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Title: Darkness Visible : A Memoir of Madness by William Styron ISBN: 0-679-73639-5 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 08 January, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.35 (85 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Darkness described
Comment: If you seek a book on depression, you are probably looking for clinical texts written by people in the health professions. You may hardly expect this slim book by novelist William Styron--a memoir, but also a literary self-analysis regarding his condition.
DARKNESS VISIBLE is a revealing and engaging look into the life of a particular man who suffers this disease. Although I can only imagine how a victim of depression would respond to such a book, I would suppose it would offer something like companionship or camaraderie with someone who has experienced what they feel others can't understand, as well as a glimmer of hope if read to the end.
As a reader not afflicted with depression, the book was a story that illustrated his philosophical dilemmas, agonizing psychological pain, and his experiences in a personal and thoughtful way. If it was not as entertaining as the novels of his that I have read, I'm certain it wasn't meant to be. But if you suffer from depression, treat people who suffer from depression, or are just interested in the affliction, you might be interested in reading about Styron's attempts to grapple with and understand this often fatal disease that strikes so many people.
Rating: 4
Summary: "Yet trouble came."
Comment: Natalie Goldberg's discussion of this book in her THUNDER AND LIGHTNING (2000) prompted me to read it for myself. William Styron is perhaps best known for writing SOPHIE'S CHOICE. Styron knows suffering. "I recall saying to myself that when I left Paris for New York the next morning it would be a matter of forever" (p. 4), he begins this short, autobiographical account of his 1985 encounter with depression that pushed him toward suicide. "The pain of severe depression," he explains, "is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne. The prevention of many suicides will continue to be hindered until there is a general awareness of the nature of this pain" (p. 33).
By reflecting upon his own dark descent into depression, Styron offers us a better understanding of his subject. Perhaps his eventual recovery also provides a ray of comfort to those readers struggling with depression. The illness, we learn, affects millions. One in ten Americans will experience depression (p. 35). It strikes all ages, races, creeds, and classes indiscriminately, but women are at a higher risk (p. 35). Randall Jarrell, Hart Crane, van Gogh, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Camus, Jack London, Hemingway, Celan, and Anne Sexton were among the "fallen artists" who suffered from depression (pp. 35-36).
This book (an 84-page essay, really), was written by someone who has been there, and should be considered a "must read" by anyone interested in the subject of severe depression.
G. Merritt
Rating: 5
Summary: Bullseye !
Comment: This is the best description of what it is like to suffer depression I have ever read. I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, and related to SO many of the authors problems. I was in a hospital for 3 weeks, outpatient for 4 1/2 and am still on partial disability. My wife is now reading the book so she can get at least some idea of what this is like. This really hit home,and I feel it is a must read for every sufferer of depression, and just as importantly, the key people in their lives.
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Title: An Unquiet Mind : A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison ISBN: 0679763309 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 14 January, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon ISBN: 0684854678 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Night Falls Fast : Understanding Suicide by Kay Redfield Jamison ISBN: 0375701478 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Beast: A Journey Through Depression by Tracy Thompson ISBN: 0452276950 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: October, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: On the Edge of Darkness : America's Most Celebrated Actors, Journalists and Politicians Chronicle TheirMost Arduous Journey by Kathy Cronkite ISBN: 0385314264 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 01 July, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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