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Let me not be mad / A. K. Benjamin.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: London, England : Bodley Heads, 2019Copyright date: ©2019Description: 213 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781847925435 (paperback)
Other title:
  • Let me not be mad : a story of unravelling minds
Subject(s): Summary: Simultaneously a memoir, a series of case-studies, a confession and a hall of mirrors, A.K. Benjamin's Let Me Not Be Mad takes the reader on a twisting psychological journey through madness, love and self-destruction. A room with two people in it. One of them is talking, the other is listening. Both of them need help. Written from a uniquely affecting and involved perspective, this is a story that begins somewhere familiar - the consulting room - but ends somewhere utterly unexpected. Through a series of intense encounters with minds on the brink, it shows how fine the line is between strange behaviour and catastrophic illness, between truth and fantasy. Then it shows what it's like to cross that line, leaving a trail of destruction in one's wake. It is a book about confronting the truth of who we are and what we have done. But it's also about confronting the darkness in us all, driving millions of us to distraction and collapse. In pursuit of its author's secrets, you will be led through a hall of mirrors, a labyrinth of stories that pin you with their energy and emotion. Along the way, you will discover that all too often madness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Non-Fiction Hakeke Street Library Non-Fiction Non-Fiction 362.2 BEN Available T00802629
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Let Me Not Be Mad is an immersive, virtuosic and provocative investigation of madness, love and self-destruction that defies categorisation.

A consulting room with two people in it. One of them is talking, the other is listening. Both of them need help.

Throughout his life, A K Benjamin has found himself drawn to extreme behaviour - as a screenwriter, a contemplative monk, a counsellor for addicts, a support-worker for gang-members and ultimately as a clinical neuropsychologist.

His bookbegins as a series of superbly realised clinical encounters with anonymised patients, some recently traumatised, some on the brink of mental collapse, others already in freefall. But with each encounter, it becomes increasingly and disturbingly apparent that what we are reading is not really about the patients at all- it is about the author's own fevered descent into mental illness and mania as he confronts his traumatic past.

Layered with twists and revelations, Let Me Not Be Mad challenges the boundary between fact and fiction to provide a thrilling drama of self-diagnosis- a hall of mirrors blazing with energy, intensity, humour and emotion. And though shockingly personal, it also reveals something deep and dark in western culture that is driving millions of us to distraction and collapse.

Includes bibliographical references (page 213)

Simultaneously a memoir, a series of case-studies, a confession and a hall of mirrors, A.K. Benjamin's Let Me Not Be Mad takes the reader on a twisting psychological journey through madness, love and self-destruction. A room with two people in it. One of them is talking, the other is listening. Both of them need help. Written from a uniquely affecting and involved perspective, this is a story that begins somewhere familiar - the consulting room - but ends somewhere utterly unexpected. Through a series of intense encounters with minds on the brink, it shows how fine the line is between strange behaviour and catastrophic illness, between truth and fantasy. Then it shows what it's like to cross that line, leaving a trail of destruction in one's wake. It is a book about confronting the truth of who we are and what we have done. But it's also about confronting the darkness in us all, driving millions of us to distraction and collapse. In pursuit of its author's secrets, you will be led through a hall of mirrors, a labyrinth of stories that pin you with their energy and emotion. Along the way, you will discover that all too often madness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

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