Josh Greenfeld (1928–2018)

This is a moving book by Josh Greenfield, a Jewish man married to a Japanese woman, living in America in the 1960s. Their second son, Noah, seems a little slow to develop at first but gradually starts walking and talking; however he then regresses and seems to lose all his language, indulging instead in temper tantrums and repetitive actions. The family take him to doctors, psychologists, special schools... all of whom seem to have different diagnoses and advice. Autism, schizophrenia, brain damage, emotional damage, are all proposed and considered in turn.

The book is written in journal form, taken (I assume) direction from the author's personal diary. It's the kind of book that would have made a superb blog, but was written back in the days before home computers even existed. Unfortunately it was also a time when comparatively little was known about mental illness, and strategies such as gluten-free dairy-free diets were unheard of.

While little hope emerges from the book, it's a gripping account of the family's struggles to cope with daily life, to find out what exactly is wrong, to consider options for the future, to see how difficult it is to cope even with reasonable resources: how impossible it would have been for an impoverished family in the USA unable to pay for special schools, medical treatment and other assistance.… (altro)

I like stories about people dealing with mental illness. Not because I like the idea of people suffering through mental illness, but because it lets me know that I'm not alone. It also offers a different insight into some of the things I may be going through. Even though this one is a work of fiction it is still an interesting view point.

I liked Jordan for the most part. He was a bit odd, but I think that's kind of the point of the whole story. I enjoyed looking at the world through his OCD, manic depressive, somewhat humorous personality. It was an interesting point of view to say the least. A bit of the story seemed to be sensationalized - but I think that was necessary. I know when I was going through the worst of my depression (hopefully that was the worst of it) my life was not all that interesting - so to make it something worth reading there had to be some exaggeration.

My favorite aspect of the story was the humor that was strewn throughout the book. It wasn't humor as in it was making fun of mental illness - not at all. But it took some serious situations and looked at them through the eyes of someone who is able to laugh at themselves and their situations. Mental illness isn't funny, but some of the things that happen because of mental illness can be seen as humorous when reminiscing. That's more of the feel I got from this story. Jordan was reminiscing about his life and his mental illnesses and he was able to see the humor that is involved in life.

It was an entertaining story and I enjoyed the point of view.

I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for a review. This review is my truthful honest opinion.… (altro)

I read Obsessive Chronicles, in exchange for honest view via Sage Blog Tours. The book was written by Josh Greenfield. I also had responded to review the book via Book Blogs. I saw the author post on book blogs and wanted to review the book. Sage also contacted me to do the book as well. I chose the book because it dealt with mental health. I deal with mental health daily. mine and my kids. Brad is autistic and ADHD. Kalen is delayed (language, walking, and fine motor). Kalen also has petit mal seizures. Brad used to have seizures and so did I (epilepsy). I believe at times, I have ADHD because my mind wanders a little too much and sometimes I can take on more than I can bear. For example, book reviews. At first, I was taking on more books than I could read because I thought I could handle it. Then, I kept forgetting which books I was supposed to read and when. I had to create spreadsheets to remember book reviews and tours, giveaways, and blogger promotions.

My review:

The book was very descriptive. I got lost into the book quick. The book starts off with Jordan contemplating on making changes in his life. He can not get angry because he can lose control. He talks about making mistakes and learning from them. One thing I from that line-was you can't make mistakes if you are lazy and don't do anything. You have to get up and live life to make mistakes. He also discussed how he had severe obsessive compulsive disorder, which required psychiatric assistance to cope. Getting to the point where he needed help was a hard road.

At the start of the book, Jordan was in college. He was a studious individual. He stayed in the library all day to study, then found somewhere else to study once the library was closed. Jordan went to class on time and did the homework. Jordan strived on routine. When he got stressed, he would take a leave of absence. Jordan also wanted to escape and go somewhere, far, far, far away. I feel like that a lot of times. Go somewhere. Escape and come back with a fresh new attitude. He finally did escape to New York with very little of his stuff.… (altro)