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Jan 04, 2011

Osho rated it:

Greenberg's memoir of his teen daughter's first bipolar manic episode is both engaging and problematic.

"Engaging" because of Greenberg's ability to tell the tale with emotion and immediacy. This wrenching family narrative is well worth reading to understand a parent's experience of extremely difficult and frightening events. It appears that Greenberg's daughter and family received inadequate and indifferent treatment, which is extremely troubling. His description of the eve More...

3 comments like (13 people liked it)

Oct 08, 2008

Jamie rated it:

One star. It was just not very good. I wanted to like it, but there was nothing that drew me in. Uninspired, poorly written, and boring.

I remember in high school I would quickly write a paper to get it in on time and then I would go back and find synonyms for some of the words that I thought sounded smarter, but it really just ruined the flow of the words. The book reminds me of that.

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Nov 10, 2008

Jaime rated it:

This book, which is supposed to be about the mental breakdown of Greenberg's 15 year old daughter, seemed to me a far more self-serving statement of his own innocence in regard to his daughter's psychosis. We are told on almost every other page what a genius everyone thinks the author is. His performance artist wife, his hippie ex-wife, his elegant mother, his troubled daughter, his disturbed older brother. They ALL find time amidst what I would think a pretty serious family crisis, to let th More...

3 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2010

Lisa rated it:

I did really enjoy this; it held my attention. However, I had a really hard time always liking and understanding these people, even though I appreciated the author’s honesty. I couldn’t believe how psychologically unsophisticated the author was, especially given that he and his wife (his daughter’s stepmother) both have/had other important people in their lives who have experienced mental illness in the form of psychotic breaks and psychosis.

The author dissects his family but it felt More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2009

Molly rated it:

ehh...it was interesting but i really wasnt expecting the book to be so focused on himself. i know, i know...its a memoir. but the entire reason i started it in the first place was because the description, title, cover art were focused around his daughter. i thought it was be an interesting insight to what it is like for HER from his point of view. it was more or less him claiming to be so baffled by her illness. he seemed to be writing this to prove to everyone that it wasn't his fault she was More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 19, 2008

Tony rated it:

I started it and didn't finish it. It's not a bad book, but it's very depressing and a bit self-indulgent for my tastes. The author is writing about his experiences with his daughter's mental breakdown at the age of 15 in the summer of 1996. The whole book takes place in the span of the summer and I feel like it's something that he should have written as a whole, instead of a brief period. It almost seems to cheapen the ordeal by doing that.

Another point is that the author doesn' More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 18, 2008

Carrie rated it:

I appreciate this book for what it is: a minute retelling of Sally's illness and its immediate, terrifying aftermath. It wasn't all that I was hoping for, however, in that Greenberg doesn't spend a lot of time on reflection even though at various points he seems to be wondering what he might have missed before Sally's first psychotic break, and there also seems to be some strange family stuff he mentions but doesn't seem interested in exploring. And he misses an opportunity at the end of the b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2008

Dianabanana rated it:

I've loved Michael Greenberg's writing for a long time as my father and I have read and compared notes on his monthly column for the TLS for several years now. This book reads like an elongated version of one of his columns — nicely measured out amounts of pathos and sublime characterization of NYC and its misfits. It's the story of Greenberg's daughter's "crack up" or summer of bipolar madness. What distinguishes this book from the columns, aside from length, is its sadness. This cha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 11, 2008

Elaine rated it:

In the summer of 1996 the author’s fifteen year old daughter, Sally, experiences a major psychotic episode and he makes the hard decision to hospitalize her. While Sally is struggling through her psychosis in the hospital her whole family comes together to deal with the questions of why this happened and where to go from here. Just bringing her home is not the end of the line however, as there are still issues with stabilizing drug levels, getting Sally to the point where she can return to sch More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 27, 2008

Chrissy rated it:

Michael Greenberg's memoir of the summer of 1996 describes the months that his daughter was dealing with manic psychosis and was diagnosed as "bipolar 1." It's much more a book about his reactions to her illness, as well as that of his brother and negotiating between his wife and his ex-wife than it is about Sally's actual illness, but it's the book that he's most qualified to write; he wasn't in her head, so he can't say exactly what she was feeling at the time. It's a unique experien More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2008

Mary rated it:

A daughter's behavior spirals out of control. Her father, an artist, and her step mother, a master of dance and stage performance, are thrust into the chaotic world of modern psychiatry. The reader is left reflecting on the line between sanity and insanity, brilliance, creativity, and who each of us really is. This is a moving work for any family or friend of anyone with a mental illness.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 22, 2009

Terry rated it:

This book is quite similar to Beautiful Boy, where the parent details his experience with his child’s unhinging, so to speak. Most “mental illness memoirs” tend to come from the ill person’s point of view, so it is interesting to read about the experience from the outside. That being said Sally’s explanation of her experience may be the most instructive (and poignant) one I’ve ever read—she makes it clearer than anywhere else I’ve read the real confusion that comes when someone post-mania strugg More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 12, 2009

Alex rated it:

To use a much over used adjective, this really is a poignant novel from a talented writer. Michael Greenberg is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement and has a style and tone that is both accessible and multi-layered. A tone he applies to the sensitive subject of mental illness.

In Hurry Down Sunshine, Greenberg relays his bipolar daughter's first manic episode and hospitalization. Greenberg approaches the subject with a clarity I have yet to see in the popular dis More...

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Jan 30, 2009

Judy rated it:

Heartsick parent memoirs. Sometimes I wonder why I read them, and sometimes I just have to put them down. Michael Greenberg's book, however, reads like finely tuned fiction. If he is heartsick at times, and who wouldn't be, he is also humorous, self-deprecating, but ever the journalist calling on the science of mental illness as well as the literature of madness even as he is mired in depression and regret.

Greenberg's world of characters --friends, family, and the inhabitants of t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 22, 2009

Mandy marked it as to-read

Feministing review:

Not Oprah's Book Club: Hurry Down Sunshine

In this small but deep memoir by journalist Michael Greenberg we get a bare-all look at his experience of his daughter's first psychotic break, leading to her bipolar diagnosis and years of struggle for sanity. Greenberg, in the style of the great Joan Didion, sticks to the facts, but manages to make them starkly beautiful even while they are truthfully mundane. His daughter wants artichoke and chocolate in the More...

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Jan 11, 2009

Madeline rated it:

In some ways I was impressed by this book and in others I was very much disappointed. While this book was written about the summer of his daughter's first manic episode, it was really very poorly contrasted to who this girl was previously. We hear the narrator (her father)mention how she acted briefly and then there is a short period where we see her go back to her "normal" self. But we have no initial basis for comparison. For this reason and others, the book comes off as a look i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 01, 2010

David rated it:

extremely sad book about the summer his 15-y.o. daughter had her first manic episode and had to be hospitalized. Author was also mainly in charge of an adult brother with severe mental illness, but that experience didn't seem to have made early detection of or acceptance of his daughter's condition any esier.

Balanced portrayal of the +/- of the care she received in hospital and later in outpatient programs, the medication regimen, her waxing and waning insights, stress on the family More...

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Dec 02, 2009

Laura rated it:

I was so scared to read this book because of how I might identify with it. But I was also really excited to read it because I'd gotten the idea from some review that it was about how Greenberg helped his daughter recover from her psychotic break. It wasn't. It was all about the psychotic break and only provided scanty details about the recovery. The book was also mostly about Greenberg. Given the fact that it was his daughter that experienced it I thought he would have given her a stronger voice More...

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Nov 11, 2009

Alb rated it:

If there were half stars I would give this 3.5 stars but I am rounding up because I think the difficult, personal subject matter was handled very well and the writing was solid. He might have been a little over generous with the clever metaphors at times but not so much that it was distracting. Throughout the memoir Greenberg sprinkles stories of various literary figure's experiences with mental illness. I thought this worked as a nice compliment to narrative, not because I thought the author wa More...

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Oct 07, 2009

Matt rated it:

Hurry Down Sunshine is the story of the author’s relationship with his manic-depressive daughter – focusing, in particular, on the summer in which she had her first psychotic break. As a memoir of mental disorder, it has strengths and weaknesses.
The strengths are the way in which it lays bare the experience of bipolar disorder – at least as it appears to those nearby. What I had never realized, before this book, is that the manias can be as dangerous, if not more so, than the depressive More...

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Jan 03, 2009

Tamara rated it:

I was shocked by how much I liked this book. It took almost no effort to read, although the language and topic were quite dense. And it was one of the few books written from a male POV that I easily related to.

Sally's father does an amazing job of describing the dueling feelings that accompany caring for someone who is mentally ill.

Favorite Quotes:

Of his own children, he used to say, "Whatever they are, I've no reason to act surprised."

"Yo More...

2 comments like

May 10, 2009

Mike rated it:

This is a fascinating true story, about a 15 y.o. girl who goes mad one day, and the effect it has on her father and her family. The author doesn't seem to have any particular agenda, he just tells the horrifying story as it happened. In addition to his daughter, the author is also dealing with a mentally ill brother, and a relatively recent marriage. The writing, mostly chronological, is tight, making the book an easy read.

I thought the most interesting observations in the book were More...

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Apr 22, 2009

Britta rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Oct 31, 2011

Karyl rated it:

In the summer of 1996, Greenberg's 15-year-old daughter Sally becomes mired in an episode of psychosis, severe enough to warrant her hospitalization. We are treated to glimpses of life inside a mental hospital, to the realization that even doctors are baffled by mental illness, to the love a man has for his daughter. Other reviewers have said that this book focuses too much on Greenberg himself, but it's his memoir about how all this affected him. His blunt honesty is so refreshing. Greenberg More...

2 comments like

May 11, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

In the opening pages of his sort-of memoir, Michael Greenberg says it's "something of a sacrilege" to speak of mental illness as anything besides the "chemical brain disease that it on one level is." Nonetheless, in Hurry Down Sunshine, Greenberg takes on the subject from a father's perspective and tells the story of his fifteen-year-old daughter's swift mental decline.

Greenberg names the day of his daughter Sally's crack-up: July 5, 1996. He wakes up to discover More...

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Feb 14, 2009

Cara rated it:

This was my pick for book club this month. I really liked it. I thought it was very honest and brave of Greenberg to write this story.

He writes about his experience of his daughter's first bout of mania. He tells not only about her breakdown, but also it's effect on himself and the rest of the family. I found it a very interesting insight into how the disease effects the diseased, but also the indirect effect madness has on everyone involved with the stricken person.

More...

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Jan 11, 2012

Greg rated it:

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. I might be still digesting it somewhat. But here goes.

The stories/confrontations with various manic episodes and other forms of madness are very raw and immediate, making for a compelling narrative. However, I had a hard time having sympathy for many of the characters. Sally and Steve are sympathetic by virtue of the challenges they face with their disorders, but all of the "normal" characters come across as self-absorbed/egot More...

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Sep 18, 2010

Wendy rated it:

This began as a compelling read, but became less interesting as it went on. It's the story of a father's response to his teenage daughter's first psychotic break. It's told with poignancy, but it's mainly the author's feelings that we get to know, which I found disappointing. It would have been far more interesting if he'd explored more deeply, the feelings of other family members and friends re Sally's illness, and especially, Sally's own perceptions about her mental illness.
This is n More...

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Jan 24, 2011

Meghan rated it:

I loved reading this book. It was written by a father whose daughter suffers from a “bipolar meltdown.” I expected the story to be all about the daughter, but instead it’s what the father is going through, his life, and what he is witnessing his child endure.
I the relationships between the daughter, her name is Sally, and the other patients in the mental hospital. Here is one of my favorite excerpts from the book. I think it shows how beautiful the author’s language is:

“The Gr More...

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May 13, 2009

Rhlibrary added it

The subject of mental illness makes many people uncomfortable. It is difficult to understand, wrenching to witness, and frightening to experience. Greenberg’s powerful memoir of his daughter’s psychotic break at the age of fifteen intimately reveals the life altering experience for himself and his family. The brilliantly crafted descriptions from inside a psych ward offer insight into the tumultuous journey his daughter must endure, through diagnosis of her bipolar disorder and her eventual adap More...

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