5 comments about Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania.

1. As someone that does not suffer from BiPolar Disorder, I was hoping to gain some insight into the mind of someone that suffers from this illness. I never felt that from this book, I could not understand how his compulsive actions actually stemmed from his illness. He seemed to me to be suffering from a huge case of narcissism.



2. I really hate to rate any book with only one star. I give the author credit for writing a book that got published. Otherwise, I couldn't finish this one. I bought it largely due to the fact that the author was present at a DBSAlliance conference outside Chicago that I also attended, and I wanted to show support to another person with Bipolar...there the loyalty ends.
   
   This was, to me, almost unreadable. I felt it was too narcissistic, too poorly written, too...well, manic. I mean, I really appreciate reading books by people who focus on themselves when they have a lucid story to relate, but this book was painfully lacking in any lucidity. It is always uncomfortable to me to read or listen to someone who is in the throes of mania - after a certain point you just want to leave to room. Too many words with nothing to say but aren't I interesting, grand, wildly amusing, and don't I live the life. Well, no, you aren't and you don't. A real turn-off. I had absolutely no sympathy, empathy, or ability to relate to this person, and no time to waste finishing this ode to Andy. I mean, in the big scheme of things, who cares?



3. The best book on manic depressive episodes with light towards the end of the tunnel. If you or a close relative or friend is in the throes of this terrible predicament, almost a life sentence of sorts, you should read this book. Its not an undertone of pessimism or another will-bring-tears type of book, rather a delightfully readable surmise of manic episodes. The speed of narration speeds up in the beginning with the pace of racing thoughts and then slows down with the downs of depression. A not so thrilling roller coaster ride for the protagonist, but for you, maybe, or even entertaining if you like reading books on psychology. This is not a book about the disease per-se or even electricity or any neurological disorder associated with the term, but a memoir of struggle, perhaps an active and electrical experience of the manic episodes, and the title does justice. The electro-convulsive therapy blends in the title towards the end, although to no avail, another modern snake oil for the refractive nature of the beast. Read it and you will like it, and if you are worried, it is not heavy to lift with hand or mind.



4. I work with the mentally ill and have a particularly difficult client who has multiple mental illness diagnoses and a personality disorder. In my opinion, his bipolar diagnosis is the one that has wreaked the most havoc in his life and in the lives of his caregivers and loved ones. Prior to reading Electroboy, I wrote to the Andy, the author, who answered immediately, saying he was very busy, but would write more in a few days, when he was back home. He wrote again, as he said he would and though he was not able to provide a lot of help or insight, he offered what he could, in the way of advice. I much appreciated the author taking time to respond to me. I bought and read Andy's book later (mostly out of appreciation for his help, as the reviews had not been great). After all this, I'm sorry to say that my review of the book is "just OK". It is sort of a diary of events, without much insight into the mind of a bi-polar. In fairness to Andy, he may just not realize how very difficult it is for the average reader, who is not bipolar, to understand the workings of the mind, or the rationalizations of someone who is bipolar.



5. A previous reviewer (El Lagarto) hit the nail almost exactly except, to me, the narcissism here fails to dazzle. While the the author's prose style does uncannily mimic his condition (bipolar disorder, here for some reason referred to by its prior designation of manic depression, making each specific reference to it seem like a literary device), that's part of the problem, really. The helter skelter style allows for no real reflection, and it's the literary equivalent of a sore throat--irritating and hard to swallow in places, especially, for one example, when Behrman relates very specifically his dreams, which blend way too seamlessly with the context of his life at given points, making their content seem invented.
   
   While parts are very affecting--particulary the author's need to apologize for his condition to his parents, and his shame at having failed them--on the whole, this is more of a celebration of a meaningless lifestyle than it is an honest look at a disease. The author seems almost to want to be envied. Behrman is non-self-judgemental to the degree that he cannot even see his own complicity in his condition--the boozing and drugging (ad nauseum, page after page after page, in excruciating detail) can exacerbate greatly the effects of the disease yet it is not until nearly the book's last pages that he sees fit to mention the fact after one of his l-o-n-g line of therapists points it out to him.
   
   That long line of psychologists and psychiatrists points up another fact: Behrman was lucky indeed to be able to afford top-notch healthcare, and it is in part because he takes that for granted that, perhaps, he kept on (and on, and ON) with the self-treatment (liquor, drugs, sex) even while he was receiving what on the whole sounds like excellent treatment--spoiled and rich, he gains no real rapport with a general audience by taking such things for granted and continuing, in his breezy manner (the book IS well-written in spite of its wrongheaded tone and over-aggressive, snarky style, and interesting--I enjoyed the tour of the art world and descriptions of its denizens well enough), to recount his art sales, drug deals, liquor intake, and sexual conquests.
   
   His conviction for having sold at great profit a number of forged Kostabi paintings is dealt with as if he thinks he did nothing wrong except get caught. True, Kostabi's work was itself manufactured, but this does not mitigate for a minute Behrman's own crime--knowingly defrauding buyers and profiting greatly by doing so. We're expected to applaud his dishonesty and to feel fortunate to accompany him abroad while he does his deals; the reader is expected to nod knowingly when a rental car, paid for by a canceled credit card, is blithely left in airport parking because "someone will find it." That's nudge-wink tosh. I came to this book with an open mind and left it with one accordingly padlocked--the great post-punk band Magazine's line "My mind ain't so open / That anything can crawl right in" fits this book to a 'T.'
   
   Being bipolar myself and having struggled mightily with the condition--albeit on a lower-middle-class income sans health insurance--of course I feel for Behrman and his struggles, but his off-putting prose style and unreflective take on the disease in question, PARTICULARLY his failure to acknowledge any blame for the massive exacerbation of his condition via the overwhelming (and preening) accounts of his wretched excesses, renders this book as glib and thus almost as meaningless as the author's lifestyle--not to mention his lack of gratitude for being to the manor born and thus being able to afford top treatment. One does hope he continues this treatment because, based on his prose style and the book's false message, he's far from out of the dark shadow of his disease.

5 comments about First Person Plural: My Life as a Multiple.

1. as a reader who is just a reader, not someone experienced with this illness, my review should be read as such. there was more that i didn't like about this novel than i liked. i immediately draw offense at writers who describe everyone by their physical or material attributes (everyone wears brand names and is "handsome"?? how beautiful must the US psychiatric scene be!! lucky everyone has a mercedes), and found the dialogue slow and, amazingly, the content simple. i would have liked to hear more in depth from the "alters" who particularly appealed to me such as Clay and Bart - maybe whole chapters so we could get a sense of them and how their lives were structured. maybe not possible? in short, multiple disappointments, as i read this book imagining the author (who is, coincidentally, "handsome") selling the film rights and talking about it to Oprah without knowing he'd actually done same. talk about mind-reading.



2. A very harrowing account of what multiple personality disorder can do to a life, in addition to being a rather stunning portrait of what the human mind can be capable of. It also tells the story of his wife and child who try and cope with his disease. The book is occasionally melodramatic, especially the subplot about his worries of infidelity. While the writing can feel self conscious and some passages seem to be using words in a way to sound "literary", it is a riveting work and a quick read.



3. This is a book for people who are truely interested in Ego State Theory. Also, it is a very informative and engaging book for people who have been diagnosed with DID. Cameron West brings his personal struggles to the public and is able to impart his angst as well as his optimism to readers.



4. I bought this book in a second hand bookstore and before I finished the first chapter I was already distracted by West's appalling overuse of groan-inducing metaphors. This book must contain the largest collection of bad metaphors ever published. You can scarely turn a page without being assaulted by another embarrassingly dreadful metaphor, or an irrelevant, boasting description of his cars, clothes, appliances, etc. The impression I was left with (besides the fact that this guy REALLY should have gotten someone else to write the book for him, or at the very least should have found a competent editor), is that it's fake. I don't doubt that Mr. West has psychological issues, but more than anything, you get the impression that this is a man who craves attention. It's obvious that West wrote the story with a movie in mind, as it reads like a bad screen play. I believe in DID, but I don't believe Mr. West.



5. Just a true story of a family and the affects of a MPD father on that family. Down to earth. Showing how and what the family memebers could do to support the father. I was happy to see a family unit working together. There is very little technical, big words describing MPD
   but from the patients view and family. It is a story. Not a school book that is cold with descriptions and theories. Helped me a lot.

5 comments about The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins.

1. According to taste, Dean Jensen's "Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton" can be read as tragedy or triumph. After being on display almost all their lives, the Siamese twins at the end lived in quiet obscurity, clerking in a grocery. All their lives they had said that was how they wanted to finish.
   
   However, they had also wanted husbands and children, and they never got those.
   
   Unlike most Siamese twins, who have to deal with an array of deficits and health problems, Daisy and Violet Hilton were normal in every other way. Not just normal but, as we'd say today, gifted and talented.
   
   More remarkable than the link of flesh at the base of their spines was their sunny disposition, maintained somehow despite an infancy and childhood that was extremely restricted by a stepmother who didn't want anyone to see them for free.
   
   Their charm was their salvation. Although they were wickedly exploited, over their lives they repeatedly attracted devoted friends who rescued them time and again. These never were able to rescue the twins entirely from the exploiters, or from their own sad inability to judge boyfriends, but they kept the Hiltons from utter degradation.
   
   Jensen interprets their lives as an endless search for love, which he -- and they -- interpreted as romantic, sexual love. That escaped them, but they did enjoy and attract affectionate love, which, it may be, they were always too distracted to quite recognize.
   
   Jensen tells the story at a glacial pace but with plenty of detail. He rescues an amazing story. In the `20s, the Hilton Sisters were as celebrated -- and, briefly, as highly paid -- any of the characters of that wacky decade. Somehow they failed to make it into the popular histories along with such comparatively dull stars as Shipwreck Kelly.
   
   The Hiltons' story is a gold mine of irony, but Jensen is not an ironist. By a odd accident, the women ended up in the same place, North Carolina, where the first famous set of Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, had enjoyed the kind of life the sisters had longed for: surrounded by children in rural domesticity. Jensen fails to make the connection.



2. This was the BEST book that I have read in YEARS.
   The book held my interest.
   The story was great, along with the ending.
   It was not a fluffy gloss over of the twins, but an honest bare-bones account of their lives.
   It was happy, uplifting, tragic, and sad in all.
   The book truly made an impression on me.
   I think about these two girls often.
   It's been 100 years on Feb 5th 2008 since they were born.
   Buy it & read it.
   You will not be disappointed!



3. It may sound unbelieveable, but The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton is the best book that I have ever read. I am surprised at how emotionally involved I became with regards to the twins triumphs and tradgies. The book kept me in suspense from start to finish. I think that the author (Dean Jensen) did a fantastic and brilliant job of really getting you to know the sisters individually. He also touched on things going on in history at the time to help create a realistic and interesting setting. Great photos too. It was also fun to read the book and then watch Chained For Life. So wonderful to see the twins perform. I am encouraging all of my friends to read this incredible book.



4. F. Scott Fitzgerald, perceptibly hung over, possibly still drunk, eyed the Hilton sisters over breakfast at MGM Studios. Daisy and Violet had just strolled into the commissary, taking a single empty chair across from him. Daisy picked up a menu, and without looking at her sister, asked Violet what she planned on ordering. Fitzgerald turned pea-green, ran outside, and retched. The sisters were at MGM to star in the film Freaks.
   
   Daisy and Violet Hilton were pygopagus conjoined twins, united by a "cord of flesh" near the base of their spines. As described in Dean Jensen's biography, The Lives And Loves Of Daisy And Violet Hilton: A True Story Of Conjoined Twins, they were also clever, beautiful, and eminently likable women. And yet, Fitzgerald's reaction to them was uncommon only in manifestation. For something in the sister's irregular form converted even their most trivial activities into enchantments. In merely wanting breakfast, Daisy and Violet inspire our unseemly fascination, exposing us as gawkers, or moralists, or miserable, inconsiderate drunks.
   
   Born in England, Daisy and Violet were just infants when the Brighton press proclaimed the occurrence of "an extraordinary freak of nature." They were toddlers when championed by Harry Houdini. At sixteen, having conquered American midways, they attempted a transition typically blocked to "sideshow freaks": they tried to make it in Vaudeville. In their first performance, Daisy and Violet sang, played instrumentals, and charmed the crowd with tosses of brown curls. Then two young boys, dressed in tuxedoes, joined them onstage. Each took a twin by the hand. Music swelled and the foursome began to glide across the stage, "locked in a pas de quatre." The sold-out crowd erupted. They stood in applause. They cried "tears of joy." They dashed toward the box office to secure tickets for the next show.
   
   Such reactions, sparked at the sight of something as natural as teenagers dancing, explain Daisy and Violet's legendary success. It also inversely illustrates the more common, less noble, response they elicited: dehumanization. Given away by their unwed, terrified mother, the twins grew up chattel to guardians whose parental interest stopped at exploitation and appropriation. Even their first memories, "the movements of the visitor's hands which were forever lifting our baby clothes to see just how we were attached," recall their tragic position: trapped between those who used them and those who wanted only to look. Their childhood was replete with threats of being sent to the "asylum for monster children." They spent most of their time confined in a room - lest someone catch a free glimpse. Years later, while in the office of the attorney who would eventually emancipate them, Daisy and Violet were recounting their upbringing when they were interrupted by sobbing. The stenographer had begun to cry.
   
   Curiously, the empathy wrought by Jensen's faithful portrayal of Daisy's and Violet's lives is no prophylactic to the rubbernecking its details will inspire. It is easy to chastise the surgeons who wanted to saw the sisters apart, but upon the discovery that when Violet got drunk - which she often did - Daisy would get "a little buzzed," the teratologic glee is irresistible.
   
   This conflict resonates loudest in Jensen's chapters discussing the sisters' love lives. Readers will no doubt be moved by Daisy and Violet's inability to find lasting love outside themselves. They will decry the twenty-one states that refused, on moral grounds, to permit Violet to marry. They will disdain the reporters who pressed their eyeballs to the keyhole of Daisy's bridal suite. They will blame the public responsible for this media circus when her introverted husband runs off. And yet, when the reader's friends discover the Hiltons were conjoined twins, and ask the question that everyone asks, the reader will will be quick to answer: Yes, Daisy and Violet had sex, lots of it. Even Jensen, unflaggingly sympathetic as he is, seems unable to resist this salacious urge, ending his story with Daisy and Violet's most enduring "trebling," a burial plot shared with a man whom they never met.
   
   Had Daisy and Violet not been conjoined twins, their biography might well resemble that of those other Hilton sisters, circa 2050. The Hiltons sought and eventually rebuked public attention. The Hiltons learned those well-worn lessons of fleeting fame and wasted fortune. Such comparisons phosphoresce in Jensen's exposition, which can, at varying times, feel either rudimentary or dispensable. Yet, Jensen avoids melodrama. He evokes the Dickensian far more than he uses it as an adjective. And he is delightfully adept with anecdotes, a skill put to memorable use recounting a world populated by the likes of pugilistic bandleader Blue Steel; "flimflam man extraordinaire," Terry Turner; and a villain who actually named himself, Myer Myers. And besides, Daisy and Violet are not those other Hiltons. They were world famous: the Royal English Twins United, made singular by a slip of Mother Nature's hand, "grown together the way tomatoes on a vine sometimes do."



5. I just could not put this book down. These girls were vulnerable, tragic, and strong and heroic all at once. The author reports of a life I cannot imagine. Very well written and researched. DO NOT start reading this book unless you have all night to do so.

5 comments about Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism.

1. I really loved this book. It starts out good, and just gets better. Nazeer is a talented writer, and this is a polished work on a wide variety of fascinating topics. These topics include not only autism itself, but range from the nature of political discourse and its impact on the functioning of a healthy democracy all the way to the extent to which our tend to categorize many abilities as innate and in doing so deny the hard work that is always required to develop those abilities.
   
   It's rare to find a book that is this easy and absorbing to read, and yet where you so often find your thinking shifting subtly over and over as you absorb the ideas presented. I highly recommend it.



2. Nazeer says, "Autistic individuals find it difficult to develop intuition or empathy," and convincingly demonstrates that his experience of social interactions and certain kinds of frustration is very different from, well, my own anyway.
   
   But, his writing is brilliant, his metaphors are fresh and apt, he's engaging...this is one of those books that's worth reading just for the writing. But in this case that gives my prejudices a puzzle: If that's not intuition and empathy, what is it? A hard-won kind, perhaps, and in many ways better than the kind I take for granted. But that upsets my ideas of what good writing comes from.
   
   And in fact one of his chapters is about the common assumption that geniuses have it easy. The unthinking dismissal implied by saying that, he's gifted, he's smart, he's obsessed with the subject. Nazeer points out that there's still a hell of a lot of work in preparing for and executing any kind of great work. Still, looking back at Nazeer's own book, I wonder, can you create that kind of style, color, coherence and personality by... work?
   
   In one chapter he rants against a kind of falseness common in conversations. Although I'm tempted to correct his calling it falseness, the point isn't easy to make. Often conversations float above factualness and their substance is about themes, patterns, meta concerns and a kind of shared tacit evolving conspiracy, but I'm left with the uneasy feeling that that sense of substance is "just an intuition," as if I understand it even less than Nazeer does.
   
   Which is to say, I loved these bonus insights and paradoxes, especially when the ride to them was so comfortable and entertaining. I appreciated being allowed into the lives of these people, especially the author.



3. My son has a diagnosis on the autism spectrum and my bookshelf is overflowing with books about autism. Unlike another reviewer I did not find this book discouraging.
   This book gave me a wonderful insight into how it is for my son to learn the mechanics of communication that come intuatively to neurotypical people. And many times the mechanics are much more interesting to the author than the content of the conversation. For example he was told that his teacher had been assaulted by a parent. I was waiting for him to ask and share why this assault took place and what had happend to the parent and child but instead he went on about the conversation itself. I had to laugh because clearly very different aspects of that story were interesting to us and I appreciated that as an insight.
   This book reminded me of books I have read by people traveling back to their home to find their roots to explain who they are. What does it mean for him and his old classmates to have autism? What has it ment to their lives? Autism has put odds in their way but has also forced them to become deliberate and resourceful.
   
   So I guess if you are looking for a book that makes you see people with autism as overcoming all obstacles or being doomed or savants then this might not be your book. It is not a book offering knowledge on how to raise your autistic child. It is a book about a few people with autism who struggle and succed and fail much in the same and jet a different way as all of humanity.



4. Autism is a world like no other. My child was diagnosed at the age of 19 months and we have been living in that world for 3 1/2 years. I felt this book was a very interesting and insightful view to the 'inside' of Autism. I have spent these years trying (and succeeding) at understanding my own child's mind. When I could not find materials to help educate her, I made them myself. I proactively worked at educating my child. I have a website [...] where I have made available items that have successfully helped my child and other children with Autism.
   
   Understanding your child's mind is a wonderful tool for helping them. This was a good book to read and fast-reading book. I also gave me hope for my own child's quirky ways.



5. This book held a lot of promise for me. As the mother of a 7 year old son with autism, I was hoping to read about how these children started on the path of intervention and therapy at a young age, and had terrific outcomes. What I got was instead rather depressing. First, it is not an easy book to read. The author seems to get mired in side information, such as the use of the word "genius" for far too long, distracting from the stories of the lives of the characters.
   While I know my son will live with autism for his whole life, we always hold out hope that some of the behaviors that manifest in his place on the spectrum will be outgrown. That did not seem to be the case for some of the people in this book. I was very disturbed at Andre and his use of puppets as an adult. I fully understand that as an autisic person, he needs to use whatever strategies he can to cope, and I have no judgement on him. I can only keep working with my own child to try to lead him out of these behaviors.
   I would not recommend this book to parents of young autistic children. I think it has the ability to dash some of the hope we need to have.

5 comments about Terry: My Daughter's Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism.

1. This book is a must-read for families struggling with the devastating consequences of alcoholism and addiction. Nothing says it better than personal experience. It should be read by alcoholics, addicts and those of us who made it into recovery, as a stark reminder of how life for us could have turned out. I read it several years ago and carry the message with me every day. I am going to give a copy to my daughter who struggles with alcohol.



2. This time when I saw this paperback book in one of my favorite bookstores I decided I would buy it. I have a friend that said she had a hard time putting it down. I would say that I would rather put it down--and not pick it up again. I had a hard time plodding through this memoir. I did find the last part of the book where notations are made of the last few weeks of her life are the most interesting part of the book..the most moving and memorable parts. Otherwise this book was a big waste of my time. :(



3. This is an incredibly sad book. I remember George McGovern's run for president as well as the excitement of that time. Reading his take on it around his daughter's alcoholism changes the memory to one much more personal. It's also a really good portrayal of the decent of the alcoholic. From being a good, daddy's girl, to passing out in the snow. The story is all there and true blue. There is some advice from George to other parents of alcoholics. What he would do if he could do it all over again. I recommend this book to anyone with an alcoholic in their lives, but it's not for the faint of heart. He doesn't pull many punches.



4. This is a brave story for Senator McGovern and his family to tell. By writing this book they have taken some of the shame out of alcoholism and told a real account of the devistation alcoholism takes on the alcoholic and everyone that comes in touch with them. I really appreciated their taking the time to write this helpful book.



5. 'Terry' is the heart-wrenching tale of the life and death of Terry, daughter of George McGovern. I was reduced to tears in the book's first 40 pages as he recounts her tragic death. The book was very personal to me because I have lost a daughter (in an auto accident) and alcohol abuse and dependence have disrupted my life. Of course, the setting is familiar to me as a resident of the Madison area (indeed the Teresa McGovern Treatment Center is located adjacent to my favorite local place to walk). And McGovern's quixotic 1972 presidential campaign was the first of many political campaigns upon which I have worked.
   
   Teresa McGovern simply could not stop drinking and in the end effectively drank herself to death. The book tells the excruciatingly sad tale how this bright, sensitive girl grew into an alcohol dependent. Despite untold attempts by herself and her family to get her to stop drinking, in the end the booze won.
   
   The book is a cautionary tale for 'recovered alcoholics' - Terry did stop drinking for some 8 years and had several other substantial bouts of sobriety. In the end, sobriety was more painful than drinking despite the incredibly painful consequences of her drinking. If you think you have the booze beaten, remember that it lurks in wait for you.
   
   The book does highlight the lack of any predictably succesful treatment for alcoholism. She tried many times to get cured, although she did not, apparently, try any non-AA programs. In one section McGovern simply records police, hospital, and detox center reports as she was taken repeatedly to detox. At the end of her life she was basically drinking to the point of incoherence and incontinence every day. One does wonder why the authorities did not attempt to have her committed involuntarily - but whether that would that have worked is highly doubtful.
   
   One thing McGovern does not mention is the woefully inadequate insurance coverage for AODA treatment. Even if you have insurance, it is likely that your policy severely limits the amount that will be paid to cover treatment.
   
   A powerful, honest, deeply felt book. The reader wants to reach out to McGovern and remind him that, in fact, he did try to help his daughter, it didn't work and her death from alcohol abuse really was not his fault. To drink or not to drink - only the drinker decides.

No comments about Perfect: Anorexia & Me.

5 comments about Angel Unaware: A Touching Story of Love and Loss.

1. This book is wonderful. It so beautifully written from the POV of little Robin giving an account to God of her brief life on earth. If there is a disabled child that has touched your life, you need to read this book. Dale Evans Rogers has written a masterpiece which will benefit the lives of many. Thank goodness God sent Robin into their lives!



2. My Aunt gave me this book to read when I was in grade school. I am now 42 years old and I still remember this book as being one of the most profound stories I have ever read. I have recommended this book often, I have never forgotten it.
   Such a touching reminder for all of us that life is divine and should never be taken for granted.



3. Until I real Dale Evans' account of her daughter's life, I didn't realize anyone felt the way I do. We lost our 2 1/2 year old daughter this year. She had "special needs," some similar to those of Robin in the book. We always felt that God gave us our daughter and she was our own angel here on earth. This book is a wonderful story of the love between a family, their God, and their special angel. I highly recommend it to any parent or family who have lost a child with a disability.



4. I read this book when I was in 4th or 5th grade. The story of Robin Rogers has stuck with me for 35 years. While I have forgotten the details, I remember the essential message. All children are gifts from God, especially the ones that aren't everyone's idea of perfect.



5. This little book is a heartwarming love story and a heart wrenching tear jerker all rolled into one. Dale Evans Rogers shares the tale of little Robin, her Down Syndrome daughter who died at a very young age. The story is told from Robin's point of view, as if she is sitting on her heavenly father's knee relating what happened "down there." The heartache of a mother's loss, and the hope of a child's eternity are entwined in an unforgettable tale. I highly recommend this book to any one who has lost a young child, or has had to deal with special needs like Down Syndrome. Be sure to have a tissue box handy.

5 comments about Sam: The Boy Behind The Mask.

1. I absolutely adored this book. The story of Sam is amazing, compelling, and most of all, humbling. Since reading it four years ago, I have found myself looking more for the good things of life instead of finding tiny, unimportant details to criticize. In that, I can truly say this book was life-changing for me. Sam, wherever you are, I hope that you are well and happy. You are a role model for us all with your courage and point of view!



2. This book is an excellent reading assignment for a student who thinks they want to be a doctor, especially a pediatrician or surgeon. It is a good choice to use in differentiating the curriculum for a gifted student in a regular health occupations classroom. My students enjoyed it very much.



3. Sam Lightner was born with a horribly deforming vascular tumor on the left side of his face that was so disfiguring and otherworldly that an adult at a Halloween party complimented for his marvelous costume. This is the kind of situation that Sam has lived with since he was an infant - the stares, the laughter, the shock, the misunderstandings. If any story teaches the lesson of appreciating a person's heart rather than his appearance, it is this one.

   Sam was born with a large vascular tumor on the left side of his place that progressively compromised not only his appearance but also his basic vital functions including breathing and eating. It took a few courageous physicians to treat his condition. Drs. Marler and Mulleken at Boston Children's and Dr. Wehby in Portland are a few of the doctors that enabled Sam to have a fighting chance. What makes this book such a compelling read is not only the heroics of Sam's physicians but the courage of Sam and his family. Hallman delivers Sam's struggle to fit in with such an emotional impact that I had to quit reading the book in parts to take a breather. Sam's family is portrayed as truly remarkable, and their handling of Sam's problems is a lesson to be learned by all.

   Unfortunately, the book leaves us hanging (not the author's fault) because Sam's story is not finished. He most likely will undergo further plastic surgery to shape his face, and he may undergo additional operations if his tumor returns.

   Hopefully, this book can teach us a little about how to give respect to those like Sam who need support rather than the stares we often give them.




4. This story will touch your heart in an incredibe way! The author reaches inside you and grabs your heart, in order to take you from the day of his birth, when Sam's problems started, though his recovery process, after his surgery. The book is so well written and it invites you to view Sam's experiences in an up-close and personal way. If you want to learn about what life really means, or if you have a teenager that feels self-conscious, read this. This book makes you realize that inspiration can come from anywhere and that you should count your blessings and be happy for what God has given you. Learn from Sam and live.



5. This is the extraordinary story of Sam Lightner, a boy who showed me more about beauty and courage than anyone I've ever known. He has the toughness and persistence of any *ten* adults, and his parents and brother and sister are simply angels. The author's top-notch reporting and soulful writing make for an enlightening read.

   I'm usually more of a "library rat" than a book buyer, but this is one book I'm adding to my personal collection. Read Sam's amazing story, and pass it on to your family and friends.

5 comments about At the Will of the Body: Reflections on Illness.

1. I recommend this book to my patients all the time. My own copy is almost completely highlighted. Dr. Frank gives such insight into his own patient experience and from a medical sociologist's perspective!
   
   Abby Caplin, MD, MA, San Francisco, CA



2. For anyone who is ill or anyone who is accompanying someone else on this journey, this book is invaluable. Richly illuminating and enlightening about what it means to be facing a life threatening illness. It is enormously helpful and reassuring to read of someone facing this head on without the current and dismissive "just have a positive attitude". it is engrossing and a life changing book. I cannot recommend highly enough.



3. Arthur W. Frank's book, At the Will of the Body: Reflections on Illness, is a pilgrimage through the author's struggle with a heart attack and cancer. His experiences, insights, treatments, along with his wife's support are by no means examples of the average person's struggle with illnesses. Frank, a college professor, comes across as a self-centered elitest and as a patient who was critical of his health care. Upon reflection, I am amazed by his wife's dedication to him as he progressed through his illnesses, especially cancer.



4. I have helped train family practice physicians and I have used the play "W;T" to try and sensitize young physicians to the viewpoint of the patient. I was asked to read this book for a graduate course in spirituality and healing called: Suffering and Hope. I found it even better than "W;T" for training purposes. I think it should be required reading for all medical students and residents. Physicians are much more than just technicians trained to "fix" bodies. The viewpoint of the author was most helpful in suggesting ways to approach a very difficult situation. I have ordered copies for friends who are suffering from cancer that it may help them on their journey!



5. This was one of the best books I have read in the course of my dissertation work. I'd say it is a must read for anyone in the health care profession, as well as patients battling chronic symptoms. The book is a reminder that we need to remember the PERSON who is the patient.

5 comments about Passing for Normal: A Memoir of Compulsion.

1. Passing for normal gives the reader great insight on life with OCD and Tourette's. It talks about her very first tic to her treatment that she has today. Amy is very open about her problems in this outstanding memoir. I also have OCD and can relate to many of her stories. This book also gives hope to reader's.



2. This book was so incredibly interesting. I've read quite a few books on the subject of suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder and I have to say this was one of my favorites. Amy so honestly tells the stories of her childhood, the way she suffered from tourettes as well as OCD and went undiagnosed for years. Amy details such difficult subjects, her trials and tribulations, but often speaks humorously about her past. She takes dark subjects, and writes seriously, but keeps them from being too dark and weighty by keeping a humorous attitude about her whole situation.



3. Passing for Normal (by Amy S. Wilesky) Reader Review
   Reviewer: Kristina M. Emard from Lebanon, ME USA

   Amy is an awesome writer, she tends to skip around a little but her detail and thoughts and opinions about everything are just so selective and different. Too bad there weren°Øt more writers like her. She talks about her life and the things she had to deal with. She did very well in school even with her disabilities.

   Amy had a very rough up bringing dealing with her two disabilities (1) Tourette Syndrome which is a rare disease that is characterized by involuntary tics and by uncontrollable verbalization involving especially echolalia and the use of obscene language, (2) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by obsessions or compulsions having one or both is sufficient for the diagnosis. An obsession is a recurrent and intrusive thought, feeling, idea, or sensation. A compulsion is a conscious, recurrent pattern of behavior a person feels driven to perform. Amy didn°Øt even know she had the disorders until she was older. She had to deal with her family and friends who thought she was crazy. She does finally end up getting the strength to go see a doctor because she knows that something is wrong with her. She was diagnosed with OCD and Tourette Syndrome, so her doctor put her on Prozac and other medications.

   After, when she knew she had the disorders she had a hard time, and didn°Øt want people to say bad things or make fun of her because of her disabilities, so she kept them to herself. When Amy is at her group meeting she isolates herself, she says °?My main problem is this: I seriously questioned myself up to a group of people who wouldn°Øt or rather couldn°Øt accept my party line.°± When Amy says °? people who wouldn°Øt or couldn°Øt accept my party line°± she means, people wouldn°Øt accept her for her. She was afraid that people wouldn°Øt accept her.

   In group she met a man named Bryant. They shared many similarities, which built their strong relationship. When Amy moved and was able to start at a new school, she loved it! She made many new friends, who again didn°Øt know she had these disabilities. Her friends thought that the twitching and the need to touch everything was cool. Amy eventually becomes obsessed with her obsessions and compulsions.

   Amy goes to college at Vassar like her many other relatives, where her and her first boyfriend begin living together. She was afraid of relationships, afraid of getting hurt, and afraid of being touched, but most of all afraid of any sexual activity. She trusted Ben very much though.

   In the last chapter she sends a very strong message that includes the title of the book. °?The older I get the more arsenals I acquire, the better I get at keeping my secrets, sometimes overriding them, sometimes Passing for Normal.°±

   This book has an amazing twist in the end but I wont spoil it for you. It is a great book for any reader that can follow flash backs and such. She uses great detail and amazing thoughts and opinions. She is a great writer.




4. I thought it was a really good book.

   I think that overall my experience with Asperger's syndrome (AS)has been more traumatic than hers has been with Tourette's, still, I think it's an important book. "Passing for normal" is something I'm trying to do all the time when I am with people.

   My only criticism is that she uses "like autistic" as a description of some of her behaviors and implies that it's a BAD thing to act autistic. It sort of feels like a put-down to me, but I don't think she intended autistic people to read her book and feel that way.

   It's amazing at the overlapping issues that Tourette's has with AS (some people have both), but they don't have any intrisic problem with making friends or understand typical motivations, as she shows.

   I thought her description of her relationship with her father was really interesting.




5. This memoir read like an article that was stretched out into an entire book. It was not a particularly interesting memoir or a good book on the topic of OCD or Tourette's. It was long-winded, obvious, and stale.