Cover Image: My Father's Glass Eye

My Father's Glass Eye

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Member Reviews

Jeannie tells us her journey to find her father's previous life.  And his first daughter named Jeannie.  She knows only a little bit about that first family and things it important to track them down and learn as much as she can about all of them, her father, and especially Jeannie.  Along the way, she learns a lot about herself and how she didn't always see her father as she maybe should have.

This isn't a happy-go-lucky beach-type read, but it was good to see Jeannie grow and realize that life isn't always the way we think it is.

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Which came first....Mental Illness of grief? Or did grief come first, followed by a descent into madness?

Named for a deceased half sister, Jeannie Vanasco is the adored only child of older parents. When her father dies on her first night away at college, she begins a long spiral downward into mental illness. Diagnosed at various times with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and/or borderline personality disorder, Jeannie has written a brilliant memior.

I read this book in one sitting, and would highly recommend this title for any audience.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free digital copy of this title to review from Net Galley.

#MyFather'sGlassEye#NetGalley

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A piece of wonderful honest, open and raw writing this book is. The bond between father and daughter, it also touches on mental illness and mental health.
A well written book.

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Raw honest open the author shares. Her love for her father despite all she knew her problems with mental her.Her griefover her dad jumps off the pages.A memoir that draws you in every emotion revealed.#netgalley #duckworthpress

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JEANNIE VANASCO was named after her sister, technically her half sister. Her father’s daughter from a previous marriage, who had in the meantime died. I guess if you’re going to start out in life with a dead person’s name, you better have coping skills.
This memoir was a promise she made to her father, on the eve of his death. She was very close to her father and for the next decade Jeannie tries to find her father, herself and her place in the world while battling mental illness.
She becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to the other Jeanne. She tries to unravel her sister’s mysterious death and in so doing, deeply examines her own childhood. JEANNIE feels if she understands how her sister died, she will understand her father.
However, both her sister and her father are wrapped up in her existence and in her world of madness, into which we are drawn so intimately, that we begin to see her logic. Her sister’s name is representative of JEANNIE herself, her father’s glass eye is representative of both her father and her loss of him.
Grief and mourning are never easy to write about and if the author really wants to get his or her point across, they have to bleed on the page. They have to show us their broken, shattered hearts and let the reader touch something of that brokenness in their own. To put it simply, the author has to drive us to tears. VANASCO does this, and does it well.
She takes us through the shock phase, the denial phase, the bargaining phase, until we reach acceptance with her. When grieving for someone, you know you have reached acceptance when you can rejoice for the life that loved one lived, the love they gave and remember them with gratitude instead of only pain.
It is amazing that even with mental illness, the mind find ways to heal. JEANNIE’s journey is long, and dark and not complete, but at the end of a decade, there is a measure of healing. It is a poignant and beautiful book, eloquent and not always perfectly clear, however, she takes the reader along for the ride and it can be a difficult ride at times. VANASCO is never distant or vague, which makes this all the more unforgettable.
I rate this 4 stars with a strong recommendation to read and thank Tin House and Netgalley for the copy.

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The author's raw writing made this book about her struggles to come to terms with not only her relationship with her father, but her mental health an emotional read that I couldn't put down.

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A fascinating look at mental illness without it being the focus. The father-daughter relationship, that was the focus, added depth and interest to a story about a young girl's coming of age and finding out who she really is.

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This was a well written book but although the content was difficult in places, it was divided into short sections and this made it quite quick to read. The author cannot move on from her father's death and also from the fact she was named after an older sister who had died after a car accident two decades before Jeannie's birth. Jeannie obviously suffers from multiple mental issues and the book is written as part of trying to come to terms with life in general but focused around the relationship with her father. Worth a read if only to have a better understanding about mental health and all the complexities that arise.

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My Father's Glass Eye by Jeannie Vanasco is an account of how she lost her mind from grief after the death of her father.

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