Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia
    A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia
    A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia
    Audiobook7 hours

    A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia

    Written by Sandy Allen and Pete Simonelli

    Narrated by Sandy Allen

    2.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    “Compelling…A bracing work of art and a loving tribute” (Los Angeles Times), this propulsive, stunning book illuminates the experience of living with schizophrenia like never before.

    Sandra Allen did not know their uncle Bob very well. As a child, Sandy had been told Bob was “crazy,” that he had spent time in mental hospitals while growing up in Berkeley in the 60s and 70s. But Bob had lived a hermetic life in a remote part of California for longer than Sandy had been alive, and what little Sandy knew of him came from rare family reunions or odd, infrequent phone calls. Then in 2009 Bob mailed Sandy his autobiography. Typewritten in all caps, a stream of error-riddled sentences more than sixty, single-spaced pages, the often-incomprehensible manuscript proclaimed to be a “true story” about being “labeled a psychotic paranoid schizophrenic,” and arrived with a plea to help him get his story out to the world.

    “Searing” (O, The Oprah Magazine), “enthralling” (Star-Tribune, Minneapolis), and “a marvel” (Esquire), A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise shows how Sandy translated Bob’s autobiography, artfully creating a gripping coming-of-age story while sticking faithfully to the facts as he shared them. Sandy also shares background information about their family, the culturally explosive time and place of their uncle’s formative years, and the vitally important questions surrounding schizophrenia and mental healthcare in America more broadly. The result is a heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious portrait of a young man striving for stability in his life as well as his mind, and an utterly unique lens into an experience that, to most people, remains unimaginable.

    “Thrilling…Gorgeous…a watershed in empathetic adaptation of ‘outsider’ autobiography” (The New Republic), A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise is a dazzlingly, daringly written book that’s poised to change conversations about schizophrenia and mental illness overall.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJan 23, 2018
    ISBN9781508252122
    Author

    Sandy Allen

    Sandy Allen is a writer, speaker, editor and teacher. Their essays and features stories have been published by BuzzFeed News, CNN Opinion, Bon Appétit's Healthyish, and Pop-Up Magazine. Sandy was previously BuzzFeed News's deputy features editor. They also founded and ran the online-only literary quarterly Wag's Revue. Sandy's work focuses on constructs of normalcy, including psychiatric disability and gender. Sandy is non-binary trans. Originally from Muir Beach, CA, they live in the Catskills. A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise is their first book. For more, visit HelloSandyAllen.com

    Related to A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise

    Related audiobooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      'The Great Pretender' Seeks The Truth About 'On Being Sane In Insane Places'

      Nov 4, 2019

      Journalist and Brain on Fire author Susannah Cahalan writes in an urgent, personal book that the '70s study by David Rosenhan had an outsized effect on psychiatry — and may have been fatally flawed.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Our Expert Responds To Readers’ Dilemmas

      Jan 13, 2020

      Q I’m a stay-at-home mom who’s been married for 10 years. My husband and I have two daughters. He travels a lot for work, so he’s hardly ever around. I feel lonely and in need of affection. When I’m stressed, I’ve got no one to talk to. A year ago, I

      3 min read

    • Article

      Listen To The Voices In Your Head

      Feb 1, 2017

      Schizophrenics and other people with unquiet minds are locked up, medicated, and stigmatized. Now a radical movement is telling them they might not be sick at all.

      16 min read

    • Article

      Shrinking Success

      Mar 4, 2019

      Shrinking Success
      4 min read

    • Article

      Samantha Irby On Oversharing And The Art Of Confessional Writing

      May 9, 2018

      Samantha Irby is not shy about her shortcomings. The blogger and author of the essay collections "We Are Never Meeting in Real Life" and "Meaty" writes both openly and hilariously about dealing with Crohn's disease, awkward dating experiences and bad

      4 min read

    • Article

      Top 5 Books By Autistic Authors

      Jun 28, 2021

      The Wainwright Prize-winning book by talented teenager McAnulty is a poetic love letter to the natural world and a shining example of an autistic person being their best autistic self. A series of beautiful missives to the weird women of history whos

      1 min read

    • Article

      Schizophrenia May Start in the Womb

      Nov 28, 2017

      Schizophrenia likely begins very early in development, toward the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, new research suggests. “This disease has been mischaracterized for 4,000 years…” The finding opens up a new understanding of this devastating d

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Facts on Mental Illness and Mass Shootings

      Oct 18, 2019

      Q: Do people with serious mental health disorders pose a greater risk of becoming mass shooters? A: People with mental illnesses are somewhat more likely to be violent than those without a diagnosis. But a majority are never violent, and very little

      10 min read

    • Article

      We Were All We Had

      Aug 6, 2020

      We Were All We Had
      11 min read

    • Article

      For a Good Time, Call

      Sep 30, 2020

      For a Good Time, Call
      15 min read

    • Article

      Edith Bowman

      Mar 13, 2023

      Edith Bowman
      5 min read

    • Article

      Pops&Me

      Oct 1, 2021

      Pops&Me
      7 min read

    • Article

      What A Menace

      May 14, 2020

      What A Menace
      2 min read

    • Article

      Always Someone Leaving

      Jul 6, 2023

      Always Someone Leaving
      5 min read

    • Article

      Shanda

      Jan 1, 2024

      Shanda
      13 min read

    • Article

      Geezer Butler

      Jun 23, 2023

      Geezer Butler
      18 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise

    2.5/5

    2 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words