Imagining Robert: My Brother, Madness, and Survival: A Memoir

This is a marvelous book, one of the best I have ever read. It is the authors memoir of his brother Robert. He attempts to compose a life, one that is unique, creative and mercurial. Robert has spent most of his adult life struggling with mental illness, enmeshed in a bureaucratic and dispassionate system that views him as a disease or label, giving little attention to the human composition of this precious man. Robert and Jay's lower middle class Brooklyn upbringing evoked many similar images from my own childhood in New York. Their narcissistic mother uses shame and guilt as the means to inspire adoration. Their mother worships their father who is emotionally non-existent to Jay and Robert. Jay attempts to understand who Robert is a a component of his family, society, experiences and genetics. He opposes the reductionist medical model of mental illness and abhors the dehumanizing treatment model that Robert has been forced to endure. Their love is poignant and this book is a grand testimony to their relationship. I imagine Robert.

I learned alot about the life of someone with a non-trivial emothional problem(s) and how society (and families) treats them. I also experienced an absorbing personal story that made it hard for me to put the book down. Well written, highly absorbing, educational, and highly recommeneded.

I absolutely loved this book. Reviewers here have complained that it's not just about Robert, but about the author and his life. I loved that fact. I too have a brother w/ a mental illness, and I too am a teacher and I like to write. I found all of these stories -- the story of Robert, Jay's connection to him, Jay's struggle to tell Robert's story, and Jay's life as a father -- all equally compelling. I finished the book in 2 days and sent an effusive email to the author, who sent me a kind email back that very same day. This book moved me deeply, made me think and want to write.

If you're looking for a way to help a mentally ill relative, you must read this compelling book and its (equally compelling) successor, "Transforming Madness: New Lives for People Living with Mental Illness," also by Morrow. No, don't just read them. Buy them; tuck them away in a visible, dust-free spot; pull them out for inspiration when your relationship with your relative falls into a pothole. Big Neugie and Little Neugie will help pull the two of you out of it and go on with your lives together.

If you want to understand more about mental illness, read this book. The author tries to "imagine Robert", his younger brother who has spent most of his adult life coping with mental illness. The author looks at Robert's life wholistically - not as an illness or label, but as a man with a history, unique set of experiences and a creative, loving and mercurial personality. The information about mental illness is great and will raise consciousness for many. The dispassionate, bureaucratic and often senseless 'treatment' theories and facilities are described as accurately as anything I've read and experienced. As an advocate for the mentally ill, I applaud this book. As a reader, I thank Robert and his brother for allowing me this special glimpse into their lives. I truly can imagine Robert and appreciate how blessed are those who know him