Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
The recipient of a Carter Center fellowship for mental health journalism, Casey has compiled a widely varied collection in which authors reckon with their personal experience of depression the "unholy ghost" to which poet Jane Kenyon famously referred. Well-known writers such as Donald Hall and Ann Beattie rub shoulders with talented newcomers like Maud Casey and Joshua Wolf Shenk in pieces that alternate between startling eloquence and the kind of vague, self-indulgent writing that turns some readers away from memoirs. Lee Stringer concludes her contribution with the revelation that "perhaps what we call depression isn't really a disorder at all, but an alarm of sorts, alerting us that something is undoubtedly wrong," while Lesley Dormen resorts to cliches ("My heart pumped dread"). Among the most engaging essays are Rose Styron's response to husband William Styron's Darkness Visible, in which she writes about comic moments that her husband, in the throes of depression, was too blue to appreciate. Responding to spouse Chase Twichell's essay, novelist Russell Banks writes that he has "learned to feel for my wife and to avoid feeling with her." As a whole, the collection is a valuable contribution to the field of depression studies, and will lend some insight and cheer to those struggling with this little-understood condition. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
This anthology will never earn a spot in library "Fast Fun Reads" displays, but given the number of people who suffer from depression and those who live with or love them, it probably deserves a place on most library shelves. Editor Casey has pulled together 22 contemporary pieces, some previously published, from different voices and perspectives, all trying to understand this devastating but elusive illness. The names you would expect are here: William Styron, Jane Kenyon, Susannah Kaysen, and Larry McMurtry, among others, with an introduction by Kay Redfield Jamison. Of particular interest are the companion pieces: Donald Hall's take on his wife, Jane Kenyon; Rose Styron on her husband; Russell Banks on his wife, Chase Twitchell; and editor Casey on her sister Maud. The dual perspective of experienced and witnessed depression is enlightening and at times frightening. Perhaps this volume should come with a warning label, for surely reading about depression can be depressing. The best of these pieces, though, like Kenyon's poems and William Styron's excerpt, overcome that pitfall with the power of their art. Recommended for public libraries. Mary Paumier Jones, Westminster P.L., CO Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Booknews
Twenty-two authors share their thoughts about depressing, probing a broad band of the illness. Lauren Slater writes on being pregnant and anti-depressants. Meri Danquah on the merging of racism and depression. Susanna Kaysen criticizes herself and other for making too much of the illness. Anne Beattie shares why she believes depression comes with the territory of being a writer. Donald Hall remembers the moody seesaw of his relationship with his wife, poet Jane Kenyon. Written for people dealing with depression, whether their own or another's. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
From The Critics
In Unholy Ghost, Nell Casey has gathered essays about depression, including many voices who explore different aspects of the depression experience, from a mother on anti-depressants to an author's despair after surgery. The diverse first-person accounts provide a range of insights on depression and its aftermath.
Kirkus Reviews
An uneven collection of 22 essays and excerpts on the subject of depression by a wide assortment of writers. Mental-health journalist Casey has assembled quite an array of luminaries—from the quasars (William Styron, Larry McMurtry, Ann Beattie) to the lesser-known, and (in some sad cases) feebler lights. Among them they manage to cast considerable light on this dark disease, revealing vast dimensions that far surpass the ability of a single word to encompass it. Many confess they have no real idea of the source of their disease. (David Karp concludes that it"arises out of an enormously complicated, constantly shifting, elusive concatenation of circumstance, temperament, and biochemistry.") Some are grateful for anti-depressant drugs; others rail against them. Some rage against psychiatric hospitals and grave treatments (like electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT), but Martha Manning calls ECT"the tractor that pulled me out of the mud." Not unexpectedly, the principal adornments are those supplied by Russell Banks (who writes with compassion and eloquence about his wife's depression), Larry McMurtry (whose personal experiences chronicled here appeared in fictional form in his Duane Is Depressed), William Styron (who observes that the illness' only virtue—if such a sanguine word be apt—is that it can be conquered), and Donald Hall (whose loving words for his late wife, the poet Jane Kenyon, are almost unbearably poignant). Casey has employed an interesting device of juxtaposition: Chase Twichell (wife of Russell Banks) writes about her lifelong loneliness; Styron's wife writes about her coping with his illness; editor Casey herself writes abouthersister'sdepression—and then novelist Maud Casey ends her sister's collection with the observation that, finally, it is practicality that holds her to the earth. There is at times a redundancy to the volume (more than one writer teaches us about serotonin), but there are quiet surprises, too—like Meri Nana-Ama Danquah's luminous essay about being black, and being depressed. Administer in small doses at sensible intervals—or expect a serious side-effect: depression.
