His Bright Light : The Story of Nick Traina

Rating:
Summary: IT REALLY TOUCHED MY HEART
Review: To know that all these books came from such a brilliant woman is one thing but to actually find out the real story of her and her struggle to keep her son alive! It touched me is a way tat i will never forget because i have so much respect for Danielle Steel, i could never dream of what it was like to live a life where everyday is a struggle for her, her son and julie.
This story talks about her son Nick Traina Who was ADD, and Manic Depression. It really shows of all the struggles she goes through, and the bond that she shares with a dear friend named Julie. Julie and Danielle begin a tag-team mother that's what they call it. Julie meets Nick and she ends up caring deeply for Nick that she cares for him as a second mother. She helps Danielle in all her struggles with Nick. With Danielle having so many other children it helped Danielle and she was able to give more attention to the other children when Nick goes to live with Julie this way she can keep a closer eye on Nick and helps out Danielle. You learn of all the things she actually foes through with her son that just makes you respect her even more.
Nick was the type to stand out in his family with wild hair, piercings, tattoos and his clothes. Nick loved to play in his band which was Link 80 and it talks of all the obstacles they overcame all the concerts that they did. The only thing was, by the time they were getting big Nick was to sick to continue. Being in his band was Nicks dream to be up there on stage singing his heart out and without that there was nothing. This story in detail tells you how her son slips slowly away from his family and deeper into depression. I do recommend this book especially if you have any kind of respect for Danielle Steel. It gives you a little insight of how she lived and I think you appreciate her and her writing more....

Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: A friend loaned me this book and said it would depress me and to get some kleenex ready. I didn't cry and it didn't depress me. And I'm bipolar, too. Yes, I saw myself in the book and yes, it was awful how nobody would diagnose Nick. It took years and years of my telling doctors "something is wrong!" before anyone would listen.

The book was rather boring and it seems as though DS was intent on telling us how perfect her son was, in spite of (or because of?) having BPD. Any time something went wrong, she flew to him, she catered to him. What about her other children? She had eight others...was she a mother to them as often as she was to Nick? What also got me was how she kept saying that he was her cherished child, more cherished than the others. So he was her favorite. That must have been even more fun for the other children to know.

It is truly a tragedy when anyone commits suicide. Yes, I know that if a bipolar person keeps taking their medications, chances are that they can function in society. I wish DS had given some resources in the back of her book. It would be helpful to the readers who see themselves in this book.

Basically, the book was written to dump. If a mom wants to dedicate something to her son, why not do it privately? I wonder if Nick would have wanted his story spread to the world?

Rating:
Summary: I Beg To Differ With A Reviewer
Review: A little over a year ago I was desperate. I was depressed, suicidal, agitated, I was occasionally drinking and smoking marijuana to dull my pain, and I had lost any hope of living a normal life again. I conveyed this in an email to all of my friends. I was at the end of my rope. However, I was fortunate enough to have a friend who truly cared about me. He handed me "His Bright Light: The Story of Nick Traina." I wasn't diagnosed with anything in particular at the time but I always knew something was wrong with me. But I didn't think I could be manic-depressive.

I got about 40 pages into the book and something finally clicked. The way Danielle describes Nick as a kid amazed me and finally made me aware of what could be wrong with me. Just about everything Nick did was something I did as a kid. The obsessive compulsiveness and the outrageous behavior. And the suicidal thoughts that came later.

However, I do have a few comments about Tanya Willow's review of the book. I disagree wholeheartedly with the entire review. I didn't find it to be helpful. "His Bright Light" is not a cut and dry, "forensic" story as she put it. It was obviously very helpful for me in finding my way out of the tunnel. She also points out that Danielle Steel remained very secretive in the book; not mentioning anything about her personal life. First of all, the book was not about her, it was about her son. And it was about educating people about Bipolar Disorder. The book also did indeed tell of the mistakes the Traina family made and the good deeds that were done to help Nick. That's what the book was about.

It is also wrong for Tanya to say that the book didn't describe the effect Nick had on relationships in the family. Danielle described vividly how Nick was first very cruel to his younger sister and then at around 13 years of age they became very close. The book also includes a heartbreaking poem by his older sister Beatrix after his death. Not to mention the letters between Nick and his mother. To say the book didn't describe what the life and death of Nick did to the family is wrong.

Tanya also said a lot of cruel things about manic depressives as a whole. I was outraged by what she said. She said that manic depressives cost families dearly. First of all, as a very intelligent and perceptive person put it, you have to look at the person the disease has a hold of, not the neurological disorder itself. Therefore, it's the disease that costs families. Would you judge someone with cancer and say that it's their fault the family is torn up? NO! This was also conveyed in the book.

She also states, "If the book cut closer to the truth it would be much more powerful." Like I said, the book wasn't meant to be about the whole family. If that were the case (Nick had 8 siblings) the book would be over 1000 pages long. Danielle Steel did a great job condensing the story of her son into 320 pages. Danielle Steel even stated that it would be hard to describe him in a single book. I think to expect an author to do that would be assinine.

Did you read the whole book, Tanya? That's what I'm asking you. You have to read the whole book to make a valid review. It just doesn't make sense that Tanya's review was not only cruel but it was incorrect on a lot of notes.

I'm sorry to say, but I pity whoever is mentally ill and is in Tanya's family. Tanya comes across as very ignorant and crude in the review she did. In fact, I no longer talk to my father because he is of similar ideology. I hope for your sake and your family member's sake that you change your way of thinking, Tanya. And I hope you can prove me wrong and show me how nice of a person you really are. In fact, you're welcome to respond to me at [e-mail]. Thanks, Jeff.

Rating:
Summary: I Beg To Differ With A Reviewer
Review: A little over a year ago I was desperate... I was at the end of my rope. However, I was fortunate enough to have a friend who truly cared about me. He handed me "His Bright Light: The Story of Nick Traina." I wasn't diagnosed with anything in particular at the time but I always knew something was wrong with me. But I didn't think I could be manic-depressive.

I got about 40 pages into the book and something finally clicked. The way Danielle describes Nick as a kid amazed me and finally made me aware of what could be wrong with me. Just about everything Nick did was something I did as a kid. The obsessive compulsiveness and the outrageous behavior. And the suicidal thoughts that came later.

However, I do have a few comments about [a] review of the book. I disagree wholeheartedly with the entire review. I didn't find it to be helpful. "His Bright Light" is not a cut and dry, "forensic" story as she put it. It was obviously very helpful for me in finding my way out of the tunnel. She also points out that Danielle Steel remained very secretive in the book; not mentioning anything about her personal life. First of all, the book was not about her, it was about her son. And it was about educating people about Bipolar Disorder. The book also did indeed tell of the mistakes the Traina family made and the good deeds that were done to help Nick. That's what the book was about.

It is also wrong for Tanya to say that the book didn't describe the effect Nick had on relationships in the family. Danielle described vividly how Nick was first very cruel to his younger sister and then at around 13 years of age they became very close. The book also includes a heartbreaking poem by his older sister Beatrix after his death. Not to mention the letters between Nick and his mother. To say the book didn't describe what the life and death of Nick did to the family is wrong.

...First of all, as a very intelligent and perceptive person put it, you have to look at the person the disease has a hold of, not the neurological disorder itself. Therefore, it's the disease that costs families. Would you judge someone with cancer and say that it's their fault the family is torn up? NO! This was also conveyed in the book.

She also states, "If the book cut closer to the truth it would be much more powerful." Like I said, the book wasn't meant to be about the whole family. If that were the case (Nick had 8 siblings) the book would be over 1000 pages long. Danielle Steel did a great job condensing the story of her son into 320 pages. Danielle Steel even stated that it would be hard to describe him in a single book. I think to expect an author to do that would be assinine... I hope for your sake and your family member's sake that you change your way of thinking...

Rating:
Summary: Book Misses Opportunity
Review: This book could have been incredibly powerful but misses its target. I am not a reader of Danielle Steel's novels, but this is the true story of the suicide of her manic-depressive son, a topic of great interest to me.

Maybe it was written too soon after he died. I just expected better from such a famed writer. It reminded me of a scene in the movie, "Titanic" where the researchers are explaining to Rose how the ship sunk. "Thank you for that very forensic explanation," she says. "The experience of it was quite different."

The book seems forensic to me. Despite this horrific experience, we are left not knowing this author. And, when she writes about the pain of her personal life being exposed by the tabloids, you sense that she does not want to be known, perhaps even to herself. The consequence is the reader is left wondering who it is that wrote this very personal book.

She repeats over and over again, "It broke my heart..." when this or that happened. It is a safe expression. Especially when it is repeatedly used. We get no closer than that. Things "warm" her heart too, but again she sticks with safe platitudes.

The last two chapters, where her son takes his life, are the best in the book. She allows us to get a little closer to her. "I felt as though my heart had been sliced in half with a machete," she says when the reality of her son's suicide begins to set in. But by then it is too late. Though we can be empathetic, our hearts don't break with hers because she kept herself a stranger. She has kept us so distant we are unable to see her and what she has really been through.

There are also lies in this book. Her son cost her marriage, but she will not tell us that. She does not want us to know about her marriages or the impact her son had on her relationship with her other children. No. Everybody just loved little Nicky. But the truth is manic-depressives are no fun, and cost families dearly, especially in their relationships with one another. She doesn't let us in, or perhaps herself in, on that cost.

If the book cut closer to the truth it would be much more powerful. An excellent book on the impact of manic depression on a family is the late Katharine Graham's book, "Personal History." It encompasses much more than the suicide of her husband, but that section of her life is written powerfully and truthfully, as is the entire book. Unlike Graham, Steel is guarded and keeps too many elements of herself private. Consequently her book lacks its intended impact.

Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK
Review: Knowing Zara (one of Danielle's daughters) Makes the story more painful and going up to his room just makes me sad. It was one of the best books i have ever read and anyone who likes to read would love this book.. its teaches you a lesson and makes you realize that not everyone out there is perfect and you need to treasure that. (Get ready to use up your tissues!)

Rating:
Summary: The most touching story I have ever read!
Review: I have never read a book that has touched my heart like this did. I read this extraordinary story from this courageous mother three times now.

I myself have been recently diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. I am not a child but in fact I am in my thirties with three children of my own. My level of manic depressant isn't near to the same as Nick's was. I seem to run more manic then the suicidal. However, what goes up must come down. I have had great success with Lithium and live a happy normal life. While reading this story I can relate. As even though everybody with this disease is not going to be on the same level there are in fact similarities. One's which indeed start with us as a child. I know I took a very good look at my own childhood through this story and the signs were always there but as Ms. Steele went through how hard it is to know these are in fact signs.

This book has you go through every emotion there is. I laughed, at her remarks about the doctors as it is indeed very true. There are so many out there, some good, some better, some stupid and some who just don't care. I even laughed when Nick left the camp and when he telephoned his mother and she asked where he was at and he was on the highway. That was me, if I told you they were not giving me my medication it was because they were not, and I couldn't understand anything else even though you may of though it to be " a story" or " delusional " and if I said I was leaving the next call you got from me would have also been on the highway. At least I called! Then you also cry, even with this event. You can feel this mother, in her hotel room thousands and thousands of miles away, with all the other children, you feel her frustration, despair and the entire emotional experience.

This book was very well written. Coming from an author of fiction, she did not sugar coat or glorify anything in this book. I can't even begin to imagine the strength it had taken to be able to write it. The emotion that was relived with each and every word. Maybe it might have been a relief to tell the story, but we are very fortunate that she did!

This disease is all around, and even in this book of a famous celebrity even she had lived it for years. Knowing there was something wrong with her child but was the only one being his mother who did see it. Children do get misdiagnosed with the ADD all the time. Sometimes it may be a combination, and sometimes not at all. But even Ms. Steele explains with all her connections, all her money and resources how she couldn't even get a prescription for Prozac because nobody else could see it. Think of how many children out there that goes without this everyday. Not because their mother isn't Danielle Steele and doesn't have these kinds of resources. But how many children, that live maybe in your house, or next door, or in your sisters or brothers because they are misunderstood.

I highly recommend this book to absolutely everybody. This as anybody with Bipolar does it help you understand what you have put your own family through. Even though you would take it all back in a minute if you could, you see and feel it from the other side.

Then as a family with anybody in it the inspiration of this wonderful family that lived it everyday. And also to those who know nobody with it because sometimes people, especially children do get so misunderstood as Nick did. He comes from a celebrity mother, he is spoiled, all these excuses for these actions that nobody sees what it really is. How many years did Ms. Steele go through not knowing what was wrong with her son? Some don't even have ones whom are as persistent as Ms. Steele and family just because they are pure exhausted and still getting no results. Not because they do not care.

This book tells the story, it has pictures and even in Nicky's photos do you see his wonderful personality and bright light. She has included writings from her to him, journal entries that Nick had written and I think the one the effected me the most, I had to actually put the book down the tears were pouring out I could not see to read anymore. Was what Julie had said about Ms. Steel and Nick and their " tag team mothering "

I want to thank you Ms. Steele for sharing this story. I know it made great impact on my life and helped me to want nothing more than to stop hurting the ones I love. To beat the demons for myself but for my own children. And watch and be aware of these symptoms and how they do effect each others life. People of great creativity suffer with this disease everyday. They live normal lives to those that look in, but deep within them they are not as they appear. They have this great extraordinary personality and nobody seems to have a clue. You told the story from the heart and it touched mine.

God bless you Ms. Steele, your family, the Campbell's and to all the lives that Nicky touched. God bless you Nick Traina and I hope you finally find the peace and happiness you do so deserve and may your memories live on with the people whom loved you!

Rating:
Summary: Alot of love written on the pages
Review: Very interesting insight on manic depressive behavior. Very educational and extremely touching. A real tear jerker with alot of love written on the pages.

Rating:
Summary: The real truth that lies within a mother`s story
Review: When I bought this book I bought cause I myself that just lost my fiance of 4 and a half years. It helped to unload cause read through the lines you can feel Steele`s heart coming out and she expressed herself so openly that through her I could identify my loss. The unexpected loss of a loved one is a hard blow for everyone. I personally would like to thank Steele for helping me cope with my loss through hers

Rating:
Summary: This Bright Light In A Dark World
Review: After reading Danielle Steel's book and during the time that I was reading it I found it very haunting in the sense that living with bi-polar disorder myself how unfortunate and sad it really to suffer with this. I know that as a teenage I had put my peers and family thru a great deal of heartache and stress. I found it difficult to read in some areas because it reminded me of myself and how others viewed me. It is all the more tragic that Nick could not be alive today to write a personal perspective of his life and living with this disorder. It sometimes is very difficult to try to make others understand when you explain the disorder yourself and what you feel and all of the emotions you go thru. I found the book very insightful on Danielle Steel's perspective of living with a child who had this problem. I very much recommend this book to any parent or close friend who lives with a loved one who is bi-polar.