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Hurry Down Sunshine: A Memoir | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Greenberg
Publisher: Harpercollins Canada
Category: Book
Buy New: $59.99
New (1) Used (1) from $59.99
Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 7503949
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 233
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.8
ISBN: 0002007746
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.1968950092
EAN: 9780002007740
ASIN: 0002007746
Publication Date: August 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: NEWER EDITION
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Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Michael Greenberg's spare, unflinching memoir begins with a bang: "On July 5, 1996, my daughter was struck mad." Hurry Down Sunshine chronicles the summer when fifteen-year-old Sally experienced her first full-blown manic episodean event that in a "single stroke" changed her identity and, by extension, that of her entire family. Simply told and beautifully written, Greenberg's memoir shines a stark light on mental illness, painting a vivid picture of a brain and body under siegemania as a separate living thing squatting within the patient. As a writer who lives "so much in his head," Greenberg is particularly anguished by his daughter's fractured psyche, and his honesty about being both sickened and fascinated by his daughter's condition is breathtaking: "During the worst moments, I think of her as my diseasethe disease I must bear...I am intoxicated with Sally's madness in both senses of the word: inebriated and poisoned." So desperate is he to understand her, that he relentlessly researches mental illness (the book is peppered with fascinating insights into drug therapy and anecdotes about writers who struggled with madness), and even goes so far as to sample a full dose of his daughter's medication. Startling, heart-wrenching, and yet unwaveringly unsentimental, Hurry Down Sunshine is an unforgettable story of a young girl's descent into madness, told through the eyes of a harried and helpless father trying desperately to bring her back. --Daphne Durham
Product Description
Hurry Down Sunshine tells the story of the extraordinary summer when, at the age of fifteen, Michael Greenberg’s daughter was struck mad. It begins with Sally’s sudden visionary crack-up on the streets of Greenwich Village, and continues, among other places, in the out-of-time world of a Manhattan psychiatric ward during the city’s most sweltering months. “I feel like I’m traveling and traveling with nowhere to go back to,” Sally says in a burst of lucidity while hurtling away toward some place her father could not dream of or imagine. Hurry Down Sunshine is the chronicle of that journey, and its effect on Sally and those closest to her–her mother and stepmother, her brother and grandmother, and, not least of all, the author himself.
Among Greenberg’s unforgettable gallery of characters are an unconventional psychiatrist, an Orthodox Jewish patient, a manic Classics professor, a movie producer, and a landlord with literary aspirations. Unsentimental, nuanced, and deeply humane, Hurry Down Sunshine holds the listener in a mesmerizing state of suspension between the mundane and the transcendent.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 65 more reviews...
Sunshine's always there. January 1, 2009
I don't have the slimmest idea of what a bipolar disorder can be. So, when I picked up "Hurry Down Sunshine", I wasn't anticipating too much. I even doubted whether I would be interested enough to finish reading this book.
I did finish the book.
Greenberg wrote this book with such a frank, sincere and delicate style that I became immediately engrossed after turning over the first page.
Sally's schizophrenia may haunt her for the rest of her life. But Hurry Down Sunshine shows the reader what a loving and caring family she enjoys. Courage and dedication are just the sunshine for anybody suffering from psychosis.
Good luck to Sally, and her great father, Greenberg.
 Reality December 29, 2008
This is an excellent narrative account of the author walking alongside his 15 year old daughter as she has her initial manic psychotic episode and proceeds through the mental health system. It lends perspective to those who may have heard of bipolar or manic-depressive illness but don't really know how it fleshes out. I imagine it would provide knowledge and comfort to families suddenly finding themselves helping a loved one under similar circumstances. Greenberg clearly and accurately portrays his experience how it played out chronologically, including interactions and relationships with other family members. Highly recommended!
Interesting Story December 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an interesting story about Michael Greenberg's daughter, Sally, who one day out of the blue just goes crazy. It tells how he and his wife, Pat, his ex-wife and his family and friends dealt with it. Primarily it is about Sally and her story. I found it interesting how different people dealt with this. I got into this book right away and enjoyed it. I recommend it and think you will enjoy it too. Thanks for sharing, Mr. Greenberg.
Wonderfully Written November 26, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Hurry Down Sunshine", written by a father about his 15-year-old daughter's first bought with mania, is as much about his and his family's reactions to her struggle as it is about the condition itself. Told in a prosaic style, Michael Greenberg deals with the subject with utter honesty and absolute authenticity, sharing his confusion and pain as a father side-by-side with the anguish of someone whose darkest nightmare is coming true. Event though Greenberg is caring for his mentally ill brother, who is going through some difficulties of his own around this time, he was still completely unprepared for his daughter's illness.
Greenberg's writing is superb; although dealing with a poignant subject, the book never falls into self-pity, self-justification or sentimentality. The work leaves the reader with a great deal to think about as well as a hunger for more from Michael Greenberg.
I would recommend this to any reader interested in understanding what mental illness extracts from a caregiver or those close to the sufferer.
This was a great book! November 23, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This was a great book! I highly recommend it! Have fun!
http://www.lwsfreedom.com/id/greentitan
Merry Christmas!!!
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