Review: Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really good memoir of an incredibly unusual medical condition that Cahalan suffered from as a young professional. She had a sudden onset of strange symptoms that seemed like mental illness, but her family and friends continued to pursue doctors and research and ultimately discovered a specific illness that could be cured medically. She uses a unique combination of medical notes, journals, interviews, and other records to rebuild her story, as she lost a lot of her memory from the time.

I liked reading this book the same way I like reading the "Diagnosis" column in the New York Times. It was interesting to follow her symptoms and see how she was diagnosed. I was shocked by how deliberate and strong her family had to be to pursue the right solutions. And I was sympathetic to her experience, rooting for her along the way.


View all my reviews

Review: The Rent Collector

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I did not like this book, which isn't to say that I didn't feel sympathy for the fictionalized characters in the story - I did. The book is set in one of Cambodia's largest garbage dumps, where a small family is struggling to get by. They earn a living by sorting trash and selling it, barely getting by. They live AT the dump, along with several of Cambodia's other poorest families.

The story is about their attempts to improve their lives - by learning to read, getting to the bottom of their son's illnesses, and creating a small safety net past what their landlady collects each month. Ironically it is their landlady (a cantankerous drunk) who teaches them to read and ultimately helps them.

I don't know where to start with what I disliked about this book. The writing was too simple, barely capturing any of the characters' inner voices past their obvious actions. The circumstances in which they lived were deplorable, but described unemotionally. And the story seemed both obvious and contrived. I later learned that it was based on a true story of a family - one that the author's son had filmed for a documentary. Perhaps that is the source of some of the problems - too much of a "movie/video" angle and not enough one of a book.

Whatever the case, not one of my favorites.

View all my reviews

Review: What Alice Forgot

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was time for more of a "beach read" and this was a good one. The story is about Alice, who wakes up in a hospital, finding that the life she thought she had (pregnant with her first child, very in love with her husband) is not true anymore. She is in the middle of an acrimonious divorce from her husband, the father of her three children, and dating someone different. She doesn't remember her children, but finds herself close to her sister, which she learns is not how she left things. Yikes!

The writing was at the level of Jodi Picoult, which is to say well-written enough but not poetic or "literature." Alice is a likable character, and as she pieces her life back together, it's easy to root for her to rebuild into something that makes her happy.

I've already ordered another Moriarty book for the next time I need some light reading that doesn't make me hate myself in the morning.

View all my reviews