Despite the occasional cliché (“Life is fraught with sorrows”) and heavy metaphor (“Grief is a humble angel”), Solomon’s prose illuminates a dark topic through the unfolding tales of his sources and his own life story by allowing the voices of those who battle depression to speak, rich and varied pictures of daily struggle, defeat, and triumph ultimately emerge. The 12 tersely titled chapters (“Depression,” “Breakdowns,” “Treatments,” “Alternatives,” “Populations,” “Addiction,” “Suicide,” “History,” “Poverty,” “Politics,” “Evolution,” and “Hope”) address with spectacular clarity the ways in which depression steals lives away, leaving its prey bereft of their very selves. In this massive tome, Solomon ( A Stone Boat, 1994, etc.) confronts the terrors of depression with a breadth both panoramic and precise. A reader’s guide to depression, hopelessly bleak yet heartbreakingly real.
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