The Moon Is Broken: A Mother's True Story

Rating:
Summary: SHATTERED LIGHT
Review: Ann Craig appeared to be the image of success. An academic and social leader, Ann demonstrated an empathy for the disenfranchised at an early age. Born in 1952, Ann became caught up in the social awareness theme of the 1960s and early-to mid 1970s.

Trouble became apparent in her life in 1975, the year she was supposed to graduate from Brown University. An incomplete thesis, a break up with a boyfriend, a relationship with an older man and increasingly bizarre and erratic behavior were the problems Ann exhibited. She hid in her closet and slashed her arms. Powerless, Ann's mother could no more force her into a hospital admission than her psychiatrist or the admitting physician. Ann finally agrees to hospitalization and received inpatient treatment at Austen Riggs Hospital in Connecticut. Patients are given almost complete freedom of mobility and decision making and it is there Ann deteriorates, becoming an incoherent refugee of yard sales and the detritus of other people's lives. After spending 1975-76 there, Ann's mother has her admitted at the hospital in Yale.

Ann's life spirals downward as does her mother's. Ann's parents divorce after four children and many years of marriage. Ann, too, splits "off" and her life becomes a litany of hospitals, delusions and a nomadic existence on the streets. She contracts AIDS and sadly becomes a casualty of this illness at age 34.

One especially moving part of the book was when the author called an AIDS hotline and spoke to a very caring, empathetic man. He then referred her to a doctor specialized in treating persons with AIDS who was a very empathetic man. It is this doctor and this unknown phone volunteer who offer a touch of humanity in the AIDS community and beyond.

Her survivors include her parents, a gentle stepfather, her two brothers and sister and several step siblings, an extended loving family. Her nephew coined the term about the moon being broken. It is an apt metaphor for the tragic last decade of Ann Craig's life.

Rating:
Summary: SHATTERED LIGHT
Review: Ann Craig appeared to be the image of success. An academic and social leader, Ann demonstrated an empathy for the disenfranchised at an early age. Born in 1952, Ann became caught up in the social awareness theme of the 1960s and early-to mid 1970s.

Trouble became apparent in her life in 1975, the year she was supposed to graduate from Brown University. An incomplete thesis, a break up with a boyfriend, a relationship with an older man and increasingly bizarre and erratic behavior were the problems Ann exhibited. She hid in her closet and slashed her arms. Powerless, Ann's mother could no more force her into a hospital admission than her psychiatrist or the admitting physician. Ann finally agrees to hospitalization and received inpatient treatment at Austen Riggs Hospital in Connecticut. Patients are given almost complete freedom of mobility and decision making and it is there Ann deteriorates, becoming an incoherent refugee of yard sales and the detritus of other people's lives. After spending 1975-76 there, Ann's mother has her admitted at the hospital in Yale.

Ann's life spirals downward as does her mother's. Ann's parents divorce after four children and many years of marriage. Ann, too, splits "off" and her life becomes a litany of hospitals, delusions and a nomadic existence on the streets. She contracts AIDS and sadly becomes a casualty of this illness at age 34.

One especially moving part of the book was when the author called an AIDS hotline and spoke to a very caring, empathetic man. He then referred her to a doctor specialized in treating persons with AIDS who was a very empathetic man. It is this doctor and this unknown phone volunteer who offer a touch of humanity in the AIDS community and beyond.

Her survivors include her parents, a gentle stepfather, her two brothers and sister and several step siblings, an extended loving family. Her nephew coined the term about the moon being broken. It is an apt metaphor for the tragic last decade of Ann Craig's life.

Rating:
Summary: good but not for me
Review: Does our society allow people with Alzheimer's disease to roam the streets working out their own problems? Do we finance constant visits to therapists so they can get to the root of their disorders? Why do we do that with younger people when they too are suffering from a brain based illness. I found this book so frustrating. Why wasn't this woman allowed to care for her sick daughter as she would have been allowed to care for an elderly parent? Because of our insane laws about the mentally ill this charming child became a drug addict and finally died of AIDS. The author is a wonderful mother. She did everthing our society would allow her to do. It wasn't enough.

Rating:
Summary: This book tells of the tragic death of a mentally ill child.
Review: Does our society allow people with Alzheimer's disease to roam the streets working out their own problems? Do we finance constant visits to therapists so they can get to the root of their disorders? Why do we do that with younger people when they too are suffering from a brain based illness. I found this book so frustrating. Why wasn't this woman allowed to care for her sick daughter as she would have been allowed to care for an elderly parent? Because of our insane laws about the mentally ill this charming child became a drug addict and finally died of AIDS. The author is a wonderful mother. She did everthing our society would allow her to do. It wasn't enough.

Rating:
Summary: Devastatingly sad
Review: I read this book when I was young and impressionable, and it certainly made a tremendous impression on me. The Moon is Broken is dark, full of despair, the story of a woman and her daughter split apart by things deeper than any relationship can withstand. A story of pain.

I give it five stars because I still remember to this day the feeling of loss I had after reading it. The power behind this book is dark, overwhelmingly sad, wrenching ... but it is still power.

Rating:
Summary: Review of The Moon Is Broken
Review: In this very enjoyable book, the author, Eleanor Craig, who is also the mother of the main character tells the story of her relationship with her daughter, Ann. Eleanor did everything in her power to keep track of her daughter as she fell deeper and deeper into her heroin addiction. In the end, no matter how hard she tried, not even the devotion, and unconditional love that she gave could save Ann from herself. I believe that this story was an important one to be shared, and could benefit many different people, because it makes you realize that no matter how hard you try, you can't force somone to change. This story gives you a real life insight on many topics, including depression, anorexia, drug addiction, and AIDS, and their effects on a person's life.

Rating:
Summary: Touching, Well Written
Review: Some books touch us in ways that remain with us for many days of our lives. This book is one of them. When I finished the book I just closed it and said, "Wow" - it was such intense reading. I feel I know Eleanor Craig and her family. Be prepared to shed some tears -- at least I did. However this book is great and shows readers how drug abuse not only affects the user, but greatly hurts friends and families and how everyone feels so helpless. I have great respect for Ms. Craig and how she had the courage and strength to document the loss of her own daughter. I have loved and thoroughly enjoyed all of her books; I wish there were more. I thoroughly recommend also authors: Torey Hayden and Mary MacCracken. I have read all of their books.

Rating:
Summary: good but not for me
Review: This is a touching book, it gives a good picture about a young woman who was a great student and a wonderful person, who falls into a dark world of drug abuse and depression. She gets AIDS and soon dies. The mother, who wrote the book tells the story in a very moving way. There were a few parts that I couldn't beleve but overall I thought it was very realistic. I didn't love the book though, Its just not the kind of book I read, I was forced to read it for a class. At frist I thought it would be terrable but soon I started feeling sarrow for the people in the story. Its not a bad book its just not for me.

Rating:
Summary: Touching story of a daughter's struggle with mental illness
Review: Why does one child, brilliant, talented, vibrant, sink into depression, mental illness, and drug use,when her siblings survive intact? What can a mother do to help her adult daughter, and yet not become the person who constantly has to save her from herself? This touching book asks these questions and others...some of which have no good answers. It is well-written by a mother filled with despair, but also filled by the memories of the woman her daughter was, in better times, in brief moments of health and lucidity. It would be valuable to anyone whose child has made mistakes, taken wrong turns, made poor choices. It's a good read.