The Edge Of Every Day: Sketches of Schizophrenia
by Marin Sardy
due 5-21-2019
Pantheon
5.0 / 5.0

This is a fantastic memoir! Absorbing and compelling, told with amazing candor, insight and understanding, I thought this was amazing and totally enjoyed it.

Marin Sardy´s struggle to understand her mother and her brothers diagnosis of schizophrenia, and her deep desire to be able to communicate with them were incredible and inspiring. Her support made a difference in their lives. The way in which she shares her experiences and interactions really give a clear and concise picture of the nature of the illness. I learned so much, and saw so many examples of how stereotyping and misconception have made this illness so elusive and hard to grasp.
Thank you for sending this awesome ARC for review.
#netgalley #TheEdgeOfEveryDay

When only a young girl, Marin Sardy’s mother began exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia, though she never admitted to a problem and therefore was never diagnosed or treated. She did however, keep foil on the end of the television antennas and was so fearful of assassins she barricaded the door at night and often took the children to sleep in a motel.

Her parents got divorced, and her father bought the house next door so they could easily share custody, but he never discussed his ex-wife’s mental health. At times, Marin thought she was the one who had a problem. No one else was talking about it, so maybe her mother was the sane one.

By the time her little brother Tom reached his twenties, the family still wasn’t talking about mental health, but they had to acknowledge that the “shapeless thief” that stole their mother had set his eyes on Tom as well.

In The Edge of Everyday, Sardy combines innovative slices of writing to explore the illness that stalked her family and how it affected her and her other family members, particularly her father. She also reaches into the past to see how tendrils of genetic code of previous generations might have influenced the present and so to the future.

The chapters or essays in the volume take on different forms. Some are list, such as strange things Sardy has encountered. Another is a list of responses of family members--siblings, aunts, her father, her grandmother--to her mother’s symptoms. So striking is the repetition of hopelessness and lack of understanding evident in the “I don’t know”s in their reflections. Another chapter is told in “loops” of time.

The writing is lovely and raw, showing how mental illness echoes in a family, a group of friends, and a community. Sardy also frequently calls attention to the inadequate institutions available for those suffering from mental health issues which keeps them from getting the individualized treatment they need.

Though the chapters have diverse subjects, from Sardy’s teenage gymnastics career to her David Bowie-inspired wardrobe in her twenties and her relationship with wicca, the theme of walking the line between mental health and mental illness winds through them giving them a cohesiveness. Only one chapter, “Dades Gorge,” seemed out of place, and I am slightly mystified as to why it was included. Also, after Tom began exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia, Sardy focuses on him and puts aside the thread of her mother; I would have liked their stories as they affected Sardy to be more integrated.

The Edge of Schizophrenia cuts deeply and though the story is often painful, it reveals in beautiful prose a family’s struggle with this mental illness that is still often misunderstood. The book will appeal to those who enjoy readings memoirs as well as anyone who desires an intimate account of living with a family member having this condition.