8.8.17

BOOK REVIEW: Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon

Bryony Gordon has OCD. It's the snake in her brain that has told her ever since she was a teenager that her world is about to come crashing down. It's caused alopecia, bulimia and drug dependency. And Bryony is sick of it. Keeping silent about the illness has given it a cachet it simply does not deserve, so here she shares her story with warmth, humour and jaw-dropping honesty. 

Publisher: Headline
Pages: 308

Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon is one of the best books about mental illness that I have ever read. She writes with such honesty; she is not dressing the situation up but merely presenting it as it is, which in this genre is a refreshing change.
A very successful journalist, Bryony has suffered with depression and OCD since she was a teenager. She talks about the fact that there was not one single traumatic event that led to it but that it was as if she suddenly woke up one morning as a different person. She then goes on to chronicle how her mental illness has affected her daily life. Mad Girl is fascinating, as someone who has suffered with depression, I found it so reassuring and could identify with a number of her experiences. I love how she points out the way in which mental illness is stigmatised and often questioned; something that would never happen if it was an illness which presented in a purely physical way.
Bryony Gordon presents the devastating effect that depression can have but she also offers a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. She shows herself as a woman who has learnt to live with her illness and has sought the right help whilst also maintaining a very successful career and family life.
I urge you to read this book, it will make you look at the subject of mental illness in a different light.

2 comments:

Michelle Fluttering Butterflies said...

I'd been on the fence about this one but you've convinced me, thanks!

Dot said...

Ah I hope that you enjoy it Michelle!

All change here!

I have made the decision to stop doing written reviews on here for a little while. I shall keep this page open but for the time being I sha...