Manic: A Memoir

Manic

Memoirs are always an easier way to undertand mental illness. It gives you someone's reality as opposed to text book labels and diagnoses. This is both helpful for those who suffer from bipolar but would also be very helpful for family and friends.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Fantastic

Terri Cheney writes brilliantly and with frank detail. Her intimate struggle with Manic Depression is enlightening and moving. If you truly want to know what this disorder is like, just read Manic. I definitely recommend it, even if it is not always for the faint-of-heart. Great descriptions, wonderful style, and charming personality. I can't wait for more from this author.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Great book!

Very accurate portrayal of bipolar disorder.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

very interesting.

I initially read this for a school project. I didnt really know much about mnic depression but this book really kept me interested. i would recommend this book to anyone but be prepared for an impacting story. This is an eye opening book and a pretty fast read for anyone who wants to learn something new while also enjoying a good read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A must read for anyone struggling with Bipolar Disorder!

Cheney writes with illuminating prose that is lucid and riviting. I reccommend this book for anyone with Bipolar disorder or people close to those with the illness. I was refreshed to finally find a book with which I could identify unlike any before.

Such A Great Find!

While walking into Barnes and Noble three days ago, author Terri Cheney's book The Dark Side of Innocence caught my eye. After sitting in the store reading intently for two days, I finished that one and quickly found Manic. Again, I spent the last part of that day and the next day reading Manic just as intently.

Manic, unlike Dark Side which is written chronologically, is written episodically. It jumps around to different years, different episodes of depression, hypermania, and manic. But it was very easy for me to follow along.

Terri Cheney's book is so heartbreaking, eye opening, and all around enlightening to the mental illness of bipolar. Having a ten year old sister who was recently diagnosed with bipolar, I have been trying to learn everything I can so I can help her when she needs me most.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in bipolar for education reason, but especially for anyone who is bipolar or knows someone intimately who has bipolar.

Very insightful

Excellent reading :)

An Excellent Story

Terri Cheney is a beautiful writer who talks about Bipolar like it is. I myself have Bipolar and I could not describe it better myself. Cheney does a remarkable job showing the reader, not just telling. She also has a way of making certain situations funny. I especially liked the part where she talks about giving her secretary a standing order to make sure there is nothing that would remind her of death- like dead flowers. I would definitely recommend this compelling memoir! I couldn't put it down!

Sometimes You Just Never Know

Sometimes you just never know what a person is going through until you walk a mile in another person's shoes. This is one of those walks. From start to finish, this book is more than a roller coaster, it is an eye opening look into the world of someone struggling with this disease. I can only pray that others, who are faced with this affliction and their families find strength in the words.


I also recommend "When God Stopped Keeping Score." I thought that the book was just about forgiveness, I soon learned, it was about so much more. Having read it, I feel like a better person. Maybe because this book spoke to me and not down to me. I have read a lot of books that was written like I didn't know anything. What the author of "When God Stopped Keeping Score" does is talk to you like a friend. I needed that.

unusual

This book isn't written like a typical book. Its out of order and not based around dates and times and events. I see how that bothers some, but I myself am also manic-depressive and found Manic to be very identifiable. It didn't matter what happened in what order. It was very nice to read for once, how it actually feels to be bipolar as opposed to scientific/psychologocal definitions. While my own manic-depression is not quite to the same extremes as the author's, the feelings of highs and lows are the same.

Whoa!

This book was a roller coaster ride from start to finish. It's one thing to read about bi-polar disorder, but to learn about it from someone living with the "disease" is quite another. I was absorbed by this book and Terri's stories. She really helped me to understand what coping with bi-polar disorder is like, and I HIGHLY SUGGEST that anyone who has a friend, family-member, etc. that is bi-polar READ THIS IMMEDIATELY! Education is enlightenment, after all.

Boring

The book was very disorganized as is someones mind with this debiliatating disease. I found each chapter somewhat interesting, but flat.

This book gives the reader a glimpse into the manic mind

It helps you to understand some of the thought processes that lead to problems for the manic person and those around them. Very informative.

Very insightful

This extremely honest memoir provides an inside look to those suffering with bi-polar disorder. It is very informational as well as a good story.

A Look Inside

I found this book to be an enlightening "look inside" the bipolar thought process. We have a bipolar thirty-year old son, and this book gave me some incredible insight into WHY he does some of the stuff he does. I'm very appreciative of the author's willingness to share her story - it's like getting a glimpse of where our son "is".

A Fascinating Read

In MANIC, Terry Cheney grips readers by the elbow and drags them along on her wild, desperate journey. The book opens with a trip to Santa Fe where she's set on killing herself, set on jumping off the roller coaster of depression and mania. It's Christmas Eve, the first Christmas since her father's death. Her planned suicide is thwarted by a rape, of which she pieces together in disturbing broad strokes the morning after. From this opening scene, she's got the reader hooked.

In part, what makes this a fascinating read is that Cheney is well-educated (Vassar); she's a successful attorney in Southern California and she knows the stigma of mental illness in the firm can greatly damage one's career. The book shows with brutal honesty that bi-polar disorder is non-discriminating, think of it like diabetes, one may be predisposed or simply find they've been given a "bad" hand. It paved the path, in Cheney's case, from successful lawyer to Federal disability.

Each chapter finishes with an epiphany (sometimes too tidy) which gives the reader a hope (often false hope). Cheney, in places, writes with detachment--as though keeping some distance from the subject she's writing about is needed to keep from truly reliving it.

Much of her behavior is so familiar that one, whether suffering from bi-polar, alcoholism, or an eating disorder, will truly relate to. For instance, she talks about when she's in a hypomanic stage on her way to mania, she will hide behind unanswered phones and declined invitations. She was unwilling to be seen, in one case by Alex, her boyfriend, as anything other than "perfect." Sadly, who among us can't understand that fear that if we're seen for who we truly are, then others will look for the quickest exit?

Cheney describes her electroshock shock therapy experience with such detachment that it feels like she's reading off a list. A beating in jail will have the reader wincing and yet unable to look away.

I applaud Terry Cheney for her honest portrayal of her struggles and triumphs in learning to accept and live with bi-polar.

Marie Etienne
CONFESSIONS OF A BI-POLAR MARDI GRAS QUEEN

quick read...

the time sequences of this book are jumbled up, so you have to KEEP UP!!
I love reading a MEMOIR.....this one is sad, but most likely a real description of her life as she remembers it.

Terri Cheney's profound, shocking and insightful tale

Manic takes its readers on a journey through the treacherous bouts of mania and the bleak depths of depression. Terri Cheney is a prime example of how mental illness and tragedy can afflict even the brightest, most educated, wealthy and above all pristine looking individuals. As a powerful and respected entertainment lawyer, she represented high profile clients and mingled with A-list celebrities, all while keeping up the illusion of normalcy. For most people, there is no such thing as too much happiness. However, for Cheney, surges of happiness tend to foreshadow danger because they signify a descent into mania. The manic episodes become charged by bursts of unlimited energy which spurn sexual impropriety and complete lack of self control. Her portrayal of her experience with depression reveals her vulnerability and loneliness, leading to a number of suicide attempts, both spontaneous and planned. There is no chronological order to the book, as Cheney explains, because ¿life for me is not defined by time, but by mood¿. While this disjointed style takes some getting used to, it is also effective in mirroring the chaotic nature of manic depression, just as Cheney had wanted. Cheney¿s writing style is personal and inviting, as though she is recounting her tragic tales to a close friend. Many events in her life are quite shocking and the vivid descriptions of her suffering are sometimes hard to digest. Nonetheless, these stories are an important part of her past and a reality of those who must cope with manic depression. They remind us of how fragile human beings can be and that appearances are not always as they seem. Cheney¿s pain is clearly manifested throughout the novel but the humor intertwined in her narration shows a sense of acceptance and maturity. Her ability to look back upon the most excruciating years in her life with insight and understanding is remarkable. Terri Cheney should be applauded for her courage to open up to the world about her struggle with bipolar disorder. I know I am grateful to her for letting me in.

Form and function

Some reviewers have offered a complaint about the bumpy road they navigated within this narrative. One or two lamented that it wasn't what they expected. I'm guessing that this life was not what Ms. Cheney expected. She might have a couple of complaints of her own. I offer her my gratitude for sharing her story. On a less biographical and more literary note, the author forewarns readers of the format and explains the reasoning, and she is generous to do so. Using form to reflect meaning is a very basic literary technique. Poetry is a fine example. For readers complaining of the chosen format, I, as a bipolar person, affirm that she has selected an excellent method of communicating her experience. Chaos is not a story, it's a collection. Bipolar life is a life of disruption: brilliant fascinations, burnt bridges, dramatic success, crushing failure, loneliness, and stunningly beautiful interpersonal connection. Thank God for the creativity that allowed the writing of this work. Thank you, Ms. Cheney, for a tool that I can use.

Could have been better

This book was interesting at times, but I still had so many questions about the author's condition at the end of the book. She didn't talk much about her experiences, just went on and on about how she felt. The story was VERY repetitive and not at all entertaining. I don't think I learned a thing or gained any insight from her memoir.