The memoir Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan exposed me more to the psychological side of the world and to things I never think much about. It's very interesting to be able to constantly remind myself as I'm reading that this actually happened to someone and they actually went through something this insane.
Susannah goes through a journey of her medical mystery as she slowly deteriorates into herself and time is running out on finding the problem inside of her. Its almost inspiring to where of course I wouldn't want to go through this, but the fact that she opened up about her story and decided to write about it for the world to know her story of psychosis.
1- She has pulled me in from the psychology aspect
After she is diagnosed in the book with something else new, she then explains what it is and how its effecting her. Me being interested in psychology and having knowledge of these aspects helps me better understand what is occurring. For example on some pages she has diagrams of the brain labeled with what they are and what parts are being effected.
2- Happy ending but dangerously scary book overall
Of course the ending is what we all wanted after reading over 200 pages of how her life changed so drastically over just a couple of weeks, but you almost wouldn't expect it after how long on she struggles with this deadly situation.
3- Personal writer, doesn't mind other people knowing her business
Susannah Cahalan writes about her month of madness making her "Stunningly brave..." said by NPR. Writing about something this severe and to heart takes a lot of effort to let people know the real story behind something this insane. In the book when she first starts telling about her episode she would have at work, home, etc., my first thought was that she was going psycho, there is no way of her ever going back to normal. I didn't think as in depth as this book takes me.
4- Inspiring and relatable to people who have been in her situation
The audience for this book has to be interested in some kind of relation to the medical and faithful sides of this story. The way her family and she handled things throughout this whole ordeal was amazing. Never giving up, constant support and always hoping for the best with their prayers was all they needed to get through.
5- Conscious and Unconscious
When Susannah was in the hospital she would write her conscious mind and what she was thinking, but then after her seizures it would have a few paragraphs about what she could possibly hear and see while being almost unconscious. This view was interesting, its crazy how she can go through all of that and still remember and seeing conversations after major seizures.
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