Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood
by Tanya Frank
Familiar Territory (3/5/2023)
As a single mother who went through early psychosis intervention with my son at fifteen, leading up to a diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia, I often have wondered how would we navigate this if he'd been older and had a taste of independence, if I'd had other children or a partner to balance, and this is definitely a variation of that story. So many little things throughout the book rang true for my lived experience, it was at times very painful to read, yet I'm glad I did. Also she makes me want to get involved in a NAMI group for families, peer to peer support is so valuable for both the consumer and the support.
Margot: A Novel
by Wendell Steavenson
Margot (1/15/2023)
It's hard to describe why a certain writing style doesn't work for one person, but may for another. This one wasn't my favorite, but I did find enough interest in the storyline to keep going, and after procrastinating at around 20 pages in, I tore through it in an afternoon. I felt a lot of emotion for the protagonist as she navigated a change of class, a quickly changing world, and tried to find herself within it's context. There are a lot of themes to reflect on within these pages, and it captured numerous aspects of the times during which my own mother was coming of age. I imagine this might be very interesting for someone who had less anecdotal knowledge of the times. I appreciate the STEM aspects. Thank you BookBrowse, for providing a review copy in exchange for my honest review.