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Millicent Monks
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Book
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Publisher | Infinite Ideas Limited | ||
ISBN | 978-190594063 | ||
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Reviewer
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Vicky
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Synopsis
"Songs of Three Islands" is a stunning memoir about the astounding Carnegie family's struggle with mental illness combined with a beautifully evoked meditation on motherhood and madness. In describing five generations of mental instability in the female line of her family Millicent Monks attempts to bring mental illness out of the shadows and comfort those who are suffering from thoughts and feelings they don't always understand. In her own words 'People, they say, are divided into two kinds: those who have known inescapable sorrow and those who have not. Because sorrow cannot be changed, one's lifestyle and feelings must be changed to accommodate it'. This heartfelt account highlights the struggle and frustration felt as you watch those you love being destroyed by mental illness. It's easy to presume that having riches beyond your wildest dreams automatically means you have it all, but being blighted by mental illness is something many families, rich and poor alike, struggle to come to terms with. This memoir will not only leave the reader feeling positive and enlightened, but filled with enormous admiration for and gratitude towards Millicent Monks for sharing this unique story about her legendary family. This frank account highlights her own personal struggle and determination to survive against many odds.
Millicent Monks
Review
"Songs of Three Islands" is an extraordinary book by Millicent Monks detailing the profound and devastating effect mental illness has had on herself and her family. She tells us of how it felt being a school child living with her mother in Boston and seeing her slide into what can only be described as a catastrophic mental breakdown, and then after Millicent married and gave birth to her first child Cassandra she saw her change and become mentally ill bit by bit.
How can one person deal with such odds that life has given her?She didn't have to because her husband Bobby was always at her side through thick and thin. It is only when one has been through the trauma of trying to get the right treatment for an increasingly ill child or loved one, does one get to know the sorrow and desperation that comes with it. Millicent speaks eloquently for all parents who go through this trauma - you know that she understands your problems because even though she comes from one of the richest families in America, money counts for nothing when the doctors cannot bring about a cure to heal the illness.
She fought the battle and like most parents fighting this fight became ill and developed breast cancer - severe stress being one of the main contributors. Happily Millicent was cured and her journey continued with Cassandra eventually being diagnosed as Borderline Personality Disorder. Doctors have made new inroads int o understanding this illness and even now know what part of the brain it comes from and someday a cure may be found for it.
I have been profoundly moved by "Songs of Three Islands" because it also speaks of what I went through into trying to get a diagnosis for my daughter Naomi (eventually it was Autism) and the fight I had to do to get the right treatment.
I highly recommend this book because ultimately it tells you that if you stick with the fight you can get though it and become a stronger person in your mind and spirit just like Millicent has in her journey through the minds of her mother, daughter, granddaughter and herself.
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