I Thought I Could Fly: Portraits of Anguish, Compulsion, and Despair [Paperback]

Charlee Brodsky (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2008

“Evocative images, eloquent testimony—a frank and often inspiring exploration of the experience of mental illness.”—Peter D. Kramer, author of Freud: Inventor of the Modern Mind and Listening to Prozac

A tree’s bare limbs against a grey sky, a young woman’s vintage slip, the view beneath a bridge’s span. Charlee Brodsky’s stark black-and-white photographs combine with a concise collection of moving personal narratives to form an eloquent ensemble of tragedy and hope in the struggle to cope with mental illness.

Charlee Brodsky is a documentary photographer and a professor of photography at Carnegie Mellon University.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It provides short, sharp, authentic first-person narratives-and accompanying photos-exploring what it feels like to suffer from depression and other mental illnesses. Each vignette presents a distinctive story, whether it reveals the ecstasies and abysses of bipolarity or the devastation wrought by the suicide of a close friend. This book cannot really be compared to other works-the reviewer has never seen another like it." -- Library Journal, May 15, 2008

About the Author

Charlee Brodsky is a documentary photographer and a professor of photography at Carnegie Mellon University. She has collaborated on numerous illustrated books with poets, anthropologists and writers on subjects ranging from breast cancer and mental illness to industrial blight. She has won numerous awards, has curated exhibitions dealing with the history of Pennsylvania and exhibits her photography nationally and regionally.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press; 1 edition (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193413709X
• ISBN-13: 978-1934137093
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #779,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have Book!!!!, April 15, 2009

By 

Sharon A. Nau (Pittsburgh, PA. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Thought I Could Fly: Portraits of Anguish, Compulsion, and Despair (Paperback)

This is a "must have" book for anyone working in the field, living with, or just knowing someone suffering from mental illness, and a great book for students who wish to work with mental illness too.
Charlee Brodsky captures the lives of people with mental illness through her beautifully written short stories, highlighting the immense array of emotions, pain, and misunderstanding, that everyday people endure due to suffering from mental health problems. She is able to illustrate to you the reader just what people feel, fear, and have to conquer through the expressiveness in her words and pictures. This book gives us a glimpse of what life for the person with mental illness is like, and it also helps to shed the stigma associated with it as it opens up our hearts, and minds, and lets us know that we have more in common with each other than differences. Brilliant is the word that comes to mind about this book, I LOVED IT!!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Thought I Could Fly...An Memorable Read, May 16, 2008

By 

Denise DiPasquale - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Thought I Could Fly: Portraits of Anguish, Compulsion, and Despair (Paperback)

This book is beautiful, wrenching, inspiring and brave. The extraordinary challenges of mental illness are tackled with depth and grace. The stories are real and compelling. They provide a window into the day to day struggles of those suffering from mental illness as well as the impacts on those who love them. For me, the photographs are the most moving part of the book. They are beautiful, haunting art but, more important, they are integral to the stories being told. This book provides real insight into the complex nature of mental illness.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Thought I Could Fly - fascinating look into real stories of mental illness, May 8, 2008

By 

Juliette White "Juliette" (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Thought I Could Fly: Portraits of Anguish, Compulsion, and Despair (Paperback)

I loved this book for many reasons. On a practical note, for anyone who can't stay awake at night for more than two or three pages, this book delivers an intense personal story in a ten minute read. Some nights I couldn't put it down, and stayed up for two or three intense stories.

Second, this book offers insight into the day-to-day living of those who deal with mental illness - both those that are ill, and those who must care for them. Each story is different, and all are compelling. I think that anyone who either suffers with mental illness or has a loved one who suffers, will find this book both disturbing and comforting. Don't miss the end, where each person is revisited two years later, offering a peek at the possible outcomes of such extraordinary stories. I highly recommend this book.