| I'm sure that I've said it before, but, if not, I'll say | | | | way, then the next, or merely the distant dark |
| it here. I am firmly convinced taht your attitude is | | | | storm clouds scudding across an ominous sky."2) |
| a very key component both to your quality of | | | | pg 200: "We are all defined by the dark, I thought. |
| life, and, to your ability to - in balance - effectively | | | | Anyone can portray anything in the daylight. But it |
| manage your Chronic Illness!And, with this in mind, | | | | is only at night, after the world had closed in, that |
| my advice is to develop hobbies. Within your | | | | our true selves come out."3) pgs 218 & 219: |
| hobbies, remember to share with others, | | | | "Sometime later that day, or maybe after the |
| especially the "guides" within your hobbies, your | | | | next, but certainly at some point during the |
| thanks for their input. For example: perhaps you | | | | steady procession of mad folks being escorted |
| decide that you want to become a great cook, | | | | into Lucy Jones's office, it occurred to me that I |
| and use Martha Stewart as a model. After you | | | | had never really been a part of something |
| dook something, using one of her recipies and | | | | before.....As a child, not being able to join in is a |
| receive rave reviews from your "eaters", write | | | | terrible thing. Maybe the worst.....In all those years, |
| Martha a thank you email or letter! It'll make both | | | | I was never once invited to a birthday party. |
| of you feel so much better.For me, I love reading. | | | | Never asked to a sleepover. Not once shoved |
| And, when I finish a book that I really love, I go | | | | into the back of a station wagon for an |
| to the Author's website and let him/her know, | | | | off-the-cuff trip to Friendly's for an ice-cream |
| and thank them. Most even write back! I even | | | | sundae. I never got a phone call at night to gossip |
| got an autographed "drink coaster" from one, and | | | | about school or sports or who had kissed whom |
| am going to be a "reader reviewer" of one of my | | | | after the seventh grade dance.....My life was |
| favorite author's upcoming book, while it is in | | | | unique because of the absence of all those little |
| draft.I've copied below the thank-you email that I | | | | things that make up everyone else's normalcy." |
| just sent to an author so that you can see what | | | | 4) pg 269: "But that wasn't the real terrain of |
| one looks like. Hope you too enjoy a hobby and | | | | each housing unit. The contours and topography |
| thank those who inspire you.Dear Mr. | | | | were really defined by all the variety of |
| Katzenbach:Not sure why I just found you, but | | | | madnesses contained within." (Note: this one |
| am soooo glad that I did! The Madman's Tale is | | | | REALLY resonated with me, as I was a Human |
| the third book of yours that I have read, and just | | | | Resources Executive for over 30 years before I |
| finished it. (Started with State of Mind, followed | | | | went on Disability. Whenever I walked into a |
| by The Analyst). Loved State of Mind; liked the | | | | room, I took deliberate "stock" of the |
| technical structure of The Analyst, but thought it | | | | temperature of the room; of the currents and |
| was too sad - he was soooo isolated - but | | | | eddies swirling around; of who was bouncing off |
| REALLY LOVED THE MADMAN'S TALE!!I am a | | | | of whom, etc. I've just never seen it articulated |
| voracious reader (I've been "managing" Multiple | | | | as you have done!)5) page 326: IMHO, this is the |
| Sclerosis for over 45 years, and now find myself | | | | depiction that separates someone like Francis who |
| on full time Disability) particularly of books of | | | | may be "crazy", yet is still humane, from a |
| intrigue. I find, however, that increasingly I need | | | | sociopath! I loved how you phrased it!! "All my life, |
| novels that keep me invested within the book. If | | | | all I wanted was to be normal. Even tortured, like |
| the story is too predictable, it just doesn't "hook | | | | Peter and Lucy were, but normal. Able to |
| me".You, sir, have a marvelous mastery of | | | | modestly function in the outside world, enjoy the |
| phraseology; your lyrical prose paints pictures so | | | | simplest of things.....But I couldn't, because I knew, |
| accurately that I found myself in the Hospital | | | | right in that moment, that I would forever be |
| along with Lucy, Peter and Francis!! I have | | | | doomed to be closer in spirit and action to the |
| obtained, and will read next, Hart's War - the | | | | man I hated and the man that scared me. The |
| book, and not the movie. I want to view my | | | | Angel was giving in and luxuriating in all the |
| OWN mental movie through your words!Couldn't | | | | murderous evil thoughts that lurked within me. He |
| help but document, and share back with you, | | | | was a fun house mirror version of myself. I had |
| some of my favorite phrases from The | | | | the same rage. The same desire. The same evil. I |
| Madman's Tale. These specific phrases were so | | | | had just concealed it, shunted it away, thrown it |
| eloquent; they so accurately depicted an emption, | | | | into the deepest hole within me that I could find |
| or a feeling, or, in the case of Francis, so clearly | | | | and cover it up with every mad thought, like |
| defined, in my humble opinion, (IMHO) | | | | boulders and dirt, so that it was buried where I |
| SPECIFICALLY WHAT IT MEANS TO BE | | | | hoped it could never burst forth."In these few |
| "HUMAN", that I couldn't help but let you know | | | | words, you clearly articulated the essence of |
| just how your words affected me! Your prose | | | | "free will". AND, IMHO, just why God gave us |
| kept me reading EVERY WORD, and not just | | | | humans free will. He wants us to control our |
| skimming to catch the thread of the story, | | | | baser, evil urges, and do what is "right" through |
| hurrying to "who done it"!Many authors can | | | | choice, not through coersion.You have succeeded |
| describe events, action, places and things, and | | | | in depicting the essence of being "acceptable"; of |
| some can capture the superficial quality of the | | | | being acknowledged as a human being, with |
| characters. What I find unique about you, Mr. K., is | | | | "rights" to exist. And, after all, that's what all |
| your ability to capture the essence of each | | | | humans live their existence for; simply to be |
| character's "ghestalt"; raison d'etre (sp?); unique | | | | acknowledged as existing.Well, I've taken up too |
| personality; and, how each both taps into the | | | | much of your time. If you want to use my words |
| collective humanity, yet stands uniquely apart | | | | as a review of your book anywhere, please feel |
| from it.1) pg 168: "When I think back, I can see | | | | free to do so.Also, if you ever need to a reader |
| so many little things that should have meant | | | | to read an ARC of your new book(s), I'd be |
| something....I was young, and I didn't understand | | | | delighted to do so.THANKS, again, for many |
| that crime is like all the mechanical parts of a | | | | enjoyable hours! I'll probably be writing you again |
| transmission. Bolts and nuts, screws and pins, all | | | | after I finish Hart's War!About |
| meshing together to create a self-contained | | | | DisabilityKey.comThe Disability Key Website ( ) is |
| momentum that travels forward, controlled by | | | | designed to assist each person in his/her own |
| forces that are a little like the wind; invisible, yet | | | | unique quest to navigate through the difficult and |
| leaving signs in a piece of scrap paper that | | | | often conflicting and misleading information about |
| suddenly takes flight and dashes down the | | | | coping with a disability. |
| sidewalk, or a tree branch being tugged frist one | | | | |