Review (PDF)

Killing The Black Dog: A Memoir Of Depression

In 1988, shortly after moving from Sydney back to his birthplace in the rural New South Wales hamlet of Bunyah, Les Murray was struck with depression. In the months that followed, the "Black Dog" (as he calls it) ruled his life. He raged at his wife and children. He ducked a parking ticket on grounds of insanity, and begged a police officer to shoot him rather than arrest him. For days on end he lay in despair, a state in which, as he puts it precisely, "you feel beneath help." Killing the Black Dog is Murray's recollection of those awful days: brief, pointed, wise, and full of beauty in the way of his poetry. The prose text―delicately balanced between personal and informative―gives a glimpse of the imprint that depression can leave on a life. The accompanying poems show their roots in his crisis―a crisis from which, he reports toward the close of this poignant book, he has fully recovered. "My thinking is no longer jammed and sooty with resentment," he recalls. "I no longer wear only stretch-knit clothes and drawstring pants. I no longer come down with bouts of weeping or reasonless exhaustion. And I no longer seek rejection in a belief that only bitterly conceded praise is reliable." Killing the Black Dog is a crucial chapter in the life of an outstanding poet.

Paperback: 96 pages

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Reprint edition (March 15, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0374181063

ISBN-13: 978-0374181062

Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.2 x 8.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #1,372,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #60 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > Australia & Oceania #300 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Australian #1594 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Themes & Styles > Inspirational & Religious

Conveys the sense of how it feels to be depressed in a clear, engrossing and honest narrative free of whining or self pity. Shows how much knowing the causes helps, how much medication helps and the ultimate vulnerability to recurrence remains. Great read for a depressive person and for whoever loves one. The combination of poetry and prose allows the reader to know the facts and feel the emotions.

This tiny book has two parts: the short essay on author ' s depression - vague, full of unimportant details and the second part are poems. I know something about depression myself, so i know little piece of writing tells almost nothing valuable about it. Vague and useless.

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