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Nov 08, 2007

Ronni rated it:

Not a fun read, but very interesting, particularly if you are interested in psychology. I actually didn't finish the last 3rd of the book in detail, kind of skimmed through it. It was very graphic in parts, which was hard to get through. I think what held me back from really liking it was that it is supposedly true, but the inner skeptic in me kept wondering if it was all true, how the author was able to pen this book "through" her other personalities in the manner she did. Multiple pe More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 10, 2011

Lindsey rated it:

No matter who you are, this book will affect you and make you think.

From the introduction on, my desire to keep an open mind was at war with skepticism. On the one hand, multiple personality is an unusual topic, to say the least, and even stranger than Sybil, this book was written by the personalities themselves--the "Troops for Truddi Chase" as they call themselves. Naturally one would not expect it to read like any ordinary book. On the other hand, a label that says "N

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0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 29, 2008

Beth rated it:

I found this book alternatively fascinating, unbelievable, horrifying and silly. I had heard elsewhere that there has been some speculation that the book is not legitimate but in fact is fabricated. When the story line became a little too weird (as in parts about reading minds and paranormal stuff) then that speculation kept running through my mind and I became a very cynical reader.

I also found the book hard to read in places because of the way it was written (supposedly) from a f More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Micaela rated it:

So, Truddi Chase survives a horrific childhood. She develops 92 personalities as a way of dealing with both the terrible things that happens to her and the subsequent memories that they leave behind-- each personality is responsible for a different set of memories, so the whole thing doesn't have to hurt or overwhelm her at once. The person known as "Truddi" is basically an empty shell that the personalities use to make themselves known.

It's also a true story.

I More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Nov 15, 2007

Alyson rated it:

This book is damned disturbing. I honestly don't know what to think about it. I saw the "author" on Oprah, and I still don't know if I believe it or not. I have a degree in psychology, and multiple personalities/abnormal psych have always been a particular area of interest to me but this....

I really don't know if I can believe it or not....If it's true, then it's definitely one of the most harrowing and disturbing stories I have ever read, and if it's not, it's some damne More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2007

Stephy rated it:

I read this book, and others, because I am treated for DID. Dissociative Identity Disorder in women is not infrequently the end result of sexual abuse at a very young age. So it is with the subject of this book. It was very brave of her to write it, and I don't doubt that the writing helped in the recovery. It is a difficult book to read, with lots of triggers for survivors of sexual abuse at any age, male or female. The author did some incredibly hard work to get through the trauma she experien More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2010

S. rated it:

I first read this book when it was originally out, after seeing Chase on Oprah. I was a teen. A turnkey event in my healing, I was deeply impressed not only by Chase's courage to have survived such a childhood, but to have written about it to help others. That said, the book is very difficult to read, as it's written in a variety of voices and styles. How could it not be? Still, it's hard to read, in that it doesn't flow with the literary smoothness that a finished book should. Yet, for th More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 16, 2009

Melacynthe rated it:

A friend had this book delivered to me through Amazon just as I was about to take a 4 day greyhound trip cross country. I read it through twice, crying in front of strangers at several intervals. The tale is heartbreaking. Multiple Personalities and Dissociative Identity Disorder are two topics that have always fascinated and horrified me. There are some experiences that a person cannot face having lived through, the mind breaks, shatters, hides bits to protect itself and even changes facts. Or More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 30, 2009

Love rated it:

I can not imagine one parent being this abusive let a lone two....What a sad sad story.A must read.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 04, 2009

Carolyn rated it:

I don't know how to rate this book........
It confused me, it scared me, it intrigued me and it saddened me. It is an unbelievable non fiction account that literally makes me questions a time or two if it can really be true. It portrays the incredible strength of the human mind in the face of adversity and even the weaknesses of it.
The reader walks along with 'the woman' and her doctor getting a first hand telling of moment to moment life with multiple personalities and attempting to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 25, 2011

Frieda rated it:

Sometimes, our minds can't even begin to comprehend what is happening, and so to protect ourselves, a darker place is created where we can hide. But when these dark places are too deep – the damage is so severe – we can’t always find our way back out, so alternate realities take over. I can certainly see how the mind of a child so young could split (even multiple times), and how her true self left entirely. Think about recent news: Young kids being raped at 11, 12 by couches and clergymen; ho More...

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Jul 16, 2007

Jeremy rated it:

A more modern take on the "Sybil" acount of Multiple Personality Disorder. This book moves more quickly and is a bit more graphic than "Sybil" as it was written more recently. Although, it may not make you a firm believer in the disorder it will certainly make you think twice before doubting the possibility that it does exist.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 24, 2008

Beckybug rated it:

This is a fabulous book that offers an intruiging look into the mind of a multiple personality. Parts are incredibly disturbing as she discribes some of the horrible events in her childhood that have caused her mind to shatter into seperate personalities in order to cope.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 18, 2011

Julia rated it:

This was really a tough read. The girl in this story is systematically sexually abused, tortured, tormented and terrorized, from the time she is two until she turns sixteen, by her stepfather. Now she is an adult and seeks therapy because she is loosing blocks of time, hearing voices and can't feel physical pain. She makes the decision to have her therapy video taped and she in turn begins a manuscript telling of her experiences. She is a multiple personality. They call themselves the Troops. Th More...

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Jun 10, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

I really enjoy psychology so this book is right up my alley. I personally believe multiple personalities as a real disorder. This book was incredibly interesting. The book was written at the beginning of her discovery of the many personalities and all the personalities starting to recognize the existence of the each other. This book really stays with you. I think one of the things you don't realize with people with sort of disorder is that they aren't really crazy but have had to become that More...

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Feb 02, 2012

Amy rated it:

This book is about a woman who has multiple personality disorder and her journey to learn about the disorder and her personalities. She chooses not to integrate her personalities and learn to live with them. I find this disorder fascinating and this book is amazing at helping the reader understand this complex disorder. It is not an easy read. Truddi Chase was sexually and physically abused and some of the content is very disturbing. Also, different personalities help write the book which can be More...

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Dec 16, 2009

michele rated it:

This book was disturbing. I read this while I was in school and was having a difficult time "defining" myself, as we do. Not something you want to read to feel good.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2009

Becky rated it:

It was slow starting, and there were times I thought it would end up one of my many books with an enternal bookmark in it, never to be finished... but it kept my interests, and when started out as a feeling of "plowing through it" became a feeling of "i have to read at least a chapter every night before bed."... it was suspenseful, and I started to want to make the book last longer, because I actually started to get attached to the characters... which were actually her multip More...

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Feb 09, 2009

Broodingferret rated it:

This book was fascinating, very well written, and very difficult to read. Unlike many other books on the subject, which are written by the clinician involved, When Rabbit Howls is an autobiographical account of living with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder) and learning to come to grips with both it and the absolutely obscene abuse that is believed to have led to it (in her case). In an effort to make the experience clear to a lay audience while still conve More...

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Dec 08, 2008

Terra rated it:

This book was amazing. I havint read it in a long time but you learn so much about the human mind and what it is capable of... it's still hard for me to wrap my mind around it. This is a book that you can read over and over again and you will learn something new every time!

Emotionally?... this book is hard to get through. Truddi Chase has a multiple personality disorder. She has over a hundred diffrent documented personalitys in her head and the story behind why this has happened to More...

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Feb 20, 2009

Dru rated it:

I could not put this down, regardless of how horrified I was. I could not believe the details the author shared about her sexual abuse, and how she perceived the world, including herself. It truly did give me an insight of what multiple personality disorder entails of. However I do have to admit, I wondered at times if it was all merely a story she drummed up in her head? It seemed too incredulous for anybody to have gone through what she had and survived. You could say I'm particularly intrigue More...

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Apr 05, 2008

Karla rated it:

What a heartrending story. It frightens me to know there are deviants out there like this.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 08, 2009

Irene rated it:

I don't even know where to start. If you don't already know the story of Truddi Chase, you will be blown away by what this woman went through. This is a story of human frailty but also survival of the mind. Chase was tormented as a child and her mind finally 'fragmented' into several personalities. Chase is fascinating. You will be shocked and disturbed when you realize what the title "When Rabbit Howls" really means. I read this in the late 80's but just writing this review makes More...

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Jul 04, 2011

Megan rated it:

I enjoy reading about psychology and I find it fascinating. I hadn't heard anything about this book before buying it from Barnes and Noble from the Psychology section. I felt very uncomfortable at certain parts in the book. It is dark and confusing and the subject of incest and sexual abuse described so vividly is disturbing and uncomfortable, but the story line and how it is written fascinates me. I loved being about to "see" into the mind of someone with MPD.

If I we More...

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Jul 28, 2009

Stacy rated it:

I read this in college, and found it fascinating and terrifying. She suffered such abuse... if memory serves, she had something like 97 different personalities, but rabbit was the one who took on the most painful aspects of Truddi Chase's life. Rabbit couldn't speak, hence the name of the book. Her personalities were integrated by the time she wrote this book, so it was a very unique narrative. I saw her on Oprah years ago, and she still says "We" when she is talking about herself. More...

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Apr 21, 2010

Tina rated it:

This is a very difficult book written by a person with multiple personalities. This means it was written by her many personalities. It is hard to follow because of the change in the writer. This means a change of writing style and perspective. There is no warning for the changes. Despite this, I found this book to be invaluable. Especially for anyone with a personal interest in this disorder. I am related to someone with this disorder and this helped me at the age of 13 to understand that More...

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Nov 26, 2010

Gary rated it:

This book was written by Truddi Chase. She had multiple personality disorder due to repeated sexual abuse from her stepfather from age 2 to age 16 and physical/verbal abuse from her mother. If you are a victim of abuse this book may not be for you because I can assume it would be full of triggers. But if you want a inside view of an extremely smart and strong woman...not written by a "shrink" but by the various personalities within her. It is a good read. It is sad there is this t More...

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Feb 15, 2011

Lisa rated it:

I think it would be absurd to say I enjoyed the topic of this book, but I find the subject matter interesting. My mother was a victim of abuse at the hands of her father, and I am compelled to read a lot about sexual abuse and the victims' coping mechanisms in order to understand my mother better. This book in some ways fit the bill. Written from by the victim, and told in the many voices of her multiple personalities, the story shed some light on how she dealt with the abuses of her step-father More...

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Jul 27, 2011

Amy rated it:

i was right- i may need a shrink after this one. i feel sorrier for this poor woman after reading the book. I am amazed that she survived everything she went through. Although it can be debabted if what she has now is even considered a life at all or just a way to coast. anyone who is interested in any type of psychology at all ot even social work shoudl take the time to read this book. I wou;dn't try to read it to fast though. take a lot of breaks, you'll need it.

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Oct 05, 2010

Katisha rated it:

Some books just stick with you, and this is one such. I read it years ago, but I still recall it and continue to recommend it to others. I have bought copies for others too. It's a challenging read because the tale it tells is of someone abused throughout their childhood who only discovers their own history in snapshots supplied by their various personalities in adulthood. It's not a depressing read though, quite the contrary. Fascinating and poignant, it's a great book!

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