Review: Darkness Visible
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsStyron tells of his descent into clinical depression, later hospitalization, and recovery. Much of this slim (96-page) work appeared last year in Vanity Fair magazine. In 1984, Styron's 30 years of alcohol and more recent excessive tranquilizer intake (Halcion) combined to make alcohol poisonous to his system and deprived him totally of his friendly balm, the alcohol that he says allowed him to open up his works as a clear mind never could (he adds that he never wrote while drinking). Shortly thereafter, he went into depression, which he thinks may or may not have been tied in with going cold turkey off booze. He puts forth various genetic hints (his father had ""battled the gorgon for much of his lifetime"") and suggests buried childhood events to explain the origins of his illness. His depression would sweep over him late in the day, just at the time of the afternoon nap he could no longer achieve and apparently just before the hour of the first drink that he could no longer have. The depths of his depression carried him far beyond alcohol withdrawal and pill poisoning, Styron says. In general, the tour of the depression he renders is gripping, though simply as writing it could have done with more intense immediacy and searing detail. It's best when dramatizing a deepening stage in the illness, and it comes to a high point when Styron decides to kill himself and throws his private diary into the garbage. By then we are convinced that his illness is as he says, ""so overwhelming as to be quite beyond expression."" Only various lines from Dante, he thinks, come near to showing his experience. He admires his wile Rose for standing by him at his most obliterated, and we get a sense of uplift when his hospitalization and new drug begin to take hold. His scathing review of antidepressants seems just. Each victim of depression is unique, and we feel that Styron has shown us--in large strokes without getting as razor-edged as Robert Lowell--as much of his black pit as he can bear to show.
Review: Darkness Visible
User Review - Leah - GoodreadsI suppose this is held in high esteem because it was one of the first detailed, honest depictions of depression in the pharmaceutical era, but I wasn't especially moved. I've found more insight into depression in other books. Read full review
Review: Darkness Visible
User Review - Lucinda K - GoodreadsIf I were to name the thing I liked least about this book, it would definitely be that I wanted more of it. Styron was going in all sorts of interesting directions in his discussion of depression and ... Read full review
Review: Darkness Visible
User Review - Elisa - Goodreadsthis was a very important book to me at a certain moment in my life. I'll always be grateful to it as an important tool to combat depression written by a fiercely honest and gifted writer. Read full review
Review: Darkness Visible
User Review - Tracy - GoodreadsWonderful book about one man's experience with depression. Beautifully written and very real. Highly recommended! Read full review
Review: Darkness Visible
User Review - Nicola Waldron - GoodreadsOddly uplifting -- explained to me why I might now, having weathered the storm, experience at times such an embarrassment of joy. We certainly feel for the man, though he still doesn't -- as he says, can't, no one can -- really describe depression at its depths. Read full review
Review: Darkness Visible
User Review - Kate Fogle klarmann - GoodreadsSo refreshing to read a work on depression that was able to transcend the usual verbiage related to works of this kind. The emotion and depth were there. An informative and enlightening read for those who have not suffered in this way - an all too-real account for those who have. Read full review
Review: Darkness Visible
User Review - Melissa - GoodreadsThe book is overall purely academic. I think this is a good read for anyone that is in the medical field, such as Dr's or nurses. It helps you understand the mind of someone suffering from depression ... Read full review
Review: Darkness Visible
User Review - Serina Spencer - GoodreadsDepression is impossible to describe to someone who has never faced it, so it's oddly comforting to read something written by someone who already understands. And knowing that even an accomplished ... Read full review
Review: Darkness Visible
User Review - Andrea - GoodreadsI think Styron made a real contribution by describing his experience of major, suicidal depression. As a psychotherapist who sees a good bit of this, I feel indebted to him for his tremendous writing ... Read full review
