January 31, 2011
It wasn't until 1994, when Cheney was 34 years old, that she learned the correct name for what she called the Black Beast, the destructive force that ruled her life. Following her diagnosis of bipolar disorder, Cheney wrote a widely acclaimed account (Manic: A Memoir) of her struggle to make a life for herself while coping with the disease. What she had not anticipated were the thousands of e-mails from parents of bipolar children asking, "What was your childhood like?" This narrative eloquently and intelligently answers this question. Beginning with the jarring account of her first suicide attempt at seven, Cheney then recounts her chaotic adolescence and troubled family life in California, through her departure for college at Vassar. Intelligent and popular, Cheney struggled daily to keep her life on track and her inner life hidden, in a family which kept plenty of secrets: "I was so different inside from the way I looked, I was practically two separate people." Citing the necessity of early intervention to understanding and controlling the disease, Cheney urges parents to listen, learn, read, and discover all they can about their child's problem. Her story is a sound first step toward understanding your child's pain and finding solutions.
December 15, 2010
Cheney (Manic: A Memoir, 2008) writes with brutal honesty about her tumultuous childhood trapped in the clutches of the "Black Beast"—her metaphor for the out-of-control emotional states she now recognizes as early-childhood bipolar disorder.
The author begins with a disturbing incident that occurred when she was seven. When her brother refused to relinquish his seat at the dinner table, she rammed a fork through his hand. In answer to her father's query about her violent behavior, she answered honestly, "he made me do it." In Cheney's mind, "he" referred not to her brother but to the monster, who "lived inside my heart and head, leaving little room for hope or joy or any emotion lighter than sorrow." The author was only diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her late 30s. Even though she had been jailed, hospitalized and suffered a series of broken relationships, she had managed to conceal her aberrant behavior and lead an apparently successful life as an entertainment attorney. In her debut memoir, Cheney chronicled her time in college and the years that followed; here she examines her childhood and adolescence for keys to the onset of her disorder. Despite the fact that an estimated 800,000 American children have been diagnosed as bipolar, the author explains that it is easy to confuse with other mental ailments such as ADHD, or even to simply overlook it. "Given the inherent volatility of childhood and the volcanic eruptions of adolescence, how can you tell when it's bipolar disorder?" she writes. "Early-onset bipolar disorder is notoriously difficult to diagnose." In Cheney's case, the fact that she was an honor student with a full social life caused her parents and teachers to overlook withdrawn or bizarre behavior. By exploring her past, she hopes to make parents and educators more aware of the problems that young people may be secretly trying to deal with.
A compelling coming-of-age follow-up to Manic.
(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
October 15, 2010
Manic, Cheney's best-selling memoir, was written as an effort to right a life that looked great on the outside--the author had achieved huge success as an entertainment lawyer--but was dark and hurtful on the inside, as Cheney carefully concealed her ongoing battle with bipolar disorder. Here, she explains what it was like growing up with her undiagnosed condition, starting with a suicide attempt at age seven. This will be big.
Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 15, 2011
This successful attorneys best-selling memoir on bipolarity, Manic (2008), spotlighted her previously hidden suicide attempts and hospitalizations. Now she presents the other half of the story, growing up bipolar. My early childhood wasnt just a strange one; it was a sick one, she recalls. Marked with battling the seething, secret Black Beast within, her spells made for lengthy absences from grammar school. She also endured interludes during which her senses were so sharpened, shed sob at a bougainvilleas beauty, and her skin felt like kindling, crisp and dry and ready to burn from the Santa Ana winds blowing across her southern California home. Cheneys adolescence of sex, substance abuse, profound boredom concealing profound agitation, and an underlying, growing sense of doom was redeemed by her gift for imagery and language, which eventually led her to write her riveting best-seller, whose success this equally deserving sequel may deservedly duplicate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)