Review: This Close to Happy: A Reckoning with Depression by Daphne Merkin

This Close to Happy: A Reckoning with Depression by Daphne Merkin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really struggled when rating this book. There were parts that I think were a 5 and others that were more of a 2 so I’m splitting the difference and going with a 3. This is a really interesting account of clinical depression. There is a lot of pain expressed in this book. It’s not always easy to read. And as someone who suffers from major depression, I found myself relating to much of this book. It can definitely give the reader some visibility into the air of despair and immobility that is so key to understanding depression. The childhood of Daphne Merkin is also explored in this novel and I found her relationship with her parents and siblings to be fascinating and horrifying. This memoir is definitely raw and unflinching. She does not hesitate to be real and honest about the good and bad of her life with depression. Merkin’s experiences were very different from my own but it was interesting to see her experience through the prism of the financial and social advantages that she had in her life. As for my critique of the novel … at times the book felt pretty self-indulgent. It seemed at times to go to the same places over and over, not covering new ground. And perhaps that’s the point – depression goes to the same places over and over? There were times that the book felt bogged down and I found it to move very slowly. But, overall, I’m glad that I read it. I think it’s a good addition to the depression memoir as it, if nothing else, can remind us that we’re not alone in our struggles.