The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions
by Jonathan Rosen
published by:Penguin Press UK – Allen Lane, Particular, Pelican, Penguin Classics
ISBN 9780241647448
When he was 10 years old, the author, Jonathan Rosen moved to New Rochelle, New York. He quickly became friends with Michael Laudor. They had some things in common. Both of their fathers were college professors and Jonathan's mother was a writer. Both had a love of literature and came from families where the expectation was that a life of the mind was a valuable thing. Both did well in school. That said, their personalities were very different and this became more of a problem as they got older, culminating in an experience on the high school newspaper that led to a more serious break. They still saw each other and were still friends, but more at a distance than they had been. When they both started at Yale, they saw each other infrequently. Michael graduated in three years and went on to a high powered consulting job. Jonathan went his own way. They ran into each other occasionally when they were both back in New Rochelle for visits. And then things went very, very wrong.
Michael ended up in the locked psychiatric ward of the hospital after a psychotic break. Upon his release, he decided to attend Yale law school, which had accepted him before his hospitalization and which he had deferred. With the help of professors and fellow students, he was able to succeed in getting his law degree. He was written up in the New York times. He sold the rights to an autobiography. Ron Howard bought the movie rights. Then things went even more wrong, with disastrous and tragic consequences.
This book is about the author's experiences as Michael's friend, Michael's experience with serious mental illness, the impact of his actions on friends and family, the research about schizophrenia, how mental illness intersects with the law, how psychiatry has changed with time, and what impact all of this has on the individuals involved, the societies in which they live, and the larger US culture. It is a devastating book, extremely well written, and one that frankly left me feeling almost stunned at times. I had known some of what the author writes about, but only in a very general way, certainly not in as much detail as is in this fine book.
Rosen is an excellent writer and I sometimes stopped to admire a sentence or paragraph. For example, in describing how Michael was as a child, and how popular he was with other kids and adults alike, he writes, "I was never surprised to find Michael chatting with my mother while she gardened, or my sister while she did homework in the kitchen. Our house was a natural extension of his, but he colonized other houses, too. He was a Goldilocks who didn't run off when the bears came home, but stayed for more porridge." (p 41) Such descriptions create images that allowed me to feel like I really understood the situations he was describing.
His ability to tell this complex story in a way that gives voice to many different ideas and perspectives is very important. The issues are difficult and in reading it, I was able to really consider some extremely difficult issues in a realistic and compassionate way. I was gripped by this book from the beginning and it's one that will stay with me for a very long time. I highly recommend it. 5 stars.
I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for a fair review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author.
5 comments:
So many books, so little time :-)
Dear Shari,
The book sounds interesting, but depressing. The nephew of one of my friends has schizophrenia.
I feel so sad that a person who was such an obviously lovely child and young person should become a mental wreck. I would be interested to know if there are also people who have the fundamental possibility of becoming schizophrenic, but who do not develop the disease because certain triggers are absent (stress, pressure...)
🌸❤️🌸
Have a great May!
Hugs, Traude 😘
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2023/04/monets-garten-ein-blumiger-tag-in-wien.html
It was difficult on a few different levels. One thing that stays with me is how no one in the large support circle around him was able to do anything to help him, even though that circle included numerous mental health professionals.
The author did cite a book by a woman who has schizophrenia and who is able to manage it. He interviewed her. One thing that is in her favour is that she recognized she had this illness and needs to take her meds. Michael relied was always arrogant and self-centered, even as a child, and this was encouraged in many ways. There also seems to be a gender difference, but it's unclear whether this is physical or cultural. In other words, are cultural expectations and ideologies about gender more likely to make certain outcomes more likely. As I was reading, I was thinking that the woman who wrote the book and Rosen interviewed would not have been treated the same way when she was a child as Michael was. She would not have been encouraged to disregard norms and to think she was better than those around her. They both ended up being diagnosed with schizophrenia, but they responded to that diagnosis very differently. That's only two people, though, and I'm not sure about larger studies on that kind of thing.
Although this sounds a very good book, I would think it a difficult read ... don't think it's one for me.
All the best Jan
Bill felt the same for somewhat different reasons.🙂
It was difficult to read because of the tragic consequences, but as a window into one aspect of US culture, it was fascinating. It definitely made me think and I learned a lot, but it's true that it wouldn't be for everyone.
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