| I'm sure that I've said it before, but, if not, I'll say it here. I | | | | next, or merely the distant dark storm clouds scudding |
| am firmly convinced taht your attitude is a very key | | | | across an ominous sky."2) pg 200: "We are all defined |
| component both to your quality of life, and, to your | | | | by the dark, I thought. Anyone can portray anything in |
| ability to - in balance - effectively manage your Chronic | | | | the daylight. But it is only at night, after the world had |
| Illness!And, with this in mind, my advice is to develop | | | | closed in, that our true selves come out."3) pgs 218 & |
| hobbies. Within your hobbies, remember to share with | | | | 219: "Sometime later that day, or maybe after the next, |
| others, especially the "guides" within your hobbies, your | | | | but certainly at some point during the steady |
| thanks for their input. For example: perhaps you decide | | | | procession of mad folks being escorted into Lucy |
| that you want to become a great cook, and use | | | | Jones's office, it occurred to me that I had never really |
| Martha Stewart as a model. After you dook | | | | been a part of something before.....As a child, not being |
| something, using one of her recipies and receive rave | | | | able to join in is a terrible thing. Maybe the worst.....In all |
| reviews from your "eaters", write Martha a thank you | | | | those years, I was never once invited to a birthday |
| email or letter! It'll make both of you feel so much | | | | party. Never asked to a sleepover. Not once shoved |
| better.For me, I love reading. And, when I finish a book | | | | into the back of a station wagon for an off-the-cuff |
| that I really love, I go to the Author's website and let | | | | trip to Friendly's for an ice-cream sundae. I never got a |
| him/her know, and thank them. Most even write back! I | | | | phone call at night to gossip about school or sports or |
| even got an autographed "drink coaster" from one, | | | | who had kissed whom after the seventh grade |
| and am going to be a "reader reviewer" of one of my | | | | dance.....My life was unique because of the absence of |
| favorite author's upcoming book, while it is in draft.I've | | | | all those little things that make up everyone else's |
| copied below the thank-you email that I just sent to an | | | | normalcy." |
| author so that you can see what one looks like. Hope | | | | 4) pg 269: "But that wasn't the real terrain of each |
| you too enjoy a hobby and thank those who inspire | | | | housing unit. The contours and topography were really |
| you.Dear Mr. Katzenbach:Not sure why I just found | | | | defined by all the variety of madnesses contained |
| you, but am soooo glad that I did! The Madman's Tale | | | | within." (Note: this one REALLY resonated with me, as |
| is the third book of yours that I have read, and just | | | | I was a Human Resources Executive for over 30 |
| finished it. (Started with State of Mind, followed by The | | | | years before I went on Disability. Whenever I walked |
| Analyst). Loved State of Mind; liked the technical | | | | into a room, I took deliberate "stock" of the |
| structure of The Analyst, but thought it was too sad - | | | | temperature of the room; of the currents and eddies |
| he was soooo isolated - but REALLY LOVED THE | | | | swirling around; of who was bouncing off of whom, |
| MADMAN'S TALE!!I am a voracious reader (I've been | | | | etc. I've just never seen it articulated as you have |
| "managing" Multiple Sclerosis for over 45 years, and | | | | done!)5) page 326: IMHO, this is the depiction that |
| now find myself on full time Disability) particularly of | | | | separates someone like Francis who may be "crazy", |
| books of intrigue. I find, however, that increasingly I | | | | yet is still humane, from a sociopath! I loved how you |
| need novels that keep me invested within the book. If | | | | phrased it!! "All my life, all I wanted was to be normal. |
| the story is too predictable, it just doesn't "hook | | | | Even tortured, like Peter and Lucy were, but normal. |
| me".You, sir, have a marvelous mastery of | | | | Able to modestly function in the outside world, enjoy |
| phraseology; your lyrical prose paints pictures so | | | | the simplest of things.....But I couldn't, because I knew, |
| accurately that I found myself in the Hospital along with | | | | right in that moment, that I would forever be doomed |
| Lucy, Peter and Francis!! I have obtained, and will read | | | | to be closer in spirit and action to the man I hated and |
| next, Hart's War - the book, and not the movie. I want | | | | the man that scared me. The Angel was giving in and |
| to view my OWN mental movie through your | | | | luxuriating in all the murderous evil thoughts that lurked |
| words!Couldn't help but document, and share back with | | | | within me. He was a fun house mirror version of |
| you, some of my favorite phrases from The | | | | myself. I had the same rage. The same desire. The |
| Madman's Tale. These specific phrases were so | | | | same evil. I had just concealed it, shunted it away, |
| eloquent; they so accurately depicted an emption, or a | | | | thrown it into the deepest hole within me that I could |
| feeling, or, in the case of Francis, so clearly defined, in | | | | find and cover it up with every mad thought, like |
| my humble opinion, (IMHO) SPECIFICALLY WHAT IT | | | | boulders and dirt, so that it was buried where I hoped it |
| MEANS TO BE "HUMAN", that I couldn't help but let | | | | could never burst forth."In these few words, you |
| you know just how your words affected me! Your | | | | clearly articulated the essence of "free will". AND, |
| prose kept me reading EVERY WORD, and not just | | | | IMHO, just why God gave us humans free will. He |
| skimming to catch the thread of the story, hurrying to | | | | wants us to control our baser, evil urges, and do what |
| "who done it"!Many authors can describe events, | | | | is "right" through choice, not through coersion.You have |
| action, places and things, and some can capture the | | | | succeeded in depicting the essence of being |
| superficial quality of the characters. What I find unique | | | | "acceptable"; of being acknowledged as a human |
| about you, Mr. K., is your ability to capture the essence | | | | being, with "rights" to exist. And, after all, that's what all |
| of each character's "ghestalt"; raison d'etre (sp?); | | | | humans live their existence for; simply to be |
| unique personality; and, how each both taps into the | | | | acknowledged as existing.Well, I've taken up too much |
| collective humanity, yet stands uniquely apart from it.1) | | | | of your time. If you want to use my words as a |
| pg 168: "When I think back, I can see so many little | | | | review of your book anywhere, please feel free to do |
| things that should have meant something....I was young, | | | | so.Also, if you ever need to a reader to read an ARC |
| and I didn't understand that crime is like all the | | | | of your new book(s), I'd be delighted to do |
| mechanical parts of a transmission. Bolts and nuts, | | | | so.THANKS, again, for many enjoyable hours! I'll |
| screws and pins, all meshing together to create a | | | | probably be writing you again after I finish Hart's |
| self-contained momentum that travels forward, | | | | War!About DisabilityKey.comThe Disability Key |
| controlled by forces that are a little like the wind; | | | | Website ( ) is designed to assist each person in his/her |
| invisible, yet leaving signs in a piece of scrap paper that | | | | own unique quest to navigate through the difficult and |
| suddenly takes flight and dashes down the sidewalk, | | | | often conflicting and misleading information about |
| or a tree branch being tugged frist one way, then the | | | | coping with a disability. |