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Brain on Fire a Fascinating Story of Madness

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Brain on Fire a Fascinating Story of MadnessBrain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
Published by Free Press on November 13, 2012
Genres/Lists: Memoir, Non-Fiction
Pages: 250
Read synopsis on Goodreads
Buy the book: Amazon/Audible (this post includes affiliate links) five-stars


Imagine knowing that you are embarking on a downward spiral but being powerless to stop it. Sounds horrifying, right? It is, and it’s exactly what happened to Susannah Cahalan, a 24-year-old New York Post reporter. What began as a bite mark and a few overreactions quickly led to seizures, physical and mental deterioration, and to a troubling diagnosis. Was it because she drinking too much? Having a nervous breakdown? A psychotic break? Was she schizophrenic? Bipolar? With a full spectrum of symptoms that fit into a number of conditions and disorders, the Susannah friends and family knew and loved had disappeared. 

“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.”

Aristotle

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness is the fascinating story of Cahalan’s journey to hell and back. Because she has no memory of her experience, she has reconstructed in her memoir her lost month by relying on videotapes, journals, and interviews with friends, family, and doctors. From paranoia, seizures, hospitalization, hallucinations, and short-term memory loss to the misdiagnoses and road to recovery, she holds nothing back. The result is an incredible story that is impossible to put down.

#BrainonFire is the fascinating story of one woman's lost month of madness. It's a must-read! Click To Tweet

As brutal as this book is (which I happened to start on March 16, the day she entered the hospital in 2009), the fact that she was able to write it is an indication that it has a happy ending. It’s also clear that Cahalan is, by trade, a writer. Whether it’s her writing style or the story itself, I eagerly raced through the pages with awe and wonder at what she went through and where she ended up. She leaves no stone unturned, discussing how the experience changed her relationships with her previously distant father and new boyfriend and its impact on her job. She also chronicles her recovery, detailing awkward social exchanges, going back to work, and how the experience changed her life in ways she is still realizing. It’s a stunning story but it’s also a painful one, filled with terrible experiences she asserts she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy.

Carota by Joan Miró stayed with Cahalan throughout her ordeal.

When I was browsing reviews for Brain on Fire, I came across mostly positive ones. That said, I came across a few that said the book’s focus on the medical side of things was overwhelming. I completely disagree with this assertion. In a book about a disorder affecting the brain, medical jargon is an absolute must for a reader to fully understand what happened to Cahalan. I found her approach to the terminology and explanations to be casually and seamless integrated into the story and would hate for someone to skip this book based on a fear of it being too “academic” in its descriptions.

Now that I’ve warned against that particular warning, you have probably figured out that I haven’t shared what her eventual diagnosis was or how she got sick in the first place. That’s because I went into this book not knowing the details and think it was a more powerful page-turner because of it. In not knowing, I went down the rabbit hole with her, complete with the confusion and awareness (or lack thereof) that came along with it. While I’ll never truly be able to grasp the horrors that she went through, I was able to catch a glimpse of it. Whether you know the cause or not, I highly recommend this book. It’s raw, honest, heartbreaking, and uplifting all at the same time and I’m better off for knowing her story. 

Recommended for: Memoir fans and anyone who is interested in how your brain and body can fail you.

What’s your favorite memoir?

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  • This does sound like a terrifying experience! I’ve only heard good things about it and I’m definitely not worried about some technical language, so I’d love to pick this up.

  • I’m 100 percent on board with this review! I don’t remember the medical terminology or discussion being too much — it’s vital to seeing how she reconstructed this time and how they eventually came to a diagnosis. I loved this book.

    • I completely agree with that statement – it was VITAL.

  • Brian Joseph

    This sounds both fascinating and horrifying.

    Modern medicine can at times seem incredible. When it fails to diagnose a quickly deteriorating situation it can just add to the impression of an out of control catastrophe.

    I think that I would also enjoy the detailed medical aspects of this book.

    • The medical aspects were robust enough to get a good idea of how the brain works but approachable enough not to be overwhelming. It’s definitely horrifying AND fascinating.

  • Jennine G.

    Wow, I read a review on this book that didn’t leave me wanting to read it, but you’ve done a very good job at changing that. I’m really interested in reading this now.

    • Oh, please read it! And glad I could help nudge you in the *right* direction!

  • I read it last year and it didn’t do as much for me. I read a decent amount of psychology nonfiction and I have generally found that patient memoirs are less interesting for me. I would have been much more intrigued in a book by her team of doctors trying to make the diagnosis. I was disappointed in how little it did for me because I’d been really excited to read it!

    • That’s a bummer! Reading it from the doctors’ perspective would have been interesting but hopefully they are too busy figuring it out to write a book about it!

  • Totally agree with everything you said! I was fascinated by the medical mystery of finding out what she had. And I think she did a great job of explaining all the medical jargon. My main takeaway from this one was how we basically think doctors can fix anything, but really it’s impossible for the medical profession to know everything…there’s still so much they don’t know/understand!

    • Yes! Doctors can do their best but at the end of the day they have only the resources available to them. That means that if something is new, they have nothing to go on and have to figure it out. Hopefully, we’re lucky enough to have a doctor who is willing to do that.

  • I agree! I listened to the audio and also only had a general idea of the book, without knowing the specifics. It was horrifying to hear the details and to wonder how many misdiagnoses are out there for people without access to top medical care!

    • I know! And even those with healthcare can’t be certain that the diagnosis will be correct, which is frightening all on its own.

  • This book sounds like a book I wouldn’t be able to able to put down and one that would scare the daylights out of me. I’m morbidly curious to read it even though I know it would probably give me a panic attack.

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