Monday, September 14, 2009

My Book Review of "In and out of Madness"



In N. L. Snowden's first book, In and out of Madness, published by Sneakaboard Press is a fictionalized account of a true story, Lee Thames has a problem, a great many problems not the least of which is her desire to kill her husband after many suicide attempts. She is being driven by devils within her. She has been in and out of mental hospitals She loses herself into the strange world of different individuals who crowd each other for space within Lee's thought process. She is also suffering from being bi-polar and develops multiple-personalities. Although In and out of Madness is a novel it is written in the first person in the memoir style.

Lee suffered abuse from her family. She had a mother who was quick with a switch and loved to embarrass her. Like far too many children, then and now, Lee was an afterthought to one or both parents. Growing up with two strikes against her, she developed into a woman who tried to please those within her sphere of life. A woman who, after accepting the proposal of her high school sweetheart, married him even though he came back from Vietnam paralyzed from the neck down.

Into this marriage she gave of herself completely, although it was often frustrating to her as a woman. Married to a husband who put his writing ahead of her was the catalyst which pushed her into taking other men to bed. Since he wasn't able to perform his husbandly duties he talked her into having other men provided she told him exactly what they did. Because of the bi-polar, which she was unaware of at the time, and her husband paying too much attention to a girl in her twenties, she said and did things she later understood was wrong and regretted.

Reading In and out of Madness brings into focus the lengths that humans will go to please their spouses and in the meantime lose part of their soul. After her first marriage dissolved and she found herself married to one of her lovers. During this marriage she was subjected to, willingly, because it seemed to be the only way to hold onto her husband, swinging with different couples. She was subjected to sexual debauchery, treachery and mind-bending control from her husband, a slick talker, especially when it came to Lee, who knew exactly what buttons to push, when to push them, and when to retreat. Through it all she held onto one thing which kept her going against all odds and that was her love for her daughter Jolly by her second husband.

The pressure of the constant turmoil and deceit from both husbands was too much for Lee and allowed her multiple personalities to assert themselves. That is when things really got interesting then. Plus she had her bi-polar problem which complicated everything. She was sent to a hospital which deals with such problems. Although, in her heart Lee tried her best to make both marriages work, she also comes to understand that her illness has made her do things which took her a long time to understand and come to grips with. Instead of portraying herself as a victim she is honest enough to admit her part of the problem.

Life often gives us double meanings and in the process we are subjected to the boomerang effect. In Lee Thames's life she realizes that what goes around does indeed come around. I highly recommend In and out of Madness to anyone who desires to read of a life almost ruined by mental illness, alcohol, drugs and sexual addiction of a spouse.



This book can be purchased at Amazon here . . .


Or Kindle here . . .



No comments:

Post a Comment