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A review by sierrajhansen
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.5
i feel like this wasn’t exactly the “descent into madness” i was promised, more like a great description of treatment-resistant depression. i really enjoyed this book, although it was slow-paced and took a bit of mental energy to process and understand, but the ending felt rushed and a bit reductive. it had the same feeling of an inspirational quote or an affirmation that was a bit too saccharine. it’s certainly good to describe how you can overcome your depression, but in terms of the main message seeming to be “this is was severe depression is actually like, for people who don’t understand,” it felt like wrapping it up at the end with a neat bow of “you’ll get better though!” was a little heavy handed. overall though, a very interesting read that i enjoyed even more from my perspective as a health care provider.
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt