Description
A Room with a Darker View is a powerful and compelling feminist memoir that explores the profound impact of mental illness on family dynamics. The author, brilliantly weaving together fragments and flashbacks, recounts the harrowing struggles faced by her mother, an Oxford-trained lawyer, whose severe schizophrenia and paranoia went unrecognized for decades by her accomplished family. This narrative boldly addresses the stigma surrounding mental health while also highlighting the fight for gender equality in both professional and personal realms.
Delving deep into the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, A Room with a Darker View confronts societal norms and challenges perceptions of illness, shame, and intergenerational differences within the context of 20th-century feminism. As the author navigates her mother's manic bouts, persistent delusions, and vivid hallucinations, readers are invited to reflect on their own understanding of mental illness and the often-unseen struggles within families.
This extraordinary memoir not only resonates with those affected by mental health issues but also echoes the experiences of many who have struggled with similar challenges in an elite educational environment. Much like Porochista Khakpour's acclaimed work, Sick, this book offers a raw and unvarnished perspective, making it an essential read for anyone interested in feminism, mental health, and the complexities of familial love.
Note: Shipping for this item is free. Please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery. Once your order is placed, it cannot be cancelled.
Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9781733957908
Format: Trade paperback (US)
Year: 2020
Publisher: DoppelHouse Press
Note: Shipping for this item is free. Please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery. Once your order is placed, it cannot be cancelled.
Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9781733957908
Format: Trade paperback (US)
Year: 2020
Publisher: DoppelHouse Press
Description:
'Unsurprisingly, feminists have been at the forefront of writing illness narratives, from Virginia Woolf to Audre Lord and Susan Sontag. My family's inability to accommodate my mother's illness, the perniciousness of her particular subtype of schizophrenia, paranoia, and the story of women's fight for gender equality in both the workplace and at home are part of this chronicle.'
A Room with a Darker View is an unflinching, feminist work that chronicles the author's troubled relationship with her mother, an Oxford-trained lawyer, whose severe illness - marked by manic bouts of senseless laughter, persistent delusions, and florid hallucinations - went unrecognized for decades by both her husband, a world-class British astrophysicist, and her father, a Jewish-Zimbabwean doctor knighted by Pope Paul VI.
Told in fragments, flashbacks, and chronicling the most extreme but unfortunately common aspects of schizophrenia, this elegantly written memoir is a reflection on illness, shame, and the generation gaps that have defined mother-daughter relationships amid the evolution of feminism in the 20th century. Like Porochista Khakpour's lauded memoir, Sick (2018), A Room with a Darker View is not a linear tale of redemption or restitution. Rather, it challenges conceptions about mental illness and how we frame contributions by outliers to society, while offering a scathing look at a broken medical system, the unwillingness of an elite educated family to reckon with its secrets, and finally, the universally understood difficulty of caring for an aging parent with a chronic illness.
Delving deep into the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, A Room with a Darker View confronts societal norms and challenges perceptions of illness, shame, and intergenerational differences within the context of 20th-century feminism. As the author navigates her mother's manic bouts, persistent delusions, and vivid hallucinations, readers are invited to reflect on their own understanding of mental illness and the often-unseen struggles within families.
This extraordinary memoir not only resonates with those affected by mental health issues but also echoes the experiences of many who have struggled with similar challenges in an elite educational environment. Much like Porochista Khakpour's acclaimed work, Sick, this book offers a raw and unvarnished perspective, making it an essential read for anyone interested in feminism, mental health, and the complexities of familial love.
Note: Shipping for this item is free. Please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery. Once your order is placed, it cannot be cancelled.
Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9781733957908
Format: Trade paperback (US)
Year: 2020
Publisher: DoppelHouse Press
Note: Shipping for this item is free. Please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery. Once your order is placed, it cannot be cancelled.
Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9781733957908
Format: Trade paperback (US)
Year: 2020
Publisher: DoppelHouse Press
Description:
'Unsurprisingly, feminists have been at the forefront of writing illness narratives, from Virginia Woolf to Audre Lord and Susan Sontag. My family's inability to accommodate my mother's illness, the perniciousness of her particular subtype of schizophrenia, paranoia, and the story of women's fight for gender equality in both the workplace and at home are part of this chronicle.'
A Room with a Darker View is an unflinching, feminist work that chronicles the author's troubled relationship with her mother, an Oxford-trained lawyer, whose severe illness - marked by manic bouts of senseless laughter, persistent delusions, and florid hallucinations - went unrecognized for decades by both her husband, a world-class British astrophysicist, and her father, a Jewish-Zimbabwean doctor knighted by Pope Paul VI.
Told in fragments, flashbacks, and chronicling the most extreme but unfortunately common aspects of schizophrenia, this elegantly written memoir is a reflection on illness, shame, and the generation gaps that have defined mother-daughter relationships amid the evolution of feminism in the 20th century. Like Porochista Khakpour's lauded memoir, Sick (2018), A Room with a Darker View is not a linear tale of redemption or restitution. Rather, it challenges conceptions about mental illness and how we frame contributions by outliers to society, while offering a scathing look at a broken medical system, the unwillingness of an elite educated family to reckon with its secrets, and finally, the universally understood difficulty of caring for an aging parent with a chronic illness.