Sharp: My Story of Madness, Cutting, and How I Reclaimed My Life - Softcover

Fitzpatrick, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062064037 ISBN 13: 9780062064035

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2013

Synopsis

Sharp is the story of a young man who began his life with a loving family and great promise for the future. But in his early twenties, David Fitzpatrick became so consumed by mental illness it sent him into a frenzy of cutting himself with razor blades. In this shocking and often moving book, he vividly describes the rush this act gave him, the fleeting euphoric high that seemed to fill the spaces in the rest of his life. It started a difficult battle from which he would later emerge triumphant and spiritually renewed. Fitzpatrick's youth seemed ideal. He was athletic, handsome, and intelligent. However, he lived in fear of an older brother who taunted and belittled him; and in college, his roommates teased and humiliated him, further damaging what sense of self-esteem he still carried with him. As he shares these experiences, Fitzpatrick also recounts the lessons learned from the broken people he encountered during his journey-knowledge that led to his own emotional resurrection. Sharp also demonstrates the awakening of a writer's instinctive voice. With prose that is tough and gritty, profound and insightful, Fitzpatrick takes us inside his head while he manically cuts himself, but these episodes are presented with a dignity and insight that has never been seen before. His writing also possesses a lightness of touch that brings humor to a subject that doesn't naturally provide it. Above all else, Sharp is a tale of hope, a soul-baring quest of a lost man who returns to himself, overcomes his demons, and reclaims his life. It is destined to become a classic memoir.

About this title

Product Description:

Sharp David Fitzpatrick's Sharp is an extraordinary memoir--a fascinating, disturbing look into the mind of a man who, in his early 20s, began cutting himself due to a severe mental illness. A beautifully written treatment of a powerful subject, Fitzpatrick--whose symptoms included extreme depression and self-mutilation--writes movingly and honestly about his affliction and inspires readers with his courage, joining the literary ranks of Terri Cheney (Manic), Augusten Burroughs (Running with Scissors), Marya Hornbacher (Wasted), and Susanna Kaysen (Girl, Interrupted)."A harrowing journey from self-destructive psychosis to a cautious re-emergence into the flickerin...

Review:

"A mesmeric, dire memoir...a mission (thanks to Wally Lamb's encouragement) to write this dark, affecting, human story." --Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0062064037
• ISBN 13: 9780062064035
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368