"This is a work of creative nonfiction. It is based upon the factual record of my brothers life, my own memory of the events described herein and the anecdotes told to me that I am most inclined to believe."
These are the first words of the book "Angelhead - My Brother's Descent into Madness" by Greg Bottoms and my face fell when I read them. I had ordered this book expecting it to be more a factual account of schizophrenia than an 'artists impression' of the disease.
The first few pages did little to dispel my misgivings. They are a description of 14 year old Michael's terrifying experience of seeing God while high on LSD and the author, his brother, waxes lyrical about the horrific events, using language which is far too florid and overblown for the gravity of the situation. "That's how I place Michael, make sense of him, reimagine (sic) him - alongside saints and martyrs, lunatics and heretics, those who have fallen, shaken and supplicant, pleading, palms aimed heavenward at the thought of God. His voice, the sweet, terrible whisper in their ear."
However, after the first chapter, the author seems to settle down to a more straightforward narrative of the facts. His writing becomes less prosaic as the book progresses, although there are still occasional infuriating lapses as if he suddenly remembers that he is a writer by profession and should be 'writing' rather than recalling.
Michael began to display an increasing range of bizarre behaviours as he progressed through his teens - behaviours he himself thought normal, but which disrupted any attempts by his family to enjoy a normal life. He studied the Bible constantly, refused to sleep, bullied his brother, left school, self-injured, chain smoked and kept snakes. Yet, in spite of this, his family didn't pick up on the signs of mental illness, seeing him simply as a troubled teenager who would eventually grow out of his moods and depression. As he turned twenty, something in Michael snapped. He ceased even trying to mask his delusions - or became incapable of doing so - and stopped trying to control himself in public.
The author describes Michael's physical and mental decline as "astonishingly fast". Yet his parents refused to seek medical help for him, still believing that he would eventually snap out of his condition and rejoin the human race. Their solution to the problem that was Michael was to give him $500 and send him to another state with instructions to find a job.
From that moment on, life for Greg becomes a series of highs and lows. Without Michael, he has a semblance of normal family life. Yet Michael is incapable of functioning independently in the real world and makes periodic visits home. It is during one of these visits that he is finally diagnosed as an acute paranoid schizophrenic, a diagnosis that leaves his brother with a profound sense of guilt when he realises that his brother's problems had an actual cause.
The remainder of the book is a whirlwind of emotions as Michael is treated for his affliction. There is a tragic conclusion (although perhaps not the conclusion the reader would be expecting) that I won't reveal for fear of spoiling the plot. As you might expect given it's subject matter, this is a graphic book and should be avoided by those who are offended by four letter words.
The book is eventually (by the skin of it's teeth) a worthwhile read, although you have to wade through an awful lot of flim-flammery to get to the tragic and heart rending story which lies beneath. The story of a boy/man who, through no fault of his own, finds the world too confusing and hostile a place. Yet the true victims are not Michael but those outsiders who are touched by his "Descent into Madness."
Publisher: Review
ISBN:0747252726
Price: £6.99
Date Reviewed: July 2002
My Rating: 3/5
