Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father's Story of Love and Madness (Vintage)

My rating:

add to my books

Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father's Story of Love and Madness (Vintage)

by Michael Greenberg

3.32 · rating details · 1,701 ratings · 377 reviews

A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Hurry Down Sunshine is an extraordinary family story and a memoir of exceptional power. In it, Michael Greenberg recounts in vivid detail the remarkable summer when, at the age of fifteen, his daughter was struck mad. It begins with Sally's sudden visionary crack-up on the streets of Greenwich Village, and continues, among other places, i...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published September 8th 2009 by Vintage (first published 2008)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,310)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Nov 15, 2008

Osho rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, memoir-biography, psychology

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...moreGreenberg'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 events and their effects on his family is wrenching and raw.

"Problematic" first because Greenberg presents the story angrily. This is understandable and certainly warranted given the circumstances, but over the course of the book, the reader's impression is that Greenberg is angry in general. He describes the lack of adequate care his daughter received, and in the absence of context, I assume his report is accurate. However, he doesn't describe which interventions his daughter does receive, and when he alludes later to the course of her recovery from this episode, he is silent on whether he believes that her hospitalization and therapy were helpful. In many descriptions of his and his family's life, he accentuates the negative, which raises some concerns about the potential narrowness of his focus. Greenberg is trying to be clear and brutally honest about himself, but sometimes just seems brutal.

Further, Greenberg makes some puzzling errors that may speak both to his confusion and a lack of adequate editing. For example, he refers several times to "narcoleptics." He means "neuroleptics," a category of antipsychotic medication. "Narcoleptic" means a person with narcolepsy, a neurological sleep disorder. Unfortunately this error occurs several times; in and of itself this would just be unfortunate, but in conjunction with other areas of lack of clarity, it makes me wonder how well Greenberg and his family understood his daughter's treatment. Treatment can be confusing under the best of circumstances, and I would have no problem with a description of how confusing this experience was. However, it's not obvious whether Greenberg ever got clarity on this. Greenberg expresses his frustration that medical people do not know what causes bipolar disorder, a frustration that is, in fact, shared by many practitioners. However, Greenberg seems to have an ambivalent relationship with the idea that this disorder may be biologically based, often describing his shame and worry that he caused his daughter's bipolar disorder. Other family members worry that they, too contributed to the problem, and ruminate about the stigma associated with mental illness. One would expect that part of this story would be the family's realization that accepting this stigma is unreasonable, and the information that they were radicalized by this experience in some way. However, Greenberg does not report this, which seems to me to imply that he accepts the legitimacy of that stigma, and that a primarily biological description (if not explanation) of bipolar disorder is not sufficient for him. He still seems to see the origin of his daughter's illness as interpersonal or psychodynamic. While relational stress is often a contributor to increased symptoms and decreased functioning, a review of the research literature would show that stress and dysharmony are not sufficient to cause bipolar disorder in the absence of a biological substrate. The omission of this information seems strange to me given that Greenberg is a journalist and presumably is able to do his own background reading, call sources who could answer questions, etc. It again raises the question of where his editor was. The overall effect is of a story without a point, at least so far as the narrator's or his daughter's development or learning. In this way, its structure is that of a case report, not a plot.

Because the problems outweigh the benefits of this narrative, I would not recommend it for people or families trying to understand bipolar disorder. I would not assign it for a class on diagnosis, but might in a class focused on disconnections between families and providers.

For a more accurate and more nuanced report on bipolar disorder, read Jamison's An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness. Jamison describes her own bipolar disorder, and, as one of the major contributors to the scientific research on bipolar disorder, characterizes the diagnosis both more accurately and more hopefully.(less)

like 13 likes

· see review

Oct 08, 2008

Jamie rated it

· review of another edition

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.

like 6 likes

· see review

Nov 10, 2008

Jaime rated it

· review of another edition

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

like 8 likes

· see review

Dec 06, 2008

Lisa Vegan rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: those who enjoy memoirs about mental illness

Shelves: reviewed, non-fiction, biography

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

like 4 likes

· see review

Jan 22, 2009

Molly rated it

· review of another edition

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

like 3 likes

· see review

Dec 19, 2008

Tony rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: didn-t-finish

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

like 1 like

· see review

Dec 18, 2008

Carrie rated it

· review of another edition

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

like 1 like

· see review

Sep 28, 2008

Dianabanana Lind rated it

· review of another edition

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

like 1 like

· see review

Aug 11, 2008

Elaine rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, august

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

like 2 likes

· see review

Nov 27, 2008

Chrissy rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Chrissy by: The Today Show

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

like 2 likes

· see review

Nov 24, 2008

Mary Hoelscher rated it

· review of another edition

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.

like 1 like

· see review

Mar 22, 2009

Terry rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir

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...moreThis 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 struggles to understand that every insight and paranoia she’s had is completely, utterly, thoroughly wrong, a product of her mind, not reality. Her brief description of her struggle to rebuild a correct perception of the world, to learn to analyze her perceptions for accuracy, is illuminating.

On the negative side, another similarity of this book to Beautiful Boy is in the amazing liberty the parents seem to feel to reveal their utter narcissism. In Beautiful Boy, the father is maddeningly ignorant of his child’s real needs and the chaos and insecurity his actions brought to his young son’s world. In Hurry Down Sunshine, I smacked my head in frustration as the father reveals that—oops!—he forgot to get HEALTH INSURANCE FOR HIS CHILD. He seems to find this a merely a quirk of his artistic temperament, a temperament that also sees nothing wrong in having his teen daughter live in what can generously be called a sublet (it’s more like they’re squatting) where they are literally not allowed to possess any personal items other than what can basically be carried away in a grocery bag. Both parents (in each book) are the type who say, “Oh, I NEVER let my child watch television” but they drag their 9-year-old children to midnight screenings of foreign films, or laugh that they may make grilled cheese sandwiches for their child, but, heh heh, they make them with artisanal bread and imported gruyere cheese, because they’re artists, you know. All of Sally’s adult caretakers seem much more invested in their own lives and careers than in nurturing the healthy growth of their child. I’m not blaming them for Sally’s illness, because another positive aspect of Hurry Down Sunshine is that it makes clear that mental illness can happen to anyone, any time, of any class, age, or upbringing. It’s chemical, it’s biological, and possibly though not necessarily hereditary. But I was still kind of disgusted at the adults in Sally’s world.
(less)

like 1 like

· see review

Mar 12, 2009

Alex rated it

· review of another edition

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

· see review

Jan 30, 2009

Judy rated it

· review of another edition

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...moreHeartsick 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 the locked ward where his daughter lands for a month-- are, in the words of his mother 'meshuganeh.' But really, these people are no stranger than the rest of us, and the distinction between the 'walking wacky' and the 'certifiably mad' lies at the core of this jewel of a book. Far from a typical high school student, daughter Sally is quick-witted, sharp-tongued, and there is no doubt that her punning diatribes did not start with her descent into mania but instead just amplified, overwhelmed, and spun out of control with the rest of her thought processes. And the author's musings on the workings of a creative mind highlight why a bipolar in control is the life of the party and the heart of the ad agency.

That said, he does not allow us to believe that being bipolar (he points out people have cancer or have AIDS, but they are bipolar) is an exciting journey of discovery. It profoundly affects its victims and the people who love them. Per Greenberg: "In a single stroke her identity has changed; and by extension ours, as a family, has changed too...She's gone away like the dead, leaving this false shell of herself to talk at me in an invented dialect only it can understand." And, thank heavens, the flip side: "Something about her tone caught my attention: the modulation of her voice, its unpressured directness...It's as if a miracle had occurred. The miracle of normalcy, of ordinary existence."

This is a remarkable book. It's a quick read only insofar as the prose is seamless, but no summer beach reading this. Whether or not you're a heartsick parent or your family has been touched by mental illness, you will emerge at the end wondering at the incredible intricacies of the human mind.
(less)

like 1 like

· see review

Jan 22, 2009

Mandy marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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

· see review

Jan 11, 2009

Madeline rated it

· review of another edition

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

like 1 like

· see review

Apr 01, 2010

David rated it

· review of another edition

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

· see review

Dec 02, 2009

Laura Craner rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2009

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

· see review

Nov 11, 2009

Alb rated it

· review of another edition

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

· see review

Oct 07, 2009

Matt rated it

· review of another edition

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

· see review

Jan 03, 2009

Tamara rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone struggling to love someone wrestling with demons

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir-bio

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

· see review

May 10, 2009

Mike rated it

· review of another edition

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

· see review

Apr 22, 2009

Britta rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Britta by: Amazon.com

Shelves: fortheloveofbooks-club, 2009, non-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I went to college with and had a very scary incident with a boy who was bipolar. When he went into one of his manic phases (at this point in time I had no idea he was bipolar - he only told one of the three other people I lived with) and my two roommates and I went to the Cambridgeside Galleria (a mall in Boston) leaving a third roommate alone with him, we came home to police cars and ambulances at our apartment. We were scared to say the least but not as scared at that third roommate who believ...more

· see review

Oct 31, 2011

Karyl rated it

· review of another edition

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

· see review

May 11, 2010

Jennifer D. rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, src-spring-2010

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...moreIn 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 that Sally isn't home, and when he finds her walking around in the streets, the daughter he knows is gone. Instead, a raging young girl who kicks down trashcans and speaks in abstractions seems to have taken her place.

Hurry Down Sunshine is a book that, I think, will draw in readers who have first-hand experience with mental illness, and it will connect with others who are interested in reading about personal and family drama. For the former, this story will read like a testament of survival and perseverance in light of a family tragedy. Like any hopeful father, Greenberg first rationalizes Sally's illness as a teenage spell, but when she lashes out on him-leaving bloody scratch marks on his face, he knows something more serious has taken hold. A therapist advises Greenberg and his wife to take Sally to the emergency room on the grounds of "acute psychosis." They comply, shocked that such a phrase could apply to their daughter.

Greenberg signs a consent form for Sally's treatment, and paramedics strap her to a gurney. Sally doesn't fight them but rather "races on about her epiphanies, the piercing nature of light, the lightness of light, the genius in us all." Just like that, Greenberg watches his daughter be whisked away to a psychiatric hospital, where she undergoes intense treatment.

For those who have never been inside a psych ward, Greenberg does a good job evoking a place that is deeply sad and curiously exciting at the same time. Family members show up at visiting hours, baffled by what has happened to their loved ones. Patients in various stages of treatment wander the halls, such as Fabulosa, who becomes infatuated with Sally's brother and lifts her shirt as a sign of affection. Doctors eventually pronounce Sally "bipolar 1" and, after lengthy treatment, release her from the hospital. Greenberg and his wife continue to grapple with the fact that their daughter is not healed, nor will she ever be the same. At home, Sally follows a strict health regime, involving a long list of medications, dietary restrictions, and regular doctor's visits. She worries that her friends will shun her and that she won't be able to return to school, as her meds have affected her concentration so much that she struggles to read a single sentence.

Alongside Sally's story, Greenberg offers medical and literary perspectives on mental illness, and he introduces a caring cast of characters who rally to Sally's side. He explains the workings of psychotropic drugs, giving an insider's account of their effects after he becomes fed up with Sally's treatment and swallows a "full dose" of her pills. Greenberg also draws upon the story of author James Joyce's dealings with his daughter Lucia, who suffered from mental illness during a time when treatment was much more precarious.

In the end, readers will find themselves rooting for Sally and her health. Hurry Down Sunshine elicits a powerfully emotional response, whether or not its author delves deeply into his own emotions. For this family, we want to see Sally's full recovery, but this book offers no happy ending. In doing so, it is truthful in its treatment of mental illness and doesn't shy away from the sad reality that Sally and those who love her are not alone in their struggles.(less)

· see review

Feb 14, 2009

Cara rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-non-fiction, book-club

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

· see review

Jan 11, 2012

Greg rated it

· review of another edition

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

· see review

Sep 18, 2010

Wendy rated it

· review of another edition

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

· see review

Jan 24, 2011

Meghan rated it

· review of another edition

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

· see review

May 13, 2009

Rhlibrary added it · review of another edition

Shelves: erica-s-picks

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

· see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 110 111 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (14)

More editions...

Genres

Autobiography > Memoir

75 users

Non Fiction

70 users

Psychology

27 users

Mental Health > Mental Illness

25 users

Biography

15 users

Health > Mental Health

10 users

Biography Memoir

7 users

Book Club

6 users

Family

3 users

Health

3 users

See top shelves...

Readers Also Enjoyed

About Michael Greenberg

A native New Yorker, Michael Greenberg is a columnist for the Times Literary Supplement (London), where his wide-ranging essays have been appearing since 2003. His fiction, criticism and travel pieces have been published in such disparate places as O Magazine, Bomb, The Village Voice, and the Boston Review.

His book Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer’s Life was published by Other Press in Se...more

More about Michael Greenberg...

Books by Michael Greenberg

Barron's New York State Grade 8 English Language Arts Test

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Pin It

Trivia About Hurry Down Sunshine

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Hurry Down Sunshine: A...

“It's something of a sacrilege nowadays to speak of insanity as anything but the chemical brain disease that on one level it is. But there were moments with my daughter when I had the distressed sense of being in the presence of a rare force of nature, such as a great blizzard or flood: destructive, but in its way astounding too. (4)” — 5 people liked it

“Eugen Bleuler (who in 1911 coined the word 'schizophrenia') once said that in the end his patients were stranger to him than the birds in his garden. But if they're strangers to us, what are we to them? (26)” — 5 people liked it

More quotes…

Groups That Shelved Hurry Down Sunshine

Books on the Nightstand

1934 members

last activity 6 hours, 56 min ago

shelf: read

Bound Together

661 members

last activity 4 hours, 12 min ago

shelf: read

Shrink Rap (Psychology Bo...

414 members

last activity Feb 05, 2012 09:23pm

shelf: read

title link	preview: Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father's Story of Love and Madness
avg rating	preview: Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father's Story of Love and Madness Goodreads rating: 3.32 (1701 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6623347-hurry-down-sunshine?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320489169m/6623347.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6623347-hurry-down-sunshine?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father's Story of Love and Madness by Michael Greenberg[/url]

Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father's Story of Love and Madness (Vintage)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Readers Also Enjoyed

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website