Comical, emotional and raw, Mad Girl is Bryony Gordon’s second novel and is an entirely unreserved autobiographical account of her experiences with mental illness. Gordon is a well-respected and successful journalist with her own column at The Telegraph, and Mad Girl opens the floodgates on the tidal wave of her long-suppressed mental health struggles.
The book details the author’s life thus far, exploring how she juggles marriage, her career and motherhood whilst in the grips of mental illness. Since her childhood, Bryony has had severe OCD, and through the retelling of her own experience she deftly negates the stereotypical and reductive view of OCD that associates it simply with cleanliness and organisation. The reader finishes the novel with a much deeper understanding of the condition, as well as a newfound empathy for its sufferers.
Bryony’s writing style blends heartbreak and humour with an ease that is seemingly effortless; the juxtaposition of joy and wit with some desperately dark moments is the novel’s true strength. It is in the book’s unfettered honesty that its charm shines through and we begin to think of the author as a friend confiding in and entrusting us. Having finished the book, the reader cannot help but feel a personal connection to Bryony and her experiences.
I found Mad Girl to be incredibly accessible and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a read that is as enjoyable and funny as it is important and moving.
Bryony’s new book No Such Thing as Normal was published in January 2021 and promises practical mental health tips to those who find themselves relating to Mad Girl.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars
Disgraceful Magazine 