Robert B. Oxnam (1942–2024)

This was a fascinating memoir. It sucked me in almost immediately, and I got through it in just a few days, one of which was pretty busy.

What's good:

It contains a fair bit of information on the sessions and work with his therapist. Also, there's a lot description of his inner world, how it's organized, and how the personalities interact. This was the primary reason I read this, so I appreciated it. Finally, Oxnam writes well (but see below for more on his writing).

What's not so good:

I show more would've appreciated more information about the therapy. Though, he writes well, Oxnam doesn't succeed in injecting much emotion; much of the writing felt pretty flat to me. I could've done without the extensive descriptions of his lavish wedding and hanging out/working with various famous people. He acknowledges that he's a name-dropper (or at least the personality who did most of the writing is), but that self-knowledge didn't seem to lead to excising these superfluous parts of the book. Though, in his defense, he tends to use these to illustrate how the various personalities help and hinder him in the situations. show less

This book was utterly fascinating. I listened to the audiobook while commuting to grad school, and at first I didn't realize that it was narrated by the author---he's a fabulous reader! He could definitely be a professional audiobook voice actor ^_^ And why not? He's done about everything else!

One last thing: I'm amazed by Oxnam's courage in writing this book. Kudos to him and the other hims (and hers) within his psyche, especially since he is such a political and academic figure who had a show more lot to lose when his disorder came to the public.

I recommend this to anyone with an interest in psychiatric disorders, and, if possible, listen to the audiobook and hear the words in the author's own voices! show less

I have scored this book a bit low not beause of the content or the writing of this book, just that it was different from what I was hoping to read. I was looking for more of a take from another person with DID that had recovered and their stories and tips or things to do and consider, and it's not like that.

Instead of a guide it's just a tale of a person and his system dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), or Multiple personality disorder (MPD) as it was formeraly labelled by show more psychological professionals. It was formatted as a biograophy of Robert and his alts in the system. It did raise questions and thoughts for myself and my system to consider that was eye opening. Not in a negative way or a positive one, just in a surprising way.

The book was an excellent and straight forward read. I was able to read this 300 page book in one day and makes notes of things to come back to, think on and process later.

I feel it's a must read for anyone with this disorder, living with someone with it or treating someone as the therapist. His psychiatrist's excerpts are mingled throughout the pages as he interacts with Robert's complete system through it's intergration and many changes. As well as writing a bit of a summary of Robert's case at the end of the book that was quite insightful and moving. show less

One of the more interesting accounts of living with multiple personalities. The beginning of the book sounds a lot like a cure for insomnia -- the narrator takes a very non-emotional, clinical tone -- but it picks up and, as I said, is quite interesting and informative.