Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Rules of the Tunnel by Ned Zeman
Please join Ned Zeman, author of The Rules of the Tunnel, as he tours the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours!
Reviewed by Jill Arent
The Rules of the Tunnel is author Ned Zeman’s story about his “brief period of madness” – otherwise known as his lifelong experience with depression and anxiety disorders seasoned with his stint with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
By all appearances, Ned had it all – a writer for Vanity Fair who divided his time between book/magazine parties and celebrity interviews, lived in New York City and Los Angeles-adjacent Canyons, and experienced more than his share of the so-called endless party lifestyle. But inside, he was a veritable ocean of insecurity and anxiety. He spent many a day self-medicating and self-therapying – on top of many a year of professional medicating and therapying. What did he have to show for it? Well, a host of articles, a slew of ex-girlfriends, and a rather impressive collection of missing memories. The missing memories are due to the ECT, Zeman’s last-ditch attempt at becoming “normal” – or whatever approximates normal in the modern world.
His story is engaging but often very disjointed. At first, I thought this was a failing of the story or writing style. As the book progressed, I changed my mind. I think it was intentional – an attempt to translate the workings of his head (or, perhaps more aptly, the non-workings) into print as a means of demonstrating what it felt like to live inside that head. If so, Zeman’s head must have been a disturbing and disconcerting place – and it’s amazing he was able to live there.
The Rules of the Tunnel isn’t a self-deprecating tale of redemption. It is a slog, difficult to read not because of the writing but because of the subject matter. I don’t know that I learned anything new, other than that Zeman should thank his lucky stars that he was surrounded by the people he was, with the resources at his disposal that he had. Many others with similar affliction have been far less lucky and had to do far more with far less. Maybe, in the end, that is where Zeman occasionally lost me, empathetically. He had a tale to tell, and he did. And if it wasn’t pretty to read, well, it certainly sounds like it wasn’t pretty to live either.
Rating: 3/5
A former corporate attorney and government relations/health policy executive, Jill-Elizabeth walked away from that world (well, skipped actually) and toward a more literary life (equally challenging, but infinitely more enjoyable). If you enjoyed this review, please visit her at Jill-Elizabeth.com, the official home of All Things Jill-Elizabeth.
Giveaway:
I have 1 copy of The Rules of the Tunnel to give away!
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This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents only. Deadline to enter is midnight on September 2, 2011.
Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Gotham. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
Category: Disorders & Diseases, Giveaways, Health, Mind, & Body, Memoirs, Nonfiction, Personal Health
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This does sound like a difficult read due to the subject matter. Thank you for sharing your thoughts as part of the tour!
Awesome! Plus, I entered the “A Cluttered Life” giveaway.
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Sounds like an interesting book. Thanks for the chance.
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Sounds like a very interesting read – please count me in
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Sounds like a terrific book! Would love to receive a copy and review it.
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I love the sound of this book. I can’t wait to read it.
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The book sounds fascinating, I am a psychiatric nurse.
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[...] the deal: Vera’s a blog host for the tour of The Rules of the Tunnel, written by Ned Zeman. There’s a review of this book, so be sure to read it and see if it’s something [...]
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I find this book very interesting. I turned down ect when I was in an incredibly long horrible clinical depression. I am glad I did on so many levels. It turns out I had a arterial veinous malformation (brain tumor) that had been hemmoraging for quite some time. I don’t think ect would have helped it! The tumor didn’t cause depression, I am a bi-polar with OCD. I read any books I come across written by people who have experiened head injuries or mental illness issues. I will be reading this for sure.
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Thanks for commenting/visiting Kathleen – the book is an interesting read and I would imagine you would find it even more so than most, given your own almost-experience with ECT… I hope you enjoy the story and would be curious to hear your (or anyone else’s) thoughts on it once you get a chance to read it.
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This book sounds great and I would love to read it
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such a difficult experience of living.. wondering if this is contemporary happenings for Ned as i thought the electric shock treatments were a disproved thing of the past?… grew up in my childhood with a family friend who’d experienced just such damage and the effects on the entire family as well as us as family friends. too sad ~
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It is a contemporary story – Ned’s treatment experiences are not historical by any means… The book spends a fair amount of time discussing ECT and explaining away many of the myths and misunderstandings. It is a safe and highly effective treatment that is still used today when other options have proved unsuccessful – for more info, check out WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/electroconvulsive-therapy.
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Sounds interesting. Thanks for the giveaway!
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Like Colleen, I have a degree in payscholgy and mainly depression runs in my family.
My father had bi-polar, my mother reactive depression, I have major depression and my brother committed suicide. I just finished reviewing a book about a woman whose mother committed suicide. So, it may be a while until that I am “up” to read something like this.
My mother was hospitalized in the 1950s twice and experience ECT. She hated it because big chunks of her memory were forever missing. She told me about what they did to get her ready for the treatment. She cried when she told me about it.
She also experience a strange treaatment where they put you in hot water and you can’t get out and then in cold water and the same thing. My aunt was recommended for a lobotomy in the 1940s but the family persuaded the doctors not to perform it. We have come a long day since then. Now, I take an antidepressent which also helps me with nerve pain and I don’t have to suffer the “weepies”. Actually, I know enough about the treatments back then so I have decided not to read this book. Thank you for this review.
Carol Wong
Of course it should not be “paysology” but pyschology instead!
Thanks for sharing your story Carol – Ned’s story is a difficult one and even without being able to directly relate to the treatments he mentioned, the writing style is such that the experience was still relatable – if that makes any sense… Modern medicine and science are providing some amazing opportunities to help people, but as my five years as a pharmaceutical research & development lawyer taught me, there is a need for oh-so-much-more. Therapies are slow to develop and require extensive testing to make sure they don’t inadvertently cause more problems with side effects – and the patients and their families desperately need new options faster and sooner than they are being developed and brought to market. I’m glad to hear you found something that is able to help – and thanks for sharing your experience with us. Best of luck to you…
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I’m kinda used to that disjointedness with bipolar disorder in my family. I know it’s not the same but it is similar in a lot of ways. It could be interesting to read.
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It was an interesting story Linda – definitely a journey of a million miles that began with a single step…
This book looks SO GOOD. Personally I can very much relate to Ned as I experience anxiety. That being said I agree with a comment above, this will be a difficult read but at the same will be fascinating and I hope I will learn from it. And as you say it’s not fun to live with. However if you practice and incorporate into your life coping skills, it will help you a lot.
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It was a difficult read – as I wrote in a comment above, even without experience with clinical anxiety or depression this was a slog of a read and Zeman’s writing style brings the reader right into the trenches with him…
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I’d love a chance at this book since I suffer from Anxiety too.
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Great review, thank you! My degree is in psychology and I have had mental illness in my family since I can remember, so this sound like something I would definitely enjoy reading. I also worked at a Behavioral Health Center after college and, while they no longer administered ECT as a treatment option, I heard stories of when they had. I also watched a documentary in college that showed the before, during and after affects of numerous treatments and therapies, from drugs to lobotomies and the ECT treatment segments were definitely hard to watch! One man was a absolutely brilliant violinest who was severely and clinically depressed. He went through ECT and while it did help with his depression, he was not able to play this violin like he had before when it was done. That was just heartbreaking for me, and I can imagine the author losing memories because of the treatment would have been devastating as well.
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Thanks for your comment and compliment Colleen. The descriptions of the treatment were difficult to read, and the frustration of memory loss and the other side effects – both those of Ned as the patient and of his family/friends as the witnesses – were even more so.
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I am a subscriber. the books sound like it might be difficult to read but fascinating. If I do not win, I will still read the book.
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Thanks for the honest review. Living with mental illness isn’t easy, if it is a family member. It is even harder to imagine, what they, themselves are going through. I would like to read this book.
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Thanks DebP – I couldn’t agree more. It took a great deal of courage for Zeman to write as honestly as he did – as I said in the review, he certainly does not always come across in a very good light, yet he never flinches from describing the struggles he personally faced – or those his family/friends did as a result of his illness. And if that isn’t an example of personal integrity in the face of adversity, I don’t know what is…
This book sounds interesting. Thanks for the review and giveaway!
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im entered in the big giveaway for monthly books! i sure hope i win it!
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