A psychoanalyst uses storytelling to explore the complex and, for some women, all-consuming and difficult mother-daughter relationship. The prolific Chernin (My Life as a Boy, 1997; In My Father’s Garden, 1996; Crossing the Border, 1994; etc.) envisions the psychological life of women as made up of seven stages: idealizing the mother, seeing her from a new perspective and revising the idealized image, blaming the mother and feeling rage toward her, forgiving her, identifying with her, letting go of the attachment to her, and finally taking one’s life into one’s own hands. This latter stage is marked by a breakthrough moment that Chernin calls “giving birth to one’s mother.” The symbolic new mother can now give birth to the daughter’s new self, and thus is established a new mother-daughter relationship. To illustrate these stages, Chernin has created characters based loosely on real women she has known. The storytelling format varies: Sometimes Chernin introduces a character and has her tell her own mother-daughter story; sometimes Chernin narrates; sometimes Chernin and the storyteller interact in a dialogue. Yet there is a certain sameness to six of the seven stories—their main characters, whether abused, neglected, or controlled, seem to be singularly obsessed with their mothers. Only in the seventh, in which a mother recounts the ordeal of her daughter’s chaotic wedding preparations, does a bit of life-restoring humor emerge. Chernin presents her own mother and daughter in a banal epilogue that unintentionally raises the question of how differently those two might have written their scenes. Readers who identify with intense and troubled mother-daughter relationships may find Chernin’s views on women’s psychological development plausible and these accounts sympathetic and engrossing; others may find themselves muttering, “Get a life!”
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-88096-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1998
A well-aimed blast at the recovered memory movement that exposes the roots of false memory syndrome and the reasons for the acceptance and persistence of the phenomenon. Wassil-Grimm, a writer and media commentator on family psychology (How To Avoid Your Parent's Mistakes When You Raise Your Children, not reviewed) outlines the dispute between those who believe claims that forgotten memories of childhood sexual abuse can be recovered and those who reject claims of such recovered memories as false. She effectively demolishes the arguments, especially the statistics, of the believers, and urges all therapists to look critically at their assumptions and methods. Wassil-Grimm has mastered the exposÇ and self-help formulas, that is, she writes clearly, includes lots of case studies loaded with human interest to reinforce her arguments, and hammers them home by ending each chapter with a concise summary of the points made in it. There are helpful lists of tips for therapists, for those in or seeking therapy, and for the families of those falsely accused of sexual abuse. Throughout the book she raises the question of why anyone would believe they'd been sexually abused by a parent if it were not true, and each time she returns to the question she provides an additional answer. Thus she is able to conclude with a list of 16 persuasive explanations. Two related phenomena—the willingness of many therapists to believe quite fantastic reports of recovered memories of satanic ritual abuse and the startling increase in reports by therapists of patients with multiple personality disorder (considered a psychological defense against abuse)—come under Wassil-Grimm's skeptical eye. This is a welcome addition to recent literature on the subject (see Making Monsters, p. 1105, and The Myth of Repressed Memory, p. 908). Strongly recommended. Succeeds both as an exposÇ of a dangerous fad and as a survival guide for its victims.
Pub Date: Feb. 20, 1995
ISBN: 0-87951-572-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1994
A harrowing first-person, semi-fictionalized memoir of the inner life of a paranoid schizophrenic, written while its young author was in jail, mental hospitals, and halfway houses. Burke (195385) committed suicide just after completing this book, leaving a note requesting that Gates, his psychology professor at the University of New England (Australia) publish it along with a factual description of schizophrenia. Gates collaborated with Hammond, a writer and researcher at the same university, in tracing the facts of Burke's life, which are sketched in an introduction; in providing explanatory notes throughout Burke's work; and in writing a brief concluding essay on what is currently known about schizophrenia. Sandwiched between these accounts is Burke's own wild and fantastical account. It opens with a warning to readers that ``this book was written by a drug-induced alcoholic psychopathic paranoid schizophrenic with manic depression... [who] is not sure of the truth.'' In the beginning, Sphere (the author's name for himself) and his hippie companions experiment with hallucinogenic mushrooms, alcohol, and other drugs. His vivid descriptions of these experiences gradually blend into graphic accounts of his schizophrenic delusions, leaving the reader confused about what is happening in the real world and what is in the author's terribly sick mind. There's no confusion about the one point, however, which is that life for a paranoid schizophrenic is, as Burke puts it, a ``living hell.'' Burke told his psycniatrist that he was the Antichrist; he robbed a bank, believing he had been so ordered by a transmitter in his tooth. That the author chose to end his life rather than endure this hell becomes completely understandable. Researchers may continue to ponder the possible causes, forms, and treatments of schizophrenia, but in this book they have unmistakable proof of its terrors. An unforgettable picture of a soul in torment.
Pub Date: Jan. 11, 1995
ISBN: 0-465-09141-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
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