Book: The Eden Express

A 1975 book by Kurt Vonnegut's son about his descent into mental illness and long slow slog out of it again. He's remarkably capable of describing the process, and does a good job of putting the reader inside his head.

Maybe a little too good. It's kinda me me me.

FINALLY finished this book, I've been dipping my toes into it for what, five weeks now? It's a harrowing read, being such a vivid first-person description of slipping into schizophrenia, and I kept having to take a break from it. But it's extremely well written, and engaging, and illuminating. Vonnegut was a prototypical hippie in the early seventies, growing long hair and a beard and living on a commune and it's refreshing to read him giving these experiences the full weight and importance that we all felt they deserved at the time. Even though he recovered, and we've all grown up a lot, he doesn't denigrate the times as so many apologists do these days.

Out of curiosity I bought and read (in 2 days) Vonnegut's second (and so far last) book, "Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So" (2010).  In it he details his life after "Eden Express," in which he goes to medical school (Harvard) and becomes a pediatrician, gets married, has kids, and settles into a nice normal productive life.

Then, at age 38, he has another psychiatric episode.  Oops!