Half In Love

BOOK: Half In Love (surviving the legacy of suicide)
AUTHOR: Linda Gray Sexton

GRADE: A

The legendary poet Anne Sexton’s literary mark continues to shine through the stirring writings her of her daughter, Linda. This beautifully written memoir gives the reader an intimate look into the holes left in Linda’s psyche after her mother’s public suicide in 1974. What we witness is the unrelenting power of mental illness to override even the most sincere and fervent promises of sound mental health and aversion to suicide made to oneself and one’s family. “Half in Love” makes for compelling evidence of the hereditary factor in mental illness – particularly with Bi-polar Illness.

Linda grew up saddled most of her life with the burden of keeping her mother alive while alternating between feelings of suffocating love her mother and guilt-inducing anger (also stemming from the sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of her mentally ill mother). Additionally, Linda struggles with the literary talent she inherited; which inextricably links her to her mother permanently and publicly. We watch as Linda creates her own family, thrives in the role of dutiful mother (whom she never had) and sane yet talented writer. Heartbreakingly, we then witness her descent into the world of suicidal ideation and obsessive self-mutilation. Unsurprisingly, she makes her first attempt to take her life on the anniversary of her mother’s first attempt and allows the next ten years to mimic her mother’s descent into all consuming misery.

Finally, with the help of an amazing therapist, medication and a new love in her life she is able to start pulling herself out of the abyss and reclaim her life. Her recovery is painfully slow. Her setbacks are heartbreaking but her resolve is inspiring. The book does not end on a sugar coated happy pink cloud. Both she and the reader are acutely aware that the rabbit hole that leads to misery is always right there behind her; beckoning her back. All we can do is hope for a continued life of happiness and be grateful for our own joys and triumphs.

“Half in Love” gets my utmost recommendation. Anyone who has struggled with mental illness will see themselves in every word. Anyone who has watched a family member battle with disease will absorb her feelings. And all will be fascinated and inspired.