Manic: A Memoir Reviews

• Captivating look into the mind of someone with manic-depression

  
  By AK7CAW3N1XZV6 on 2008-02-05
  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.
  
  

• Accurate And Hopeful

  
  By A1U360OMVQRPUB on 2008-03-22
  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.
  
  
  

• A Million Little Piecesesque memoir of mania

  
  By A2E3GFHUDNPYDH on 2008-02-29
  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.
  
  

• touched with fire

  
  By A3TSQDB8WIWM4U on 2008-02-06
  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

  
  By AE78SKFFAF6Z0 on 2008-02-06
  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.
  
  
• An Inside Look of What Hypomania and Mania Really Feel Like
  By A956MSO7QTRCM on 2008-02-05
  Terri Cheney does an outstanding job of describing what hypomania and mania really feel like from the perspective of someone with bipolar disorder - herself. The book intentionally skips around, as Cheney relates some of the most memorable hypomanic and manic incidents from her life.
  
  My wife has bipolar disorder, and many of the situations that Cheney describes ring true with my own observations and the way my wife describes her own manic mood episodes.
  
  Cheney's writing style is superb, bringing each scene to life and moving the book along at a rat-a-tat-tat manic pace. I couldn't put it down.
  
  As co-author of Bipolar Disorder for Dummies
  and someone who has a loved one with bipolar disorder, I highly recommend this book. Those who have experienced bipolar mania will find comfort in her words, and friends and family of people with bipolar disorder will gain a deeper understanding and acceptance of their loved ones.
  
  
  
  
• is anyone who read/reviewed this actually bipolar??
  By A2B9Z22GKKS7CM on 2008-03-03
  i can't write this review without feeling angry. terri cheney reinforces every negative stereotype of bipolar illness. i'm glad she begins the book stating that the events were AS SHE REMEMBERS THEM, otherwise i'd have to call this complete fiction. her irresponsibility with her meds, accidental suicide attemps, oh so scary mental patient stories (locked down with keys? come on, this isn't 1962, they use velcro to restrain you these days) make those of trying valiantly to survive and live responsible lives while dealing with actual bipolar disorder look like idiots. I recommend AN UNQUIET MIND by Kay Redfield Jamison, one of the most personally influential books i've ever read (after underlining and highlighting every page i realized i was going to die if i did not get proper help, every page was 'this is me'). give this honest no-nonsense read to your cousin, friend, etc. An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
  
  
• Terrific read, nakedly honest
  By AGP3BZP3LRSAD on 2008-02-14
  I love this book so much I'm buying it for all my friends in book clubs and for a close relative who is manic-depressive. Because of Manic, I finally understand him on a gut level.
  
  I have to confess I would not have bought it just to be informed about bi-polar disease. I bought it because it's a terrific read. I was hooked from the first sentence, "I didn't tell anyone that I was going to Santa Fe to kill myself." I stayed riveted all the way through one of the most chilling and nakedly honest first chapters I've ever read. If this were a novel, I might call it a literary thriller.
  
  Terri Cheney passes my test for a good writer: she made me laugh and cry. The book is beautifully written, complex, and uncompromisingly frank. Readers are led by a sane guide that almost belies the dangerous places we are taken, like jail and a padded cell. She balances out the most gut-wrenching scenes with relatable humanity and a dry wit that always charms.
  
  Even at the end, when she finds some sanity and balance in her life, she is uncompromisingly honest about the solution: "I didn't miss the life. But, God, how I sometimes missed the lie."
  
  
  
  
  
• Bipolars stabilied on lithium ...
  By A2UNDKPT0OXS83 on 2008-03-26
  Ms. Cheney is no stranger as an entertainment lawyer to Hollywood and her episodic, sensational way of writing seems to be aimed at a future script and movie. She is a former attorney who did Appellate work. Yet she portays herself as a hopeless victim due to the craziness of being bipolar. She is always on the pity pot even while stealing her best friends's boyfriend. When she does wrong she explains it away as the mania and grandiosity of her genetic condition. Manic, a Memoir is pure hype and makes the condition of being bipolar seem hopeless and also character disordered. This is my biggest problem with this book. I was fortunate enough to be diagnosed bipolar over twenty five years ago. I make it work for me by understanding the importance of lithium and other medication and by trying to be honest most of all with myself, no easy feat. Manic, a Memoir is a sell out that does nothing to advance the importance of medication in managing a bipolar condition. It is not sensational to take medication daily the way a diabetic takes insulin but it works and no, it does not take away the creative edge to write.
  A better understanding of being bipolar and much well written is "An Unquiet Mind" by Kay Redfield Jamison who is a bipolar who came out of the closet. She co-authored with Frederic Goodwin, the classic text used in all medical schools, "Manic Depressive Illness".
  
  Manic, a Memoir fits into the worse of the stereotypes concerning what it is to be bipolar and contributes to the prejudices and discrimination that bipolars even highly functioing ones on medication must face. Discrimination against disabilities expecially affective disorders is the last great civil rights movement. Most of us fear coming out of the closet and with good reason. Ms. Cheney's owes society but more importantly other bipolar's a second book that can hopefully right the record on how given time medication can work and one can still be creative, functional and even joyful......but not MANIC.
  
  
  
  
  
• waste of money
  By A2UOAZVG9UA0EL on 2008-04-02
  I was very disappointed in this book. I think I purchased it after seeing
  a glowing review in People Magazine. (First mistake). I couldn't even
  finish this book and cannot understand all the five star reviews unless
  the readers do NOT have bipolar disorder and enjoyed what they thought
  was an "insight" into the carnival life of mental illness. I am bipolar
  and this book was like a tawdry Bridget Jones Diary of a former Hollywood
  lawyer. The constant thread throughout the book is her own ego------I
  am brilliant, I made it in Los Angeles as a high powered entertainment
  lawyer, I am one hot chick (hey, I saw the photo on the book sleeve???)
  a childish whining about her love for her father, sex, sex, sex,---let's
  take full advantage of that symptom...It is written like a made for TV
  movie which can star any D list actress. No real insight, no sympathy
  for the writer...It reminded me of the book Smashed-Story of a drunken
  girlhood by Koren Zailckas. Another "diary" of a brainy heroine who goes
  wrong but manages to make it to a publisher to spew their daily tripe
  ------if you have OCD you will be trying to push out the negative thoughts about both these writers ( oh why, oh why didnt their suicide
  attempts work? ) These "memoirs' cannot touch the writing in "A Million
  Little Pieces". If you want to know about bipolar, stick to "An Unquiet
  Mind" and read actress Patty Duke's book about it.
  
  
• Not as deep as a movie of the week
  By A2YSR1GDPOLRU4 on 2008-04-16
  I read this book hoping it might prove worth passing on to family members as an insightful look at one person's struggle with bipolar disorder, since I was diagnosed with the same condition more than a decade ago and explaining it (without actually writing my own book) is nearly impossible. But Cheney's egomania (I can't count the number of times she referenced her beautiful red hair or how thin she is) is so pervasive, it takes away from her credibility when addressing a condition whose extremes overwhelm any sense of vanity. Her descriptions of suicide attempts are more about dramatic presentation than what triggers the death wishes. And even in retrospect, with the aid of proper medication, Cheney seems proud of her claims that she was a virtual Joan Collins when manic, captivating and seducing any man who crossed her wicked path. I'm not saying she's the new James Frey, exactly, but I'm not buying it, either. And I sure hope people don't use this as a resource for learning about bipolar disorder, since they'll wind up thinking we're all self-indulgent, spoiled brats. Too much pomp, not enough circumstance.
  
  
  
• A superior work of literature
  By A2PWMH0V08ZYGJ on 2008-02-07
  Terri Cheney's Manic is an often chilling, sometimes humorous, and always poignant story of one person's battle to keep life's demons at bay. Written episodically to reflect the mood swings of bipolarism, the narrative nevertheless takes us on a coherent journey of growth, understanding, and ultimately, triumph. But quite apart from the importance of the subject matter is the quality of the writing itself. Manic stands alone as a superior literary work. Cheney has a remarkable facility to craft the language essential to our understanding of her manic-depression. When the author speaks of "the sagging spine of the old city pressing against the sleek curves of the new," she's not only describing Santa Fe, New Mexico, but also conveying the contrasts at work in her own life. She describes the hypomanic phase of her illness as "the terrors of being happy." After a sudden mood change, rain that "once felt like kisses against the skin" later "stung like whips against an open wound." In short, even apart from the important story it tells, Manic is a significant literary accomplishment.
  
  
• Manic: a Memoir
  By A22IV7EULT9SOK on 2008-02-12
  Manic depression has littered human history with tragic cases of unfulfillment. Terri Cheney's book charts her passage from perplexity through diagnosis to transformation, by means of episodes, by turns - owing to the nature of the disease - delirious and harrowing, of ecstasy and crippling depression. Cheney has survived a disease that kills (it's a loss to us all that we'll never know of what Jimi Hendrix was truly capable, nor Kurt Cobain). I look forward to her next book.
  
  Such a book, which puts its writer in the teeth of the gale of a lamentably misunderstood disease, should not, in one's lifetime, go unread.
  
  
• "What Fresh Hell Is This"
  By A2W1TK5CJXKH5U on 2008-03-23
  The title of this review is borrowed from the title of the biography of Dorothy Parker, a great poet, short story writer and critic. She was perhaps one of the most famous depressives ever to live. She tried to kill herself 3 times and failed every time. Ms. Cheney has her beat. She seems to have tried at least 5 times, and she too, failed every time.
  
  Describing Manic-Depression or Bi-Polar disorder as the DSM-IV calls it, is a challenge. Ms. Cheney does it in a most unique manner. Instead of trying to describe the disorder, the disease, she tells how she lived her life as a manic-depressive. The story is compelling and difficult to put down once the reader starts it. It is about a 4 to 5 hour read and keeps you coming back for more every page.
  
  Her presentation is not chronological, but it is pieces of a life, put together in an order that she remembers, not always with total clarity, but with precision of its own right. Her descriptions of how the disease affected her ability to do her job as an entertainment and intellectual property attorney is beautifully interwoven with the horror of the disease that she carried around with her every single day of her life.
  
  Her particular brand of manic-depressive was severely debilitating and intensely bi-polar. Her manic highs were extraordinarily high and her depressive lows were incredibly low. She would sleep for days, and when she was not sleeping, she would eat and eat and eat, no matter what. She would eat baking soda by the box, coffee, cereal with no milk, anything just to fill her stomach with something that would stave off the craving for food. This is not necessarily how depressives react. Many depressives lose all appetite when they are highly depressed. Many depressives do attempt suicide, and many even succeed. But Manic-Depressives are a breed of their own. The vacillation between the two states is an excruciating existence.
  
  The disease is more prevalent than most people realize in society today. While there is a genetic disposition for the disease, it is not always expressed in the same way as it appears in the parents or grandparents. But Ms. Cheney's version is perhaps one of the worst manifestations of the disease. As time goes on, and people become more familiar with the existence of the disorder, it comes to pass, that most people have some connection to manic-depression. If they don't have it themselves, they know someone close who does. The book is truly recommended for all people who wish to try and understand how the disease affects the life of those people afflicted with it. It is truly the best story of life with Manic-Depression that I have read ever. I highly recommend it to anyone who has it, and anyone who knows someone close who has it. It is truly a well considered and well presented piece of work.
  
  
  
• Reading this was like work
  By A1ZKGSDVP057L9 on 2008-05-06
  I couldn't finish this book. It became like an unpleasant job I had to do, then I decided life's too short to keep reading. The book has no plot. It's just a series of unrelated crazy incidents that sound, I'm afraid to say, unlikely. Author Terri Cheney wants to be a writer, not the lawyer she is, so she is writing away here. We have adjectives, adverbs and metaphors galore. It is too much "writing" and not enough story. I can't understand why this was a best seller.
  
  
• Manic- What's the Fuss?
  By A1O582RGWREM5I on 2008-04-09
  Manic is nothing spectacular and I felt that it was written to cash in on the hype of mental diseases. The author focuses too much on her romantic escapades and not enough of her battles with mental illness. If you want a raw, engaging book to learn about mental illness, I recommend Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel. That book takes you into the mind of someone who is suffering from depression. Manic barely scratches the surface and the author seems to be a narcissist. It's hard to sympathize or relate to her because she's overly confident and has nothing remarkable to say that I haven't already heard about mental illness.
  
  
• An old friend of Terri's
  By A36OKI12ZHZTDL on 2008-04-23
  20 years ago, I worked with Terri. We also socialized together, with our boyfriends (and yes, we did refer to them as the "Gatsby couple"). She was indeed beautiful, intelligent, well-educated, but also very private, mercurial and "eccentric." It crossed my mind back then that perhaps she had an eating disorder, because it would have explained some of her behavior.
  
  Over the years, mutual friends kept me informed of Terri even as they acknowleged that it wasn't easy to stay in touch with her. Most attributed her lack of communication to being busy with her job.
  
  Then I read "Manic" -- in one sitting -- and the pieces fell into place. Her story is heartbreaking and harrowing and I applaud her courage in writing it.
  
  
• A Little Introspection Please
  By AJZEANIM8QBYS on 2008-04-08
  Why did I read MANIC? Because I enjoy learning from memoirs. Why did Terri Cheney write MANIC? I don't exactly know, but I do know one thing: it didn't appear she wrote to learn more about herself. Beginning to end, Cheney was smug about what she could get away with while in her manias, and, to her credit, that's not an unusual facet of mania. But she's writing from a level spot now, I hope. She was totally unconvincing about the depths of her depressions. Yes, she was suicidal, but writing the words doesn't necessarily make what she said believable. Although a skillful writer, Cheney might have come across better if she'd been willing/able to use introspection to tell her story. And she almost did when she told of her father's distrust of medication and his disappointment that she took it. If she'd used that strand of information and related how it affected her, she might have produced a compelling, and less entertaining, book.
  
  Go ahead and read MANIC, but first read AN UNQUIET MIND by Kay Redfield
  Jamison, and BIPOLAR DISORDER: INSIGHTS FOR RECOVERY by Jane
  Mountain. They'll tell you this disorder is NOT fun.
  
  
  
  
• Best book on bipolar illness I've read
  By ADDZH4EW5NTTP on 2008-03-21
  Another reviewer, who did not enjoy this book, asked if anyone who is actually bipolar had really liked it. Definitely! I have been diagnosed since I was 19 and have read, over the past three decades, a large number of books by doctors, therapists and, increasingly lately, patients. This one is by far the best and the most fascinating of any of the books so far.
  
  The main thing that sets it apart is it's very well-written. It almost seems like a novel at times, though of course it's even more interesting because it's true. And yes, I do believe the strange anecdotes that Cheney retells are true. Mania can be quite an adventure. Depression can be quite a nightmare.
  
  Telling her story in episode form, and without regard to time sequence, was a good decision. There is no need to tell this kind of tale in a standard chronological format, like a regular autobiography. What is interesting are the individual episodes, the high points and low points, and I liked the way the book jumped around to different parts of her life. It was not confusing at all.
  
  I read the book in three days and was compelled to keep returning to it. Many of her experiences matched my own, especially dealing with bipolar illness on the job, hypersexuality, and clashes with insensitive and sometimes brutal police officers who have no training to know how to handle manics. This book simply hit a more responsive chord with me than any other memoir of this type that I have read. I kept thinking, "The same thing happened to me!"
  
  She has a sense of humor, even about horrible memories. Plus, her intense honesty is captivating and unrelenting. She seems to hold nothing back, laying bare the details of her life even though they are painful, strange and sometimes embarrassing. You have to give her credit for opening up about all these events and feelings for the world to see. I am not sure I could.
  
  I highly recommend this book for anyone who has the disorder, their friends and families, and everyone else who wants to understand what it really feels like to have this illness. All in all, it's a sad book because it describes her many struggles and disappointments, but it also is hopeful and encouraging, because she has lived on and triumphed. She is now helping many, many people. That is an accomplishment indeed, and a truer one than anything she could have accomplished as an entertainment lawyer.
  
  
• Beverly Hills' Disease of the Week-
  By ATOM3R33LV089 on 2008-05-31
  Meet Terri Chaney-Beverly Hills lawyer-Manic but oh so chic. She describes in little scenes all her manic "adventures". It's an extremely self serving-self promoting-oh poor me-I'm so pathetic tale-but I'm a totally chic lawyer in Beverly Hills. I couldn't even finish it. Yick. Terri's just looking for a captive audience to hear herself speak. I had not the slightest bit of sympathy for her. Oh did I mention Beverly Hills? Over and over...yes we get it Terri...you're chic lawyer in Beverly Hills...with a "problem". Yawn....
  
  Don't bother to read. P. U.
  
  
• Hard to believe
  By A36R9O73KBLCHP on 2008-06-26
  Here's what I got from this book: if you're really, really beautiful, you can make enough money and friends during the manic phase to carry you through the depressive one, where even if you call in sick for weeks at a time and refuse to answer your phone, you won't lose your high-paying, highly competitive job. Yeah, right. I was left with so many unanswered questions from the many disjointed and confusing episodes. This book is a frustrating read and hard to believe.
  
  
• Thrilling and devastating
  By A2X2JOW72OJCJ2 on 2008-02-09
  An amazing ride. Shows the allure of losing your mind, letting go of all fear. What if there were no boundaries?
  
  Also shows that if you cross those boundaries - intentionally or not - the journey back is as frightening as the journey there is thrilling.
  
  I can't imagine how the author found the words that allowed us a peak inside...Like she observed it and lived it at the same time.
  
  
• a must read!
  By A3TN0F1W6AWG65 on 2008-02-12
  I read this book in one sitting -- I was completely taken in by the humanity of the story and the courage of the author. This is a beautifully rendered portrait of a woman finding her way through an unspeakable illness, and I was there with her every step along the way. A unique, thrilling and satisfying story, and unlike any account of mental illness, this is a soul laid bare to the vulnerabilities of life. It is a triumph, and I highly recommend it.
  
  
• Terry Cheney is a True Hero
  By A3GQFWMJHRP7XL on 2008-06-27
  I applaud Terri Cheney for the courage she has shown in living and surviving a personal nightmare of a life with manic-depression. By the end of the book, she seems to have found medications that keep her mostly stable, and I hope that continues. Ms. Cheney's prose is vivid and powerful. It makes me wince to think she actually went through all of this mental and physical turmoil. Hopefully, this book will increase public understanding of mental illness and encourage the medical field to keep working for more effective treatments. Another excellent book I read about manic depression is "His Bright Light: The Story of Nick Traina" by Danielle Steel - the famous author. It is Ms. Steel's eulogy and toast to her son Nick, who was manic depressive, and tragically took his life when he was only in his teens. Warning -- Ms Steel's memoir is a real tear jerker. But attention needs to be given to mental illness, so we can better help and suppport the many who are afflicted. I hope Ms. Cheney continues to write and publish, and am so glad she escaped the horrible plastic lawyer life she was subjected to for so long.
  
  
• Compelling Exploration of a Fascinating Subject
  By AE3UBHBGD31R on 2008-02-09
  I don't typically write reviews but I feel constrained to share my enthusiasm for Ms. Cheney's illuminating study. MANIC is a compelling page turner, beautifully constructed and artfully crafted to envelop the reader in Ms. Cheney's bipolar world. It is a tremendously well-written book which perfectly captures the disorder by laying the author's mental state bare with an honesty and self-knowledge that is at once painful and illuminating to experience. In short, it represents a "must read" for anyone whose life is touched in any way by manic depression--a potential readership that likely comprises the majority of the population.
  
  
• A must read
  By AUICK2BKIPZ5B on 2008-02-19
  Terri Cheney's "Manic" is a must read for anyone who has a family member with Bipolar. I just bought my niece a copy. It will help lift the spirits of anyone who suffers from this depression. Outstanding book.
  
  Editor of Michele Cozzens' award winning women's fiction A Line Between Friends
  
  
• outstanding
  By A9HDTFIY4ZLN1 on 2008-02-21
  Eloquently rendered and stunningly real - take it from someone who has walked the same road.
  
  
• Did not met my expectations whatsoever.
  By A2TFHD8YI0OA2J on 2008-04-19
  I too have bipolar disorder, and was disappointed by this book. It was really hard to follow. I ended it feeling helpless and panicky. I found it very triggering.
  
  
• A caricature
  By AKBJ7PAUJUQ3U on 2008-05-04
  Terri Cheney makes the point that bipolar disorder is a prevalent and serious mental illness that can be damaging and disruptive to anyone who is touched by this condition. Ms.Cheney is indeed a gifted writer. However, her descriptions and stories were so incredibly crafted, the storytelling so elevated, that it undermined any sense of credibility. It left me with the impression that the stories were probably embellished. It was more of a caricature than a memoir. Our family has been deeply affected by bipolar disorder. I read as much as I can on the subject for better understanding. It is unfortunate, but I cannot recommend this to anyone who is seriously trying to broaden their understanding and insight into this condition.
  
  
• The Journey
  By A1503RNKNWJL8Q on 2008-06-04
  In reading this memoir I saw a lot of my wife in the pages of torment and in the roller coaster ride of mania and depression. My wife committed suicide in 2006 and Terri Cheney offers loved ones and other lay persons an insight into the mind of a person suffering from bi-polar disease.
  
  Thanks Terri.
  
  

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