Along Came A Spider: A Personal Look At Madness (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: welfare department, first breakdown, Personal Look At Madness, New York, Dona Anita (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Another beautiful mind gives us a rare opportunity to experience the torments of hallucinations, delusions and anxieties a biochemical brain disorder can bring. In her most recent book, Along Came A Spider: A Personal Look At Madness, author Maryanne Raphael shares with us her intimate feelings, deepest pain, and eventual recovery.

Her words are not the usual definitions and descriptions found in mental health literature, but those of a lifelong journal keeper as she endures hospitalizations and the periods in between.

She shows the universality of mental illness as she keeps writing through her crises in Brazil, Morocco, New York, California and Hawaii.

And finally she gives us hope that those who suffer from a mental illness can live a stable, productive life. From her home base in Carlsbad, CA., Maryanne now travels the globe, continues her writing career and is an inspiration to all.

—Thelma Hayes, Founding President and Advocacy Chair, NAMI, NCSDC, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, North Costal San Diego County

About the Author

Maryanne Raphael was born in Waverly, Ohio, the oldest of ten children. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Ohio University, then went to the Sorbonne in Paris. She was an editor at Prentice Hall and an editorial assistant at Woman's Day magazine. She taught at The New School in New York, at Ohio University and the University of Hawaii. She was a Recreation Director and professional dancer for the United States Air Force Service Clubs in Europe, a co-worker of Mother Teresa's and a Disaster Worker for the American Red Cross. She has one son Raphael, a daughter-in-law Ginger and a grandson Zeal. She is author of MOTHER TERESA, CALLED TO LOVE, AKITA, A DOG FOR ALL SEASONS, HOW TO SURVIVE AS A FREE LANCE WRITER, THE MAN WHO LOVED FUNERALS and co-author of RUNAWAYS (with Jenifer Wolf) and ALEXANDRIA (with Patricia Walden).

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: IUniverse (August 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595237916
• ISBN-13: 978-0595237913
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,372,198 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a realistic look at madness & recovery, January 13, 2003

By A Customer

ALONG CAME A SPIDER, A PERSONAL LOOK AT MADNESS is one of the most frightening books I have ever read. And yet it was a book I could not put down once I began to read it. It describes in detail all the horrors, pain and terror that a bout with bi-polar madness can bring a person. The author Maryanne Raphael wrote the book based on journals that she kept during the years when she was in and out of mental hospitals on three continents.
Finally her doctors introduced her to Lithium which served to keep her illness under control and she was fortunate enough to find several therapists who have helped her live a regular
life. In fact she has managed to raise a healthy successful son who has a Masters Degree, to travel throughout the world, to serve as a Co-Worker of Mother Teresa and write a book about her.
She now has five books in print and is working on a sixth.
ALONG CAME A SPIDER is sn inspiration to anyone suffering from a mental illness. I would recommend it to anyone who knows someone suffering from the disease.

3.0 out of 5 stars Inside Manic-Depression, July 26, 2003

By	Jean Bryant (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Maryanne Raphael's "Along Came A Spider -- A Personal Look at Madness" is a testament to the therapeutic value of writing. This episodic account of psychotic breaks from reality as recorded in Maryanne's journal offers uncensored examples from inside the world of manic-depression. Although the book delivers what the title promises, her recovery from madness gets short shrift at the end. Very readable.