign world of insanity I had expected, it reveals that the mentally ill struggle with the same needs and battles as we all do: The need for love and acceptance, the power of undiluted truth, and of undeserved kindness and forgiveness. Comparable to victor Hugo's Les Misérables this book is not merely about a certain minority group, but about major life issues and struggles that touch us at the core of who we are, no matter what our background.

Insanity is a form of defense, a way of not seeing. Rather than offering an "alternate reality", it creates a wall that keeps out hurt, but also keeps out the love that we all need. I couldn't help but see the similarity between the hiding from life of the insane, and the hiding from life of the polite, trivial, distraction-obsessed, non-introspective world of the "normal". To live in reality is a fight for us both. It is tempting to take the easy way out for both groups, and swallowing the lies of an easy struggle-free existence is tempting, but as the main character Deborah Blau says, "To be alive is to fight". This book made me glad to be alive. Read it!