Madness: A Bipolar Life

Hornbacher, Marya

ISBN 10: 1433212374 ISBN 13: 9781433212376

Publisher: Blackstone Pub, 2008

Synopsis

An award-winning journalist and author of the best-selling Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia describes the painful impact on her life of bipolar disease, from the initial diagnosis of the ailment, to her desperate efforts to control violently careening mood swings, to her continuing struggle to cope with the ailment in every aspect of her life. Simultaneous.

About this title

Review:

Praise for ‘The Centre of Winter’:

‘Hornbacher has created characters who are genuine, engaging, and unforgettable. Following...the acclaimed “Wasted”, with this stunning debut novel, Hornbacher, who inevitably will be compared to Alice Sebold, proves herself to be a master storyteller.’ Booklist (starred review)

‘Hornbacher succeeds marvelously...[She] constructs a kaleidoscope of speakers at times beautiful and often disturbing...[An] adroit first novel.’ Los Angeles Book Review

Praise for ‘Wasted’:

‘A stunningly original and beautifully written book gouging deep into a gruesome subject which, by comparison, other writers have merely flirted with.’ Evening Standard

‘Like Plath, Hornbacher writes with a metaphoric intensity which at times seems tragically indistinguishable from the power of her drive to self-destruct. Her brutal honesty as to why it happened to her and her lack of special pleading, only adds to the essential pain of the book. If you want to understand anorexia, read this book.’Scotsman

‘What marks “Wasted” out is the quality of the voice. Hornbacher is, simply, a good writer. Coolly vivid, there’s an edge to her prose...Her gift for description makes even the familiar aspects of the phenomenon newly real.’Guardian

From the Back Cover:

"Hornbacher is a virtuoso writer." - New York TimesWhen Marya Hornbacher publisheda nationally bestselling memoir of her battle with anorexia and bulimia she had no idea that there was a piece of shattering knowledge that wouold finally make sense of the chaos of her life.Her struggles withmental illness, andthe story she would have to tell about them, were far from over.At twenty-four, Hornbacher was diagnosed with Type I rapid-cycle bipolar disorder, the most severe form. In Madness, she detailsher fight back fromthe disease that nearly destroyed her.Tracing the history of her illness, she shows how bipolar can spawn a number of other conditions, including eating disorders, substance abuse, promiscuity, and self-mutilation. Like Hornbacher, many of us suffer from these never knowing that they are related tobipolar, that there is a larger cause for our particular pain. Now, in this brave, heart-stopping, beautifully written memoir Marya Hornbacher offers a challenge to the perception of bipolar in America.Madness is an incredibleportraitof a difficult, sometimes beautiful life."With the same intimately revelatory and shocking emotional power that marked [Wasted], Hornbacher guides us through her labyrinth of psychological demons." --Elle

"Hooks readers from the start .... [as Hornbacher] whips around this rollercoaster ride, her unflinching style keeps us firmly seated beside her." --USA Today Marya Hornbacher is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated national bestseller Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, a book that remains an intensely read classic, and the acclaimed novel The Center of Winter. An award-winning journalist, she lectures nationally on writing and mental health and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota."

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstone Pub
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1433212374
• ISBN 13: 9781433212376
• Binding: Audio CD