His Bright Light: The Story of Nick Traina (Paperback)

~ (Author) "I met Nick's father on his thirty-first birthday, on a sunny day in June..." (more)
Key Phrases: wilderness program, bipolar disease, New York, Sammy the Mick, Father's Day (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Like Kurt Cobain, Nick Traina lived for punk rock (his bands made two CDs, Gift Before I Go and 17 Reasons), succumbed to heroin addiction, and died of suicide. His mom, Danielle Steel, takes us through her 19 twister-like years with Nick in a memoir more affecting than her potboiler novels. Like his AWOL addict father, Nick had good looks, bad behavior, and a yen for the feminine. Five days before he died, he phoned a woman he saw in a centerfold and had a new girlfriend by nightfall. But his fun was ever haunted by manic depression. At age 11, he was a bed wetter who ate all the Tylenol and Sudafed in the house. He first considered suicide at 13, as Steel learned by reading his diaries after his death.

There is tension in this story--one doctor told Steel if she could get Nick to live to 30, he'd probably live a normal life span. (For example, Nick's troubled dad resurfaced, sober, soon after his son's death.) And Steel conveys a sense of the intelligence Nick used to conceal his learning disability, and the irreverent charm that alternated with irrational rages. Oliver Sacks has urged us not to ask what neurological disease a person has, but what sort of person the disease has got hold of. Steel gives us a vivid sense of the costs of the disease to a family--and of the person who was Nick Traina. --Tim Appelo --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

The best-selling novelist on the lifeAand deathAof the manic depressive son she loved so deeply.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Delta (February 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385334672
• ISBN-13: 978-0385334679
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (213 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #36,094 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #7 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Women Writers
  #10 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Death & Grief > Suicide
  #21 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Mental Health > Manic Depression

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Touching Tribute, March 20, 2000

By	[e-mail] (Temecula California) - See all my reviews

I am 14 years old and just finished this story. It's always sad when someone loses their life, especially if they are young and seem to have a bright future ahead of them. Danielle Steel did a wonderful job telling the harrowing tale of her baby boy. (If you read some of the other reviews, some say that Ms. Steel only wrote the book for money. I disagree completely and don't understand where they get off saying that because the proceeds go to the Nick Traina Foundation and the sorrow of losing a child is not something that is taken lightly, esecially by the mother) I saw an ad for His Bright Light and decided to read it to learn about this serious illness. It taught me a lot about how manic depressives act and what goes on inside their heads. At the end I cried when I found out how he died and the events of the days before he did. If you would like to learn more about manic depression from something other then a medical textbook or are a fan of Link 80 and/or Knowledge, read this book and get know Nick Traina and the mother who loved him and never gave up hope.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My 1st Danielle Steel Book...Ever., May 16, 2004

By	Eric A. Klee "gapkid" (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I admit it. I've never read a Danielle Steel book. I've never been interested enough, although I know many people who rave about her. Her stories just aren't necessarily my "cup of tea." However, I was highly recommended this true-story book about her son's life by a friend of mine, so I decided to give it a try.

I got to experience DS's flair for writing and its conversational style. It was very easy to read and held my interest. Pages flowed into the next. I can see her widespread appeal.

Not only was the story sad yet uplifting, but "His Bright Light" helped me to understand manic depressive behavior intimately as DS learned it herself over the years. It was quite the lesson in psychology for those who don't want to get bogged down with or can't quite grasp the technical or scientific aspects of it.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to know more about the disease, her son's life, as well as DS's life. She provides some great autobiographical material for those interested. It's a quick read, and it'll be worth the effort, especially if you know someone with similar challenges in their own life...

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Heartfelt but mawkish and repetitive, September 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: His Bright Light (Hardcover)

While one can only possibly feel sympathy for the pain Nick's mother feels, her writing style is sentimental and flowery in the extreme. The descriptions of a manic depressive personality and suggestions for dealing with one are excellent, and there is no doubt that she did all she could for her son whom she loved dearly - however having established that, it was tedious to read over, and over, and over again her expressions of motherly love, her gratitude repeatedly to the same people and the gushing in general. It is also difficult to understand from her telling why she was unable to cope with her own son while another mother with less space, less money and younger children was able to take him in for the last few years. The book was worthwhile in some ways but could have told the same story with as much information and feeling in less than half the number of pages.