Manic | 
 enlarge | Author: Terri, Cheney
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Category: EBooks
List Price: $13.99
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $4.00 (29%)
Rating:  79 reviews
Sales Rank: 4020
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.8950092
Publication Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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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 74 more reviews...
Interesting personal experience. June 30, 2009
theknitphomaniac
This was a quick read. I didn't think I would like the way the book is set up, with no sense of a linear timeline, but I found it interesting.
I don't think this should be read as a way to "understand" bipolar disorder, nor should any memoir, really. It's one person's experience. Every experience is different. And the amount of distortion is certainly hard to distinguish. The author does qualify this book as possibly not entirely accurate though. I found that disappointing, but appreciate the honesty there, at least.
I am bipolar and while I can see a few common threads, I couldn't personally relate to much of her story. But I still found it interesting. This is her experience, not mine.
I did get a little sick of the "oh I'm a fabulous, expensively educated lawyer" stuff, but whatever. It's her experience and her interpretation of it. If you're snobby, might as well be honest about it.
I would have liked more backstory on her childhood and such, but that's not what she chose to share.
I get the feeling that the non-linear account here may be an attempt to make things seem more extravagant and fabulous than they would with the perspective of time and sequence. But I can't really tell someone else how to recount their life and this is apparently how the author prefers to remember and present it... When putting such personal information out there, I guess you have to do it in whatever fashion is comfortable for you.
I would be interested to read something of more substance about this woman's life.
I would like to see a more well-rounded memoir by a bipolar author. I'm a little tired of the ones only focusing on manic episodes. Yes, the things done during manic episodes surely make for a more entertaining story, but it would be nice to hear more about everything, not just "here's the wild stuff I did while I was manic". But that's another book for another author, obviously.
This one is decent for what it is.
 Definitely a page turner June 26, 2009
A. Murphy
I could not put this book down. It gives you a personal view of the daily struggles for a person who is diagnosed as bipolar. Easy to read. The way the Terri Cheney wrote the book according to her episodes and not times was wonderful and unique.
perfectly told, a unique firsthand view on bipolar disorder June 25, 2009
Samantha R. Richardson
In this painstakingly honest memoir, Terri Cheney reveals the ups and downs of her battle with bipolar disorder, sometimes sacrificing her likability in order to tell the whole story. What I liked about this book, as well as what sets it apart from other similar memoirs, was its bold way of telling the story out of chronological order. In short, this book is a must read.
 A Disappointment June 14, 2009
Ginger in Los Angeles (Southern California)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A much better book that will help with Bi-polar disorder is 'Take Charge of Bi-Polar Disorder' by Julie Fast and John Preston. It not ony gives insight into symptoms, but ways to deal with the disease also.
'Manic- A Memoir' was very disappointing. If my dog hadn't chewed up the corner of it I would have sent it back to Amazon. Come to think of it, maybe I'll just let the dog keep on chewing!
Wonderfully written June 13, 2009
Dennis Fried (Florida)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an inside look at a remarkable woman who was able to lead an apparently "normal" professional life while battling mental distress of anguishing magnitude. Some emotional states are extremely difficult to render into words, but Ms. Cheney does that masterfully here.
The writing is beautiful art.
Dennis Fried Small Dog, Big Life: Memoirs of a Furry Genius
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