The Eden Express. by Mark Vonnegut - 1988.

New York, NY Dell: Laurel, 1988. Paperback First Ed thus; First Printing indicated. First Ed thus; First Printing indicated. Very Good+ to Near Fine in Wraps: shows only the most minute indications of use: very light wear to the extremities; faintest hairline crease top to bottom near the front hinge and a couple of barely discernible hairline creases at the backstrip; the binding shows the slightest lean, while remaining perfectly secure; text clean. Pages tanned a bit, due to aging. No longer pristine, but remains a structurally sound, tightly bound copy showing minimial wear and possessing a clean text. NOT a Remainder. NOT a Book-Club Edition. NOT an Ex-Library copy. 16mo. 276pp. Mass Market Paperback. The Eden Express is fascinating and very delightful book, full of insight and well worth reading. Not many books tackle the admittedly difficult issue of describing insanity from the inside out (i.e., in the form of a first-person recollection), and this book is truly useful for those looking for such a work. It's hard to imagine anyone doing it better. I can see this as a practical "must read" for medical professionals looking to identify more closely with their patients, or for anyone who just wants a more personal account of the subject matter than that often offered by dry, sterile medical textbooks. Mark's writing style is quite good, but also highly personal. He doesn't seem aloof or like somebody with whom we can't identify (as many people who have experienced mental illnesses inevitably do): he seems like just one of us. The emotions and problems he was going through are certainly things that many of us can relate to (especially those of us who lived through the times that the the book describes) - although the cause for his schizophrenia was never, of course, fully discovered, a lot of things, as Mark says, "happened all at once": his steady girlfriend cheating on him, his parents breaking up, his father becoming famous. Although Mark's writing style is nothing like his father's, the two do share a similar sense of humor. This, coupled with the delightfully personal aspect of the prose, makes this a great read for those interested in its subject matter. Reccommended.