Healthy Living Books Books

Rating: - One long metaphor
I read this book hoping it would be just as the title described it "a cheerful book about depression".
Personally, I didnt find it that cheerful and it read like one long poetic metaphor.
As an autobiography into a depressed poets life, I found it very interesting and some of the symptoms described I could defintily relate to.
But if you are looking for a self-help book this is not it, there are far too many long and complex quotes for a depressed mind to read.
An o.k read just a bit too much of the same information throughout.

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Rating: - not just an ad for a tortured artist
i ordered this book after reading a recommendation in psychologies magazine from psychologist dorothy rowe- i've just ordered my 3rd copy, the other 2 have been passed on to my counsellor, and a close friend and fellow sufferer. i've also recommended it to both my pychiatrist and a friend who works in a mental healthsupport team.
i know that not everyone has the luxury of gwyneths life style, but surely it's good to remember that depression can strike anyone at any time, and to learn to recognise your own cycle and triggers- whatever they may be. i believe that recovery is led by yourself, and that's what helped me about this book

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Rating: - this depressive isn't smilling
This book caught my eye while I was out and I thought it would help where nothing else has. I was wrong.

Gwyneth Lewis did mention some aspects of her experience of depression I could relate to but I found the way the book was written very hard to read. In my state I couldn't deal with anything which wasn't simply spelt out, so found the metaphors sometimes hard to follow.

The do's and don'ts at the end were the most useful bit.

The number of people who have found this book helpful seem to be split down the middle. It would be useful for anyone looking to buy this book to keep that in mind.

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Rating: - Flaky
This is a difficult book to like, but it would be churlish of me to pretend that there weren't some real insights tucked away in its pages. However, primarily, I think, this isn't a book about depression; it's a book about a poet's experiences of depression. Lewis doesn't let you forget that she's a poet -- or Welsh -- for even one paragraph. Consequently the whole book reads almost like one long poem, or metaphor. When you're depressed, the last thing you want is to be struggling with vague metaphors that perhaps mean this or perhaps that or perhaps nothing, you want someone to talk straight. If you want straight-talking, you'll be sadly disappointed with this offering. Dare I say it, but sometimes this book sounds a little sententious and flaky -- think energy, crystals, cosmic ordering, astrology, "losing yourself" and "finding yourself" -- though in Lewis's mitigation this is usually when she's quoting from other poets and philosophers.

To her credit Lewis does acknowledge the depressive's compromised attention span by breaking the text into page-long snippets, so you can pick up and put down as you fancy. I liked that idea. To summarise, Lewis is saying that depression is your body's way of telling you that you're living a lie, taking too much on and trying to please others too much, and of teaching you how to be true to yourself. Her descriptions sound suspiciously similar to the concept of stress followed by a nervous breakdown though she pointedly refuses to use either term, preferring to couch the exact same idea in poetic language to draw the same conclusions. To that extent there's nothing that new here, just some re-packaging and new marketing slogans. (Finally, to the publishers: this is one of the most pleasing book covers that I've seen in a long time. That's what drew my attention and made me pick it up!)

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Rating: - Astonishingly helpful!
At a time when every bit of advice seems irrelevant or too impossible to even imagine following, "Sunbathing in the Rain" was just what I needed. I did find it cheering, comforting, soothing and motivating. Depression is very isolating and it was a huge comfort to read someone else's thoughts and experiences and think 'yes, that's just how it is!' I've read many other books on depression which didn't strike that chord and left me feeling more alone/down than ever.

I loved the easy reading style of Gwyneth Lewis's writing and, as she suggests, I picked and chose from the various things she found helpful, rejecting those that I didn't like the sound of without feeling alienated or offended.

I can see several reviewers felt very differently about this book but I would really urge anyone who is struggling to at least try it. Good luck!