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| Manic: A Memoir | 
 enlarge | Author: Terri Cheney
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 10868
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.5
ISBN: 0061430234
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.8950092
EAN: 9780061430237
ASIN: 0061430234
Publication Date: February 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"I didn't tell anyone that I was going to Santa Fe to kill myself." On the outside, Terri Cheney was a highly successful, attractive Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer. But behind her seemingly flawless facade lay a dangerous secret—for the better part of her life Cheney had been battling debilitating bipolar disorder and concealing a pharmacy's worth of prescriptions meant to stabilize her moods and make her "normal." In bursts of prose that mirror the devastating highs and extreme lows of her illness, Cheney describes her roller-coaster life with shocking honesty—from glamorous parties to a night in jail; from flying fourteen kites off the edge of a cliff in a thunderstorm to crying beneath her office desk; from electroshock therapy to a suicide attempt fueled by tequila and prescription painkillers. With Manic, Cheney gives voice to the unarticulated madness she endured. The clinical terms used to describe her illness were so inadequate that she chose to focus instead on her own experience, in her words, "on what bipolar disorder felt like inside my own body." Here the events unfold episodically, from mood to mood, the way she lived and remembers life. In this way the reader is able to viscerally experience the incredible speeding highs of mania and the crushing blows of depression, just as Cheney did. Manic does not simply explain bipolar disorder—it takes us in its grasp and does not let go. In the tradition of Darkness Visible and An Unquiet Mind, Manic is Girl, Interrupted with the girl all grown up. This harrowing yet hopeful book is more than just a searing insider's account of what it's really like to live with bipolar disorder. It is a testament to the sharp beauty of a life lived in extremes.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 51 more reviews...
Captivating look into the mind of someone with manic-depression February 5, 2008
65 out of 70 found this review helpful
In MANIC, author Terri Cheney provides a fascinating glimpse into the experiences of someone suffering from Bipolar Disorder, AKA manic-depression. Rather than to narrate her story in a chronological fashion, Cheney presents each chapter as a stand-alone vignette from the chaos that is her life. Furthermore, each of these individual stories serves to highlight a particular insight, from the depths of depression which prompt a suicide attempt to the fine line between the joys of hypomania versus the craziness of mania itself. Cheney does tend to repeat herself a bit--for example, she names several different medications as the "one" that finally helped her and claims various depressive episodes to be the "worst" she ever experienced. Overall, however, from the perspective of both a psychologist and an avid reader, I felt that a sense of truth and candidness permeated Cheney's writing. This book provides a captivating read for almost anyone but should particularly appeal to the many whose lives have been personally touched by manic-depression; my overall rating is 4 1/2 stars.
 A Million Little Piecesesque memoir of mania February 29, 2008
38 out of 49 found this review helpful
Promiscuous forty-something-year-old redhead attorney turned author Terri Cheney, who has suffered from manic depression for years, can be described as many things: boyfriend smacker, boyfriend steeler, dumpster diver, mental ward patient, prisoner, rape victim, seductress, and suicide attempt survivor (several times). She knows mental illness well. About depression, she writes (p 6): "People always mean well, but they don't understand that when you're seriously depressed, suicidal ideation can be the only thing that keeps you alive," and (p 160), "depression weighs a thousand tons." She makes light of things at times, as when, coming to in a hospital after a suicide attempt, she says (p 19), "I knew it wasn't Heaven, because they kept asking me for insurance," of her prison garb (p 50), "Orange isn't my color," and on life (p 20), "Saints are always just a stumble away from sinners." Cheney has a gift for great descriptions, analogies, and keeping a reader's interest. And even the book's lack of chronology works in this case (though chapter titles would have been nice), considering the subject. But one wonders: Is it all TRUE? As in A Million Little Pieces, it is hard to believe that everything she writes really happened: standing alone in the dark in a riptide; howling at the moon; receiving stitches unanaestheticized (reminiscent of Frey's tooth extraction), two diametrically opposed encounters with a pornographically tattooed, missing-toothed locksmith; and three seemingly unlikely incidents at one psych ward: an encounter with a plastic utensil wielding schizophrenic; a publicly self pleasuring man who believes he is Jesus Christ; and a war-dance around a puzzle piece pile. If it is truly non-fiction, and although skeptical, I'd like to believe that it is, then well done. If any amount of embellishment took place, then it's ho hum and good luck to the author if she is interviewed on a certain talk show. Manic is a well-written, sometimes unbelievable collection of frenzied manic-depressive incidents. Also good: A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg, and Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia by Pamela Spiro Wagner and Carolyn Spiro.
 Accurate And Hopeful March 22, 2008
38 out of 39 found this review helpful
I've dealt with depression and a bipolar condition all of my life. When I was younger, I didn't know what it was. At that point, it just manifested itself as a heavy sadness that would hit about every six months or so and last for about a week. Unfortunately, as I grew older and got knocked about by life every so often - especially when I got hammered through no fault of my own and didn't see the reason for it, that cycle accelerated and started lasting longer.
During those intervening years, I also pushed my writing hobby (probably cathartic in the beginning) into a full-time career. Which meant that I was forced to (and still do) live primarily out of my own head. That's not always a pleasant place to be. Too many nightmares exist there. And I've learned throughout my life where all the weak points are. When I'm in a downward spiral, I attack myself unmercifully. When I'm in an upward spiral, I can't sit still.
I started figuring out my own coping mechanism, based on materials and books I'd read. But that was only after I figured out what I was going through was different than the life other people dealt with. In fact, my first clues as to what I had to face were given to me by friends that suffered from the same anxieties and pressures.
These conditions aren't easy to deal with for the person who has them. Or for the people around them.
When I first read about Terri Cheney's book, MANIC, I immediately wanted to review it. Here was a successful person who admittedly dealt with the same issues I had, but I didn't know how honest she was going to be about those problems.
After reading Cheney's book in a single sitting (because I was mesmerized at watching a train wreck in motion and thinking how similar our strategies for self-destruction were), I have to admit that I couldn't find a single pulled punch. Cheney lays her life out there for inspection and offers no apologies for it. I have to admit, in a lot of ways she had it worse than I did. I had kids at an early age and couldn't allow myself to go full-tilt down some of those dark passageways that she explored. I think they were my anchor, though I know that isn't always the case for everyone.
Chaney's book describes her failed relationships, her attempts at chemical and electroshock therapy, her moments of self-discovery, and the seeming impossibility of merely coping in ways that I immediately understood. I don't know if laymen will truly appreciate everything she's done because you have to walk a mile (or several years) in our shoes to know how huge that mountain is to navigate.
People who have never dealt with bipolar tendencies or depression, or never had to share their lives with someone that did, probably won't understand everything Cheney writes about. Even without that insight, though, she tells a compelling story. And as every bipolar person is subject to doing, she jumps around in her narrative. I'm also ADHD and I'm willing to bet Cheney is to a degree as well. That's part of the creative mind as well, and part of what allows us to function at a high level on our own.
I loved this book. It's a savage song of survival, and a rebuttal of conventional life. The average life would be a wonderful thing, but it's not attainable by everyone. Cheney's book may not celebrate that, but she acknowledges it.
Whether you read for understanding, or just a voyeuristic interest in peeking into someone else's life, MANIC is heart-wrenching and a definite gut-check for those who don't realize how good they have it. I don't know if Cheney plans any more books, but I'll definitely be in line to pick them up if she does.
touched with fire February 6, 2008
29 out of 34 found this review helpful
As a psychologist I was struck by the frighteningly accurate portrayals of a condition where life and death are a daily struggle. As a voracious consumer of literature I was taken in by the absorbing quality of the writing.
a must-read February 6, 2008
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
whether or not bipolar disorder touches your life, this riveting memoir is powerful and memorable, and is wholeheartedly recommended by this reader. cheney brings us into her world, from darkest depression to the headiest manic phases, creating a high-speed, high-stakes ride we don't want to disembark from until the final page. her magnificent use of language combined with gut-wrenching truth enhances the experience. it's a one-sitting read that shouldn't be missed.
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