Divided Minds

Divided Minds : Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia by Pamela Spiro Wagner and Carolyn S. Spiro, MD. is a memoir of mental illness and coping with a loved one's mental illness. The segments from both sisters - one with schizophrenia. one a licensed psychiatrist - describe the world as each experienced it often retelling the same set of events from each sister's perspective at the time.

The book is a fairly quick read. I found myself wanting to like them - and there are many things about them to like and to respect, but found their dependence on others to make them happy and the competition they perceived (probably really there) very frustrating. Easy for me to say, I know. That being said, the book does not sugar coat their individual difficulties with growing up as twins or with Pamela's struggle with mental illness. What I found fascinating, though is the fine line between a "sane" woman who has some issues and a mentally ill woman. That our brains are so fine-tuned. Amazing. I could go on and on, but don't have a lot of outside knowledge on the topic, so will stop here!

Recommended - I would say if you liked Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, this is right up your alley. If you're looking for something that includes more of the scientific perspective or a clearer history of the treatment of schizophrenia, this isn't it - but it doesn't set out to be, either. Good interesting read for something different.

Slaves in the Family

This book by Edward Ball took me a week or so to read. Though some parts are a little dry, the subject matter is very compelling. Growing up, Ball knew his family had at one time owned slaves, but the family did not encourage conversation on this topic. Needing to know more, he began researching and trying to find the descendants of the slaves his family had owned. Not all greeted him with open arms and some of his own family members were hostile. Through the process he found several people who are very likely related to him. The book discusses slavery on the rice plantations of South Carolina and larger issues of the slave trade, changing political climates, etc..., but the focus is on this man's family and the families they owned. The family stories he tells and the way he connects families through history - his own and those of others -draws the reader through a dark period of American history that still evokes strong emotions today.

Recommended - I am not aware of any other book quite like this. And for a fairly thorough portrait of what slaveholders and slaves thought about their lives, this provides a pretty good perspective that acknowledges bias, but tries very hard to overcome that bias. Does not turn a blind eye to outrages committed by whites (his own family included), but the message is one of family and of hope.