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THE NUMBER 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB 2017 PICK A new Sunday Times bestseller from Bryony Gordon, Telegraph columnist and author of the bestselling The Wrong Knickers. For readers who enjoyed Matt Haig's Reasons to Stay Alive and Ruby Wax's Sane New World, Mad Girl is a shocking, funny, unpredictable, heart-wrenching, raw and jaw-droppingly truthful celebration of life with mental illness. 'I loved it. A brilliant fast and funny and frank look at something that absolutely needs to be talked about in this way' Matt Haig Bryony Gordon has OCD. It's the snake in her brain that has told her ever since she was a teenager that her world is about to come crashing down: that her family might die if she doesn't repeat a phrase 5 times, or that she might have murdered someone and forgotten about it. It's caused alopecia, bulimia, and drug dependency. And Bryony is sick of it. Keeping silent about her illness has given it a cachet it simply does not deserve, so here she shares her story with trademark wit and dazzling honesty. A hugely successful columnist for the Telegraph, a bestselling author, and a happily married mother of an adorable daughter, Bryony has managed to laugh and live well while simultaneously grappling with her illness. Now it's time for her to speak out. Writing with her characteristic warmth and dark humour, Bryony explores her relationship with her OCD and depression as only she can. Mad Girl is a shocking, funny, unpredictable, heart-wrenching, raw and jaw-droppingly truthful celebration of life with mental illness.… (more)
User reviews
Bryony Gordon is on a mission; she is determined to get mental health issues out into the open so they can be discussed and accepted. Having suffered with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) for many years, along with the other conditions it has caused, Bryony recognises
Bryony Gordon is a popular columnist for Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, which enables her to get her book recognised where a lesser name, with the same problems, might struggle.
She admits that even she has hidden her problems wherever possible. Developing OCD at the age of 12, she went on to suffer from Bulimia, Alopecia, Depression, Alcoholism and drug dependency - yet her first book, The Wrong Knickers, made no mention of these issues. Now in her thirties, married with a young daughter, she has written a revealing memoir that she hopes will help other sufferers to recognise and treat their conditions.
For me, there were some eye-openers, particularly that OCD could be quite so debilitating. Not just a matter of double checking that the house is locked, but repeating mantras to protect her family and even bringing the iron to work in her handbag to be sure it wasn't still on.
The episodes of heavy drinking were upsetting to read, but the way she fell so easily into drug dependency was frankly shocking. Now as a young mum she must be worried that her daughter doesn't go the same way.
The book is typically self depreciating, written in a very British style, with humour and honesty. I think this is its niche market. Our book group are not all British and it wasn't as well received as its Amazon star ratings might suggest. The author is coming to our Literary Festival in March and it will be interesting to see how she is received.