The Edge of Every Day: Sketches of Schizophrenia
“An astonishing, essential read” — BuzzFeed
Against the starkly beautiful backdrop of Anchorage, Alaska, where the author grew up, Marin Sardy weaves a fearless account of the shapeless thief—the schizophrenia—that kept her mother immersed in a world of private delusion and later manifested in her brother, ultimately claiming his life. Composed of exquisite, self-contained chapters that, cumulatively, take us through three generations of this adventurous, artistic, and often haunted family, The Edge of Every Day is an inquiry into our assumptions about how the mind can and should work—and a referendum on the treatment of the mentally ill in our society. Through it all is Sardy's blazing compassion and relentless curiosity: her meditations take us to the very edge of love and loss—and invite us to look at what comes after.
The debut of an important new literary voice: an extraordinarily affecting, fiercely intelligent memoir that unflinchingly traces the path of the schizophrenia that runs in the author's family.
now out in paperback!
also available in hardcover, ebook, or audiobook