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Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood
Current price:
$17.99
Publication Date: February 27th, 2024
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN:
9781324074625
Pages:
240
Usually Ships in 1 to 5 Days
Description
“By turns an eloquent meditation on the power of nature and a terrifying exposé of…parenting a mentally ill child into adulthood.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice
A compassionate, heartrending memoir of a mother’s quest to accept her son’s journey through psychosis.
One night in 2009, Tanya Frank finds her nineteen-year-old son, Zach—gentle and full of promise—in the grip of what the psychiatrists would label a psychotic break. Suddenly and inexplicably, Tanya is thrown into a parallel universe: Zach’s world, where the phones are bugged, his friends have joined the Mafia, and helicopters are spying on his family.
In the years following Zach’s shifting psychiatric diagnoses, Tanya goes to war for her son, desperate to find the right answer, the right drug, the right doctor to bring him back to reality. She struggles to navigate archaic mental healthcare systems, first in California and then in her native London during lockdown. Meanwhile, the boy she raised—the chatty, precocious dog-lover, the teenager who spent summers surfing with his big brother, the UCLA student—suffers the effects of multiple hospitalizations, powerful drugs that blunt his emotions, therapies that don’t work, and torturous nights on the streets. Holding on to startling moments of hope and seeking solace in nature and community, Tanya learns how to abandon her fears for the future and accept the mysteries of her son’s altered states.
With tenderness, lyricism, and generous candor, this compelling story conveys the power of a mother’s love. Zig-Zag Boy is both a moving lamentation for things lost and a brave testament to the people we become in difficult circumstances.
Praise for Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood
By turns an eloquent meditation on the power of nature and a terrifying exposé on the hellscape of parenting a mentally ill child into young adulthood…[Tanya] Frank hangs her intense, readable journey on…the healing power of nature and community.… This book will be a balm for relatives of people with mental illness.… Frank’s writing is fresh with keenly observed details.
— Beth Macy - New York Times Book Review
I felt [Tanya Frank’s story] in my bones.… [P]owerful.… [Frank’s] writing is measured and thoughtful and beautiful.
— Zibby Owens - Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books
Zig-Zag Boy takes us to the heart of loving and parenting a child in the most intensive and often heartbreaking way. Tanya Frank’s book is marked by wonderful storytelling, a wry sense of humor, and a determination to tell the truth no matter what. You will get lost in this story, and be better for it.
— Emily Rapp Black, author of Sanctuary
[A] moving, beautifully written book about love and mental health and life. Recommended.
— Bob Odenkirk - via Twitter
Psychosis isn’t new territory for literature, but it features much less in memoirs than grief, depression and anxiety. Frank’s vivid account is therefore an important addition to the genre.
— Julia Bueno - Times Literary Supplement
A bracingly beautiful account of learning to live with uncertainty in turbulent times.
— Shelf Awareness
From the Hollywood Hills to hospitalisations, Zig-Zag Boy shines a universal light on mental healthcare.… [E]legant, replete with meaning and metaphor.
— Frieda Klotz - Irish Independent
Compassionate and moving.… Zig-Zag Boy delves into a story that isn’t just Frank’s or her son’s, but also many other sons and daughters, mothers and fathers.… Zig-Zag Boy is a collective book, giving voice to all families who have experienced this often terrifying and jarring experience.
— Leslie Lindsay - Hippocampus
A great book about the power of motherhood.
— Terri Schlichenmeyer - Philadelphia Tribune
The book is a heartfelt and beautifully written account of dealing with mental distress and speaks movingly and honestly about the family’s struggles with broken healthcare systems in the US and the UK.
— James Moore - Mad in America
As she explores the sometimes-painful limits of mothering, Frank candidly discusses the wisdom of letting go what cannot be healed or made whole in exchange for the gift of acceptance. A heartfelt memoir about family, mental illness, and unconditional love.
— Kirkus Reviews
[A] crucial account, which will speak to other families caught between loved ones, mental illness, and society’s judgment.
— Booklist
Tanya Frank’s Zig-Zag Boy starts by chronicling a mother’s nightmare as her promising son falls into psychosis but ends up being far more than the story of what happens when we fear for the life of someone we love. A searing indictment of the medical industrial complex across continents, Frank’s memoir also offers a battle cry for new ways of looking at mental health care and reveals the deep urgency of valuing oneself enough to dare to heal in a perpetually uncertain world.
— Gina Frangello, author of Blow Your House Down: A Memoir of Family, Feminism, and Treason
In unforgettable imagery and nuanced prose, Tanya Frank gives us an incredible journey—from a parent’s worst fear to an opening in the world—through patient observance and love.
— Susan Straight, author of Mecca and In the Country of Women: A Memoir
