Esmé Weijun Wang is the author of The Border of Paradise. She received the Whiting Award in 2018 and was named one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists of 2017. She holds an MFA from the University of Michigan and lives in San Francisco.
"In Wang's kaleidoscopic essays, memoir has been shattered into
sliding and overlapping pieces. . . . The images and insights Wang
summons are . . . often dazzling, and well worth the reconstructive
work. . . . Her multifaceted arguments can be gratifyingly
mind-expanding."--The New York Times Book Review "There was no
solution--this is the level of uncertainty, even hopelessness, that
Wang lives with. And yet she perseveres, however imperfectly. It's
Wang's ability to reconcile these opposing realities, to allow them
to persist in contradiction, that feels most radical about her
approach to being sick."--The New Yorker "[An] utterly unique book
of essays: a deep, illuminating, and explosively written dive into
a life of living with mental illness."--Entertainment Weekly
"Drawing on scientific literature, pop culture, and her own
experience, [Esmé Weijun Wang] discusses a range of conditions
affecting some five per cent of Americans; her account of Cotard
delusion, a belief that one is dead, is especially moving. . . .
Fragmented by design, the book's structure heightens the immediacy
of its testimony."--Briefly Noted, The New Yorker "Wang . . . is an
implicitly trustworthy guide to this netherworld of psychosis and
chronic illness. . . . Her characteristic nuance more often carries
the ring of wisdom, hard won."--The Washington Post "Wang
establishes herself as a brave voice in the broader dialogue around
mental health."--TIME, Best Books of 2019 "The Collected
Schizophrenias is riveting, honest, and courageously allows for
complexities in the reality of what living with illness is
like--and we are lucky to have it in the world."--NPR.org "Each
searing essay . . . paints a vivid portrait of living with mental
illness while female. . . . The haunting beauty of her prose
anchors the collection firmly in place."--Glamour "[The Collected
Schizophrenias is] resoundingly intelligent, often unexpectedly
funny, questioning, fearless and peerless, as Wang makes for
brilliant company on 13 difficult walks through largely uncharted
territory."--Los Angeles Times "Intimate, urgent, and powerful. . .
. Wang writes generously about the manifestations of schizophrenia
in her life . . . and lends her keen analysis to the big, ethical
questions about how we treat those whose experience of the world
differs from ours."--BuzzFeed "Wang writes with lucid clarity. . .
. Harrowing and heartfelt."--Star Tribune (Minneapolis) "An
intimate, rigorously researched, collection."--BBC Culture "In a
voice both laboratorial and poetic, Wang examines her own
diagnosis, as well as her PTSD and Lyme disease, with a gentleness
and frankness that mesmerizes and demystifies."--The Week "Wang is
a brilliant writer. . . . This intimate essay collection grapples
with her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder and all the sorrow
and searching that comes with it. Always artful and illuminating,
never facile."--Vulture "Wang's clear-eyed look into a complicated
reality makes this is an essential read for anyone who better wants
to understand why we treat each other--and ourselves--so harshly at
any display of weakness; it's a book of compassion and brilliance,
an unflinching look at a topic that has long repelled too many of
us."--NYLON "Esmé Weijun Wang's compelling essays highlight the
humanity behind a schizophrenia diagnosis, delivering a necessary
read tackling mental illness."--Paste "It is a gorgeous sharp story
of both mental and physical illness (and the ways the two
intersect), love, understanding, and many nuances of being
human."--BUST "Wang's ability to work at the threshold between her
experiences and the page is most certainly a gift to us."--The
Brooklyn Rail "The Collected Schizophrenias records states of mind
that are both terrifying in their unknowability and vivid because
of just that, and makes us excited to see more of the world through
Wang's eyes."--Bitch Magazine "Wang creates an unforgettable
portrait of a singular brain."--Refinery29 "Wang is a highly
articulate and graceful essayist, and her insights, in both the
clinical and general senses, are exceptional."--Los Angeles Review
of Books "Wang writes brilliantly and beautifully about lives lived
with mental illness."--The Millions "With admirable candor and
probing insight, Wang chronicles bewildering experiences. . . . The
Collected Schizophrenias goes a long way toward restoring life and
humanity to those with this condition."--Barnes & Noble Review "In
writing about her experiences, Wang puts a face to the silent
suffering of millions of people. Her searing honesty coupled with
the strength of her writing make The Collected Schizophrenias a
remarkable look into a little-understood part of the human
condition."--Chicago Review of Books "An illuminating, breathtaking
look into the underexplored world of schizophrenia, with the rare
perspective of someone who's actually been there."--mindbodygreen
"Wang . . . eloquently balances personal narrative and empirical
research to offer a powerful series of insights into a woefully
misunderstood world."--SF Weekly "This beautifully written work
will expand your thinking about severe mental illness and mental
illness in general."--Rewire.News "The Collected Schizophrenias is
illumination and important--not only because it educates and
challenges--but because it forces us to consider how much we still
have to work to undo historical and systematic damage, to challenge
our own broken, misguided partiality towards what it means to be
healthy and sane."--The Arkansas International "The Collected
Schizophrenias is riveting, honest, and courageously allows for
complexities in the reality of what living with illness is
like--and we are lucky to have it in the world."--Denton Daily
"[The Collected Schizophrenias] organizes the confusion, terror and
complexity of [Wang's] experience into an imperfectly cohesive,
profoundly illuminating whole."--Shelf Awareness "Penetrating and
revelatory."--Publishers Weekly, starred review "An invaluable
work."--Booklist, starred review "This mesmerizing collection of
essays has achieved the rarest of rarities--a meaningful and
expansive language for a subject that has been long bound by both
deep revulsion and intense fascination."--Jenny Zhang "A brilliant
guide to the complexities of thinking about illness, and mental
illness, in particular. It will bring hope to others searching to
understand their own diagnoses."--Meghan O'Rourke "A masterful
braiding of the achingly personal and the incisively researched. .
. . This book is a vital, illuminating window onto the world we all
already live in, but find all too easy to ignore."--Alexandra
Kleeman "You won't find any pity-baiting, sensationalism, or false
positivity here; Wang is so candidly aware that I'd trust her over
my own diary."--Tony Tulathimutte "Esmé Weijun Wang offers us an
all-access pass to her beautiful, unquiet mind. . . Rarely has a
book about living with mental illness felt so immediate, raw, and
powerful."--Dani Shapiro "The Collected Schizophrenias is at once
generous and brilliantly nuanced, rigorous and bold. It had me
rethinking what it is to be well or ill."--R. O. Kwon "Esmé Weijun
Wang sends out revelatory dispatches from an under-mapped land,
shot like arrows in all directions from a taut bow of a mind. . . .
Her work changes the way we think about illness - which is to say
that it changes us."--Whiting Award Selection Committee
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