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Loading... The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentionsby Jonathan Rosen
   No current Talk conversations about this book.  brianinbuffalo | May 21, 2024 |    ) laurelzito | May 4, 2024 | What I found interesting and thought provoking This story is a travesty- due to mental illness, a gifted man's dreams were endangered. Because he was considered "brilliant " he became a "cause celebre " This reminds me of another book I read recently, "All That is Wicked", in which the killer, "Edward Ruloff, was considered too "brilliant " to execute. I kept thinking about the mentally ill who are only of average or below average intelligence. Shouldn't our society try to give them more support? Was Michael Laudor given false hope, and then left to founder? So many warning signs were ignored because this didn't fit the narrative of the hero overcoming adversity. What I didn't like: I usually avoid memoirs, and this is a good example of what I dislike about them. Rosen glorifies the minutiae of his childhood ad nausem. He revels in his and Michael's extraordinary potential. Unfortunately, the victim. Caroline Costello is a mere side note. As an investigator reflected, "You say 'Michael Laudor, and I think, 'Caroline Costello ', and Caroline isn't here to speak for herself. " (p. 512) (  ) Chrissylou62 | Apr 11, 2024 |  ) ghefferon | Mar 21, 2024 |  ) Hccpsk | Mar 20, 2024 | no reviews | add a review
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"When the Rosens moved to New Rochelle in 1973, Jonathan Rosen and Michael Laudor seemed destined to become inseparable. The boys, both children of college professors, grew up on the same street in intellectually vibrant homes shaped by ideas, liberal Jewish culture, the trauma of the Holocaust, and a shared love of basketball and standup comedy. But the two best friends were also keen competitors bearing the same great expectations, and when Michael and Jonathan both got into Yale, they seemed set to ascend to the heights of the American meritocratic elite. Leaving Jonathan behind, Michael blazed through college in three years, graduating summa cum laude and landing a top-flight consulting job for far more money than their parents had ever made. But all wasn't as it seemed. One day, Jonathan received the fateful call: Michael had suffered a serious psychotic break and was institutionalized at a New York City psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He would stay there for nine months before transitioning to a halfway house. Facing the prospect of a life spent bagging groceries, Michael decided to play the one card left to him: just before his break, he had been accepted to Yale Law School, and now, against all odds, he planned to enroll. Still struggling mightily with schizophrenia, Michael made it through the top law school in the country. His extraordinary story soon made the front page of the New York Times; an agent sold his memoir to a major publisher for a large sum; Ron Howard swept in to acquire film rights, with Brad Pitt set to star. It was all a dream come true for Michael and his tirelessly supportive girlfriend Carrie. But then, the unimaginable happened: in the grip of an unshakeable paranoid fantasy, Michael stabbed Carrie to death with a kitchen knife. To this day, Michael Laudor remains confined to a maximum-security forensic hospital in upstate New York. The Best Minds is Jonathan Rosen's brilliant and heartbreaking account of what happened to Michael Laudor, and why. Exploring the dramatic transformation of American culture and of society's relationship to mental illness in the second half of the twentieth century, this is a story about the power and limits of the bonds of family, friendship, and community, the lure of the American dream and the promise of academic achievement. At times tender and hilarious, and at times harrowing and almost unbearably sad, The Best Minds is an extreme version of a story that is tragically familiar to all too many. In the hands of a writer of Jonathan Rosen's gifts and dedication, its significance will echo widely"-- No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)616.89Technology Medicine and health Diseases Diseases of nervous system and mental disorders Mental disordersLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4.02)
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Wikipedia in English
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I do have one beef with this otherwise brilliant book. Yes, I’m referring to its length. I’m the first to admit that this is a “me" problem. I tend to become anxious when a book —even a great one — exceeds 400 pages. When it hits 500, I’m almost always eager for the adventure to end. Even Rosen quotes William Faulkner about the importance of ruthlessly editing one’s own words. As Faulkner put it: “You must kill all your darlings.” Some of the biographical reflections could have been trimmed or even eliminated without compromising the narrative. Despite its girth, “The Best Minds” moved along at an impressively fast pace. There were only a few short sections where my interest waned. “The Best Minds” is well worth the investment of time. (