January First: A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save Her by Michael Schofield
Blog Post by Natasha S
The central idea of "January First: A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save Her," is love and family. The book is about Janni, Michael Schofield's daughter, and their struggles with Janni's illness, schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is an illness that makes you hallucinate, up to the point where you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy. Janni has many imaginary friends, like 400 and Monday, who she thinks are real. Throughout their journey, Janni has many ups and downs, including hitting her parents and her little baby brother, Bodhi, to loving Bodhi and her parents. They visit many hospitals and psychology wards, but none of them help Janni. When Janni and Bodhi eventually have to live in different apartments so no one gets hurt, Michael thinks everything is over. What will happen to Michael, Janni, and Bodhi? Love and family are a big part of the book because they add the idea of, "Love will make families go the extra mile." This is true because Michael and his wife, Susan, had to go many hours just to visit Janni for one hour every day.
For a news article about schizophrenia go to this article: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/living-with-schizophrenia-the-importance-of-routine/?_r=0
For more information about schizophrenia go to this website: schizophrenia.com/szfacts.htm
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This is a picture of Janni, Michael, Susan, Bodhi, and their dog.
The picture was taken from: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/edge-of-the-abyss-20120820-24h4r.html
If you want to read a summary of this book, go to: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/edge-of-the-abyss-20120820-24h4r.html
I loved this book and would definitely read it again! It was eye-capturing and had so much suspense on what would happen to Janni and Bodhi? At the beginning it was suspenseful because it made you wonder why was Janni hitting her parents and Bodhi and who are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday? I would rate it a 5/5 because I love reading biographies and this was so interesting also because I want to be a doctor/pediatrician when I grow up, so learning about the different diseases would prepare me for doing that in the real world.
I can connect to Michael because he explains how they went so many miles just to see Janni and how he always played with Janni even if she was playing with her hallucinations. This relates to me because when my grandpa was sick, we went to visit him across the world. If Janni was my daughter, I would want to play with her so that she wouldn't feel excluded from the world.
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This is a picture of Janni, Michael, Susan, Bodhi, and their dog.
The picture was taken from: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/edge-of-the-abyss-20120820-24h4r.html
If you want to read a summary of this book, go to: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/edge-of-the-abyss-20120820-24h4r.html
I loved this book and would definitely read it again! It was eye-capturing and had so much suspense on what would happen to Janni and Bodhi? At the beginning it was suspenseful because it made you wonder why was Janni hitting her parents and Bodhi and who are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday? I would rate it a 5/5 because I love reading biographies and this was so interesting also because I want to be a doctor/pediatrician when I grow up, so learning about the different diseases would prepare me for doing that in the real world.
I can connect to Michael because he explains how they went so many miles just to see Janni and how he always played with Janni even if she was playing with her hallucinations. This relates to me because when my grandpa was sick, we went to visit him across the world. If Janni was my daughter, I would want to play with her so that she wouldn't feel excluded from the world.
I have never heard of this book before, but your post has captured my attention and now I want to read it. I have also never really familiarized myself with schizophrenia, so this book would give me a different viewpoint than usual. I really liked the visuals that you put into this post because I can clearly see the family and how they are happy in that picture. This book is also very relatable because many people have made sacrifices for other family members. Maybe you could have explained the links as well. This book really appeals to me through your post. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you included a picture of the family to give a good visual and it also allows the reader feel more involved with the characters in the memoir.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the way you described the connection and the 2nd memoir you are reading. The picture gives a good visual treat and does make the reader get involved with the characters. The picture does show the central idea and makes it more understanding.
ReplyDeleteI like how you included two central ideas that are present in our everyday lives. This makes the reader feel that they can connect with your characters in a deeper way. Great job! :D
ReplyDeleteI like how a visual was included, it really adds to the depth of the narrative. I will take a look at this book and probably read it because it seems to have a good plot.
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