Descending into madness is a terrifying thought. The edges of your life become blurred, ordinary things don’t seem as normal anymore. In “Brain on Fire,” journalist Susannah Cahalan exquisitely details her journey into and out of madness in a fantastically chilling memoir.
The first thing I noticed about the book was the author’s name. Seeing as both my name and its variations (Susannah, Susanna, Suzannah, etc.) aren’t very common, I decided to see what another writer with my name was capable of. Plus, the subject matter was intriguing. Eventually this same thought process led me to “Brain on Fire.”
The book begins with Cahalan convinced her apartment is infested with bed bugs. After calling an exterminator and believing the matter was taken care of, stranger things begin happening to her. She starts suffering from panic attacks, feeling an unfamiliar numbness in her hands and having minor seizures. After about a month of these symptoms, Cahalan has a major seizure and is admitted to the hospital. Doctors spend several weeks trying to diagnose her while her condition becomes more and more severe, before coming up with a rare diagnosis that ends up saving her life.
What makes “Brain on Fire” so terrifying is that it forces you to relate to the writer; at first, her life is normal and nothing is amiss. Then, her body begins attacking her brain with no notice. She’s diagnosed with NMDA (N-methyl D-aspartate), a rare disease that, at the time, had only been diagnosed in about 200 people. Because of the rarity of the disease, little is still known about it. But what is known is that it can happen to anyone at any time.
Cahalan based the book off of a column she’d written for the New York Post about her experiences. Having forgotten her month-long stay in the hospital, she was forced to go back and interview her parents, her boyfriend and doctors and nurses who witnessed her mental degradation. With the information she gathered, Cahalan pieced together a chilling account of what happened to her, and how she eventually recovered.
“Brain on Fire” is the type of book you see very rarely. Incredibly self-aware, Susannah Cahalan was able to objectively write about her experiences in the hospital and her recovery, which is an incredible feat. It’s the kind of book that manages to frighten and intrigue, without even being fiction. “Brain on Fire” doesn’t need vampires or demons to remain interesting; Cahalan’s monsters are in her mind, and they’ll haunt you for days after you’ve finished reading.
Leave a Reply