Plot Summary of Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings
"Clea Simon, the daughter and third child of a Long Island doctor and his artist wife, grew up in the shadow of two older siblings who suffered from mental illness. Her brother eventually committed suicide, her sister was in and out of institutions and eventually hid from the family. Simon describes the tremendous pressures on her as "the normal one," how the strange dynamics of her family affected her too, even as she made it to and through her father's alma mater of Harvard, and developed a career as a rock critic and free-lance writer. She also interviewed many individuals who grew up in similar circumstances and surveys the scanty research about families as a whole and the effects of mentally ill people upon their siblings. This is a brave and thoughtful book."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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Review Analysis of Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Phys disability/mental struggle?
Yes
Struggle with
- mental illness
Period of greatest activity?
- 1950+
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- journalist
Age:
- a teen
Ethnicity
- Jew
Nationality
- American (!)
How sensitive is this person?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other people
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 2 (a little)
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Century:
- 1960's-1970's
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Book makes you feel?
- concerned
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- actual description of hetero sex
Writer's slant towards subject:
- favorable
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of set of events during life
Autobiography?
Yes
Pictures/Illustrations?
- None
How much dialogue in bio?
- significantly more descript than dialog
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