Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Like Kurt Cobain, Nick Traina lived for punk rock (his bands made two CDs, Gift Before I Go and 17 Reasons), succumbed to heroin addiction, and died of suicide. His mom, Danielle Steel, takes us through her 19 twister-like years with Nick in a memoir more affecting than her potboiler novels. Like his AWOL addict father, Nick had good looks, bad behavior, and a yen for the feminine. Five days before he died, he phoned a woman he saw in a centerfold and had a new girlfriend by nightfall. But his fun was ever haunted by manic depression. At age 11, he was a bed wetter who ate all the Tylenol and Sudafed in the house. He first considered suicide at 13, as Steel learned by reading his diaries after his death.
There is tension in this story--one doctor told Steel if she could get Nick to live to 30, he'd probably live a normal life span. (For example, Nick's troubled dad resurfaced, sober, soon after his son's death.) And Steel conveys a sense of the intelligence Nick used to conceal his learning disability, and the irreverent charm that alternated with irrational rages. Oliver Sacks has urged us not to ask what neurological disease a person has, but what sort of person the disease has got hold of. Steel gives us a vivid sense of the costs of the disease to a family--and of the person who was Nick Traina. --Tim Appelo
Amazon.com Audio Review
It's hard to listen to any story that deals with the loss of a child, but Danielle Steel's memoir of her son, Nick Traina, is both tender and engrossing. In this unabridged audio version of His Bright Light, Steel leads us through Nick's battle with manic depression and her fight to help him survive. Although Steel herself narrates the introduction, actress Traci Godfrey, who portrays the author's strong emotions without becoming maudlin, reads the book. Anyone who has known a loved one affected by depression will identify strongly with Ms. Steel's passionate recollections of her son's life. (Running time: 9.5 hours, two cassettes) --Sharon Griggins
--This text refers to the
Audio Cassette
edition.
His Bright Light
His Bright Light,Danielle Steel,Delacorte Press,0385333463,20th century,Authors, American,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography / Autobiography,Biography/Autobiography,Depression,Family relationships,General,Manic-depressive persons,Mental Disorders,Mental Illness,Parental Memoirs,Specific Groups - Special Needs,Steel, Danielle - Prose & Criticism,Suicide,Traina, Nick,United States,Biography & Autobiography / General,Family,Steel, Danielle
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