The Danny Diaries, by Ann Cluver Weinberg, is available through Trafford Publishing and Amazon, both e-book and hard copy versions.
Product Description
The Danny Diaries is a book about a gifted, delightful child who had a teenage psychotic breakdown and was diagnosed as schizophrenic. This is a detective story for the reader. Why did he break down? Was it drugs? Was it growing up too quickly? Did he have too much adulation too young? Was society to blame?
And how did he recover? Once more the reader has a detective story to help him or her decide. His mother wrote down his spoken words from when he was fifteen months old, and she has chosen a selection of these both to delight and help the reader. Some of his psychotic speech does come into the book - only as examples, since it is not decipherable. "His weird talk" his sister called it.
People ask, "Is he really off all medication?" Yes! He has been sane and stable and happy for over 20 years.
The book will help parents of disturbed teenagers, but for everyone else it is a good, true story-with an innocent beginning, a chaotic middle, and an ending which is both triumphant and comforting. The book is also for anyone who has doubts about a lot of psychology and therapy. Real life goals are what work in the end.
Ann Cluver Weinberg is a South African author of poetry, stories and biographies who has been published and broadcast in South Africa. She is known for her robust honesty, her lyrical clarity, and her ability to give a universal experience from her very personal and well-observed stories. She lives in Johannesburg.
Posts
I wanted to suggest you do a review of the book on Amazon. Yesterday I noticed the book had no reviews. You could be first!
ReplyDeleteI contacted the author and promised her a review. I'll post it here, too.
ReplyDeleteGreat, thanks Rossa. I look forward to reading it.
ReplyDeleteI looked over Louisa's blog posting from England. Excellent! Excellent work and effort, great writing. Thanks for cluing us all in to all the fantastic sites and resources out there.
How does change happen? I submit it happens by the persistence (not just any old persistence, but enlightened and intelligent) of places and resources like this blog. It happens through me. Me reading it, taking it in, but really - taking it in. It's like a tiny micro sponge that expands massively when covered in water. It has a multiplying effect. I take in the lessons, I understand them. I agree with many, most maybe, but not all. I think about the ramifications for both mental health and, hell, life. In other words, I incorporate what I've learned into my thinking and it gets passed along to others through my writing, through my conversation. But! : passed along with integrity, not the fly by night faddishness of this or that movement.
Ok, I don't wanna go overboard, but I just want to thank you for persistence. Steve Jobs hung with it. When the triumphant spotlight was off. That's gotta be tough.
But that is what it takes.
-B'ham
Thanks, B'ham - BTW, I got the e-book version of The Second Coming and am enjoying it so far. Nice tone, seems retro-Southern. I got sidetracked by The Danny Diaries, but will get back to it in due course.
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