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    Manic: A Memoir
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    Manic: A Memoir
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    Manic: A Memoir
    Ebook223 pages4 hours

    Manic: A Memoir

    By Terri Cheney

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    An attractive, highly successful Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer, Terri Cheney had been battling debilitating bipolar disorder for the better part of her life—and concealing a pharmacy’s worth of prescription drugs meant to stabilize her moods and make her "normal." In explosive bursts of prose that mirror the devastating mania and extreme despair of her illness, Cheney describes her roller-coaster existence with shocking honesty, giving brilliant voice to the previously unarticulated madness she endured. Brave, electrifying, poignant, and disturbing, Manic does not simply explain bipolar disorder—it takes us into its grasp and does not let go.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061747281
    Author

    Terri Cheney

    Terri Cheney, once a successful entertainment attorney representing the likes of Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, now devotes her advocacy skills to the cause of mental illness.  On the boards of directors of several mental health organizations, she also facilitates a weekly community support group at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute.  Her writings about bipolar disorder have been featured in the New York Times, the Huffington Post, and countless articles and blogs.  She currently resides in Los Angeles.  

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    Reviews for Manic

    4.5/5

    106 ratings25 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Real, raw, couldn’t put it down. Very interested to ready more of Terri’s material
    • 5/5
      riveting!! I really enjoyed it! The somewhat fragmented, whirlwind pace is just perfect for this subject. Keep writing, Teri: this was the first of many.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Very good. Insightfull

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      If the goal was to illustrate the impact that manic depression can have on the personal decisions one makes, Terri Cheney did her job. Her stories are frightening, the telling is raw. In the end the reader is relieved that she's come to terms with the condition, found a way to tame the beast.Manic: A Memoir is a rapid read. The language isn't particularly lyrical. There's nothing captivating about it, rather straight forward and in places a bit flat, like the writing had been rushed. Repetitive. Amateurish. My struggle was with the structure, not at all written in the manner of the contemporary memoir, not a mandatory thing, but having not done so I wasn't quite prepared for the jarring nature. There's not a full arch here. There are incidents in the life of a manic depressive woman. We roll from one to the next until we get to an end that makes a declaration about alcohol and caring for oneself and there you have the revelation all rolled up. This was unsatisfying. It was Virginia Woolf who wrote about the two "I's" of a memoir, the "I" now and the "I" then. How does the "I" now, the writer "I" understand the "I" then? I didn't get the sense that Cheney much asked herself that question so that this reader wondered about her depth of understanding. This is not a valuable book for someone seeking information about manic depression. If that was Cheney's intent, she missed the mark. It was more a string of snapshots depicting what can occur when one lacks stability. For those who are living with manic depression, they already know that.

      4 people found this helpful

    • 2/5
      she has been misdiagnosed. she suffers from narcissistic personality disorder... it's all about me, me, me...to the point it gets very boring.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Terri Cheney is one of my favorite authors. She shares her most personal emotions while dealing with bi-polar disorder. Having the disease myself, she confidentaly has shown that even the worst episodes can be overcome, which encourages me I am so glad she finally has stability in her life.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The most comprehensive and home-hitting memoir about bipolar disorder that I've read. A definite read for any with the illness or friends of someone who is bipolar.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Amazing! Exactly what it feels like with every chapter. The understanding that comes from knowing yourself and accepting your disease.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Terri Cheney provides a raw, unflinching account of her mental illness, specifically the manic states of her bipolar disorder. Told in brief, non-chronological order chapters, the memoir mimics the unpredictability and jarring nature of mania, leaving the reader slightly unmoored.One of Cheney’s stated goals is to reduce the stigma of mental illness. She illustrates the lengths that those suffering from mental illness go to in order to hide their disease from colleagues, friends, and strangers. She also shows that once she shares her “secret” she finds more support and understanding than she expected. More factual information about bipolar disorder would have been nice. Placing Cheney’s illness and behavior in context and along a continuum would have been more educational. As a memoir, this book provided good insight into Cheney’s most extreme episodes and behaviors. However, readers should not assume that Cheney’s experience is typical of all manic depressives. A disclaimer to this fact would have been appreciated.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I hate this book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Wow!!!! This book completely grabbed me. I've know a few people in my life that I could relate this story to and it was like getting struck by a hammer. I can't begin to say I understand now what someone with this illness goes through but, this book sure helped me understand some things. I couldn't put it down and finished it in a few hours. I definitely would recommend to anyone needing a understanding of this disorder.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I need a dozen copies of this book. She captured so many of the feelings so well that everyone who loves me needs to read this. I kept nodding along going "yes, exactly! Oh thanks the gods I'm not alone!"So many of the books written about individual bipolar patients are about the extreme cases, this one is about those of us who can pass when we want to. Thank you, Terri, thank you thank you a thousand times for writing this.If you know or are a manic-depressive, please do yourself the favor of getting your hands on a copy of this book. Graspable language and honest admissions make this book a must read for the loved ones who suffer along with us, and frank descriptions of mood shifts and her own truth make this one a must read for those of us whose brain chemistry causes the suffering.I want to mark this with highlighters and make all those who care for me read it, she spoke my truth better than I've been able to in so many places.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Very interesting memoir of a woman with bipolar disorder. I've read other memoirs of depressives, but this may be the first one I've read that goes into the mindset of a person in a manic phase. Really terrifying. I've seen close up depression in its depths. While that's a dismal state, it strikes me that it doesn't come close to the insanity of a manic on a mission.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      I recently read this memoir and frankly, found it to be poorly written and confusing. There was not a continuous narrative, rather the chapters seemed to be incoherently strung together. I found it very frustrating to read, not knowing in what stage of the author's life I was placed at the beginning of each chapter. I would not recommend this to a curious reader. There are other, better, memoirs on mental illness and manic depression.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      A very gripping, in-depth look inside the life of someone suffering from manic depression. The narrative style was a bit disjointed and at times repetitive, but overall worth the read if you are interested in this subject or just curious as to what manic depression feels like. I think I would have enjoyed it a bit more if the story had been told in some type of order, but I understand why the author chose to tell the story the way she did. By the end you feel like you've read a bunch of short stories, rather than an actual cohesive memoir.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I love that Elmore Leonard spent the time he did in fictional Arizona, producing short, good and satisfying stories.
    • 4/5
      Most of these were written in the 1950s and 1960s, with the last three stories written after the late 1980s. Leonard drafts a compelling plot, and his style carries the stories along rapidly. It's interesting to see the implicit attitude towards Native Americans and characters of color generally shift; the early stories casually deploy racist tropes (which is not to argue that Leonard was racist, in fact I suspect he wasn't even early on) - but the native characters are often stereotypes, vicious degenerates or noble savages. The later stories show a much more sensitive interest in the experience of racial injustice from the perspective of the native or black American.
    • 4/5
      Join Terri Cheney in her bouts of manic-depression. Fly with her when she is manic, and flirts with the partners of her best friends; shop with her when she cleans out her savings accounts; when ever cell of her body is on fire; and then when she decends into hell and join her in her many suicide attempts or when she is suffering from malnutrition. This is the closest I ever want to come to this awful disease!
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      (3.5 stars) I'm a big fan of mental illness memoirs and other books about mental health issues, so I was excited when "Manic" came out. It looked really interesting. It was a pretty good read. It held my attention, which can be difficult sometimes, because I get distracted easily. The writing is easy rather than fantastic and sometimes I feel it is a little lacking in depth or explanation of the author's actual feelings during her emotion states. Sometimes her descriptions are a bit repetitive as well as when she describes the hair raising on her arms. I think the author is still a bit hidden in regards to her mental illness. However, I think this is a book worth reading and one I wouldn't want to miss. It is a good addition to the spectrum of mental health memoirs out there and I would ultimately recommend it.
    • 4/5
      A captivating look inside the mind of a bright and successful young woman living with manic depression. Brilliantly captures the sparkle and despair, and the places in-between where she struggles to find balance. A gritty and fascinating story, well-told and ultimately hopeful; required reading for anyone wanting to better understand this disease and the people who live with it.
    • 4/5
      Terri Cheney writes with skillful and evocative prose an unflinching, candid travelogue of her mind's landscape as her extreme bi-polar mood swings hold her life and her personal dreams hostage. In the depths of her despair, she is suicidal. But when she is manic, she says "I may think you are fascinating . . . I already know that I am fabulous." Yet as she develops a greater awareness of her illness, she learns to recognize the warning signs of when she is tipping into a more extreme phase -- and she describes the mental effort and strategems she employs to keep herself from crossing that line. If she just keeps swiveling in her chair, she can keep the torrent of manic words at bay.The author's approach of describing vignettes of her life out of chronological order was effective in conveying a sense of being adrift -- out of place, out of time -- without the usual cues and structure that we take for granted in our lives.Cheney ends on a positive note, describing a poignant moment when she makes a conscious decision to let go of alcohol -- a step toward greater mastery over her illness. The reader is left with the impression that she can better manage her illness and has found a career path better tailored to her. Like other reviewers, I found myself wanting to know more about that -- I wanted more of a sense of closure -- but perhaps that was deliberate, and indeed consistent with her overall approach, if the author continues to live in the Land of Uncertainty.
    • 4/5
      This memoir was written not in chronological order, but in brief, powerful bursts that detail the author's harrowing life with manic depression. Some of the episodes described are shocking, like her arrest and her time in a mental institution. They come alive with detail and emotion and you feel as if you are watching Terri as she goes through these experiences. You feel her pain of trying to find a relationship with a person who not only can deal with the fact that she is a manic depressive, but realizes that it is an integral part of who she is. I am amazed that someone in the depths of depression or in the height of mania could manage to retain a high powered job as a lawyer. I guess it's a testimony to the strength of her character. I would reccomend this novel to anyone who's suffered from a mental illness, known someone who's suffered, or just to someone who has felt lost in the world.
    • 3/5
      Cheney's details her struggle with manic depression through a series of non-chronological chapters. She explains at the start that this more truthfully mirrors her life as she has experienced it. It does, however, result in some repetition in the chapters that may or may not have been a result of the editing. For example, in a number of chapters, Cheney describes how acute each sense becomes during mania. The descriptions do not differ much from chapter to chapter although the situations do. That said, it's comforting to read about another person's experience of mental illness, how that intersects with social relationships and work. While each person's experiences are unique, Cheney's memoir sheds light on her experience and hopefully will help some of it's readers feel more "normal" and less alone. Manic is interesting and honest.
    • 3/5
      This is a very fast read, and Cheney offers incredibly vivid descriptions of what it is like to be in both manic and depressed states. Readers will quickly be swept up in the horror and confusion of Cheney's experiences, but overall the book lacks a certain amount of cohesion and organization. Cheney's intention in offering her experiences out of chronology and in an almost stream-of-consciousness manner seems to be to keep the reader as unbalanced as she is. This works, but unfortunately it also keeps the reader from gaining much in the way of understanding the practical fallout of the experiences she describes. For example, she describes in great detail how, under the influence of a delicious mania, she seduced her best friend's boyfriend -- but the reader doesn't get much in terms of the long-term consquences. We're left to assume that it ruined the friendship, but this is never stated outright. Similarly, I found myself repeatedly wondering how exactly Cheney supported herself after apparently going on many manic shopping sprees, enduring repeated hospitalizations, and losing (or quitting) several high-powered legal jobs. Ultimately, there is a slight impression that Cheney's life is now more under control than it once was, but there are very few details explaining how this finally came to be.Overall, I recommend it as an excellent read for someone who wants to know what it feels like to be manic-depressive, but I would not recommend it as essential reading for someone who is coping with the disease, nor would I recommend it as an informational resource.