Out of Tune

Why would an honor student who loves books vandalize a public library, leaving shattered glass all over? Why would a man who barely survived a horrific motorcycle crash insist that his recovery was due to a mysterious falcon that flew over to his bedside every night and assured him the world could not afford to lose him? What could make a brilliant Harvard-bound young man suddenly abandon all career plans , lock himself in a basement to set up “the greatest corporation there ever was or ever will be" and then actually go down to the County Clerk’s office and file the necessary papers to register his company? What would make a lonesome, single woman in her thirties point a gun at some birds chirping in the trees above her apartment and shoot? Why would a gifted poet get into so many barroom brawls at her favorite watering hole that she has to be permanently banned? How could an office worker out on her lunch hour suddenly develop a compulsion to stare at the sun?

No, these are not characters from some dystopian novel. This is not fiction. These are all real people whose lives have been warped and disfigured by mental illness. They all show up in the pages of Ms. Maiden's difficult memoir of living life as a person who must deal with the scourge of mental illness day in and day out. It is an affliction that comes in many flavors and colors, some of them muted or subtle, not immediately visible to an outsider. It is an illness that can be, and often is, deadly. This memoir, through a series of poignant vignettes that trace the author's "misbegotten" life from early adolescence to senior citizen, gives the reader a tour of a dark and disturbing landscape, but one that is familiar to millions of our fellow travelers, some of whom you might never suspect. Told with brutal honesty, graphic and unsparing in details, this book gives a raw, unfiltered look at an illness that has been shrouded in shame and secrecy for far too long.