Let Me Make It Good: A Chronicle of My Life With Borderline Personality Disorder

Rating:
Summary: somewhat misleading title
Review: Hence the title, this is suppose to be a book about the author's life with Borderline Personality Disorder. Instead, some of it is about the author's life as a human being, and some of it isn't even about her. Wanklin takes time to describe a large number of mental patients she meets, most of whom are completely irrelevant. A description of Borderline Personality Disorder is not given to the reader. If I wasn't a BPD sufferer who knew the traits of the disorder like I knew the alphabet, I would have been completely lost as to what BPD even was.

A redeeming factor for me was when Wanklin DID show what it was like to live with the disorder. I found myself nodding at many parts, laughing at how familiar they sounded. I loved the probably unintentional action justifications and undertones of cynicism.

The ending made me wonder if Wanklin was "ok" like she claimed to be. She found a music group that she liked, and realized that the internet was a great place. Good? Yes. But a resolution? Not really. The ending seemed trite and hasted.

"Let Me Make it Good" shows people with the disorder that they are not alone, but other than showing us that we're not alone, it doesn't do much. I don't think this book will interest that many people. However, I DO give props to Wanklin for getting her story out, something I have always wanted to do. The self fufillment aspect must be nice.

Rating:
Summary: My paltry attempt to talk about my book
Review: Hi, i realize that this book of mine did not get any publicity, save for what i generated via the Internet. It's a non-fictional account of the forty years i spent as a sufferer of BPD. Parts of this book are quiet graphic and might be offensive to some, but i have done my best to document life in an abusive mental hospital, my years of self-imposed starvation, slashing myself on every part of my body, drug addiction and difficulty at forming interpersonal relationships. Depression and anxiety are a big part of being borderline as well.

i hope you will take the time to read this book, particularly if you or someone you care about has the disorder. It's grossly misunderstood and was once treated with behaviour modification, which did nothing but give the staff carte blanche to physically, sexually and emotionall abuse us.

i have overcome my demons, but not right after i finished the book. There were still five more years of self-abuse, before i reached the present point of salvation from my many demons.

Rating:
Summary: A unmitigated diatribe of self-pity & blaming of others
Review: I found this book to hold no hope for the sufferers of BDP. Instead of focusing and drawing attention to the things that would help you overcome this difficult disorder, the author has decided to direct a large amount of venom at her hospitalization and treatments. For someone who vilified the psychiatric community, she has certainly had more than her share of slices of this particular pie. There seems to be little recognition or appreciation of the amount of money, time and effort spent with her.
The author seems to expect other people and professions to supply her with a blueprint for life, without taking into effect her own culpability and responsibilties in this life. As typical to the BPD behavior, she chooses to classify select people as her saviours, whilst the remainder are discounted as thugs - emotionally abusive, physically abusive, sexually abusive.
It comes as no surprise to me that positive reviews are from other BPDs as birds of a feather do flock together.
The only problem being that these birds are vultures, picking the flesh of the only system that will support them.

Rating:
Summary: A book worth reading
Review: I just finished reading this book and I could not put it down. I think it is so important for people to understand that the mentally ill are still human beings and deserve humane treatment. I was sad for what the author had to go through in her journey back to health and for the many years of her life she felt were wasted. I hope to see more stories out there about people who cope with these sorts of problems. It gives hope to those who suffer and to their families who suffer with them. I hope this author continues writing.

Rating:
Summary: excellent book, poor editing job
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it to anyone, regardless of their BPD diagnoses.

I would give this book five stars, if it weren't for its embarassingly high amount of typos.

Now, I'm not one to 'nitpick,' but at one point I found this so irritating that I actually had to put the book down for a minute.

For instance, in one chapter, she discusses someone named "Wayne." Then, out of nowhere, she starts calling this same person "Joe." I'm sitting here thinking, 'who the heck is Joe?' (Mind you, I am a very careful reader!) In the next chapter, she talks about a college friend named "Adam," but a sentance later, refers to him as "Allan."

There are *numerous* other mistakes of this sort that I won't bother listing. Either the author just didn't proof-read her book (*at all*!), or the editor just did a deplorable job.

I hate to harp on a book for something as trival as grammar. However, it's one thing to come across an error every now and then, and it's quite another to be bombarded with them to the point where the story starts to become *completely* ofuscated(!)

I really hope the author is aware of this.

Rating:
Summary: Good autobiography about struggles w/ BPD
Review: The book goes indepth about the trials and tribulations of the author w/ BPD. Although the book doesn't describe what BPD is, I know what it is because I have it myself and wasn't confused while reading the whole book. She described a lot of people she met in the psychiatric hospital, and I grew tired about 3/4's of the book reading about the characteristics of them. She went through a lot of the same things that I went through, so I can relate to her. There were a lot of typos, but considering everything else (she wrote while being on psychotropic medications, etc), I thought she did a very thorough job, detailing every aspect of her life. It's hard not to feel sympathy for a women who's been through hell and back.

Rating:
Summary: A Message From the Author
Review: This was not my best effort. In retrospect, I should have fictionalized it, to make it available to a wider audience, as well as asking Mosaic Press to re-edit the manuscript and then order more. It was sloppy and embarrassing and probably damaged my reputation as an author. For that, I have profound regrets.

I wrote it as a stark and unflinching look at bpd through the eyes of a sufferer and hoped that by using it as my autobiography, it might help other people afflicted with the disorder. I didn't care if the book made money--that was not my intention. This was not a publication that was in any way going to cause me to dawn the gilted trapings of the writing elite--it was my way of making something that took away more than half my life actually mean something positive for others.

I will contact my publisher, Howard Aster with regards to the somber fact that my book is nearly out of print. Perhaps the manuscript on which I am now working will resurrect my published effort.

Just in case you want to know, my second book is pure and unadulterated fiction.