Mark Vonnegut Livres

More than thirty years after the publication of his acclaimed memoir The Eden Express, Mark Vonnegut continues his story in this searingly funny, iconoclastic account of coping with mental illness, finding his calling, and learning that willpower isn’t nearly enough. Here is Mark’s life childhood as the son of a struggling writer, as well as the world after Mark was released from a mental hospital. At the late age of twenty-eight and after nineteen rejections, he is finally accepted to Harvard Medical School, where he gains purpose, a life, and some control over his condition. There are the manic episodes, during which he felt burdened with saving the world, juxtaposed against the real-world responsibilities of running a pediatric practice. Ultimately a tribute to the small, daily, and positive parts of a life interrupted by bipolar disorder, Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So is a wise, unsentimental, and inspiring book that will resonate with generations of readers.

Kurt Vonnegut's son reflects on his life in the counterculture and his battle with schizophrenia.

"Pediatrician Mark Vonnegut has spent forty years treating children for coughs, fevers, ear infections, and sometimes more serious complaints. In that time he has seen the American medical system change in ways he couldn't have imagined as a medical student--some of them good, others not so good. But what hasn't changed is his commitment to his young patients, whose stories fill the pages of this book. There's Anna Maria, a little girl with an incurable case of bone cancer; Adeline, who has a syndrome so rare none of Vonnegut's fellow doctors have seen it before; Marlowe, whose life-threatening anemia is cured by his just-born baby brother. Whether recounting the cases that have stuck with him or detailing larger changes in medicine--the privatization of health care, innovations in cancer treatment, the rise of anti-vaxxers and HMOs--Vonnegut is a personable guide through what is often seen as an impersonal system, and his stories sparkle with humanity, candor, and wry wisdom. ("In pediatrics, and most medical care," he says, "if the doctor can just shut up and listen long enough, the patient will give him the diagnosis. Unfortunately, there's not a procedure code or template for how to shut up.") Vonnegut doesn't pull any punches in his criticisms of the medical-industrial complex, but The Heart of Caring isn't a diatribe. It's the story of a life lived in medicine, with all the heartbreak, hope, and everyday heroism that entails"-- Provided by publisher

Juni 1969: Die zähen Jahre am College sind vorbei. Mark Vonnegut, Sohn des berühmten Schriftstellers Kurt Vonnegut, zieht es in die Wildnis. Mit seiner Freundin Virginia und ein paar College-Freunden will er der Welt, in der er lebt und an der er (ver)zweifelt, entfliehen. Mit einem VW Käfer geht es ans Ende der Zivilisation, in eine entlegene Region Kanadas. Eindringlich und humorvoll erzählt Vonnegut vom harten und entbehrungsreichen Leben in der Kommune auf einer kleinen Insel ohne Elektrizität, 18 Kilometer per Boot von der nächsten Straße entfernt. Die Freunde beschäftigen sich hauptsächlich mit sich selbst. Doch irgendwann fängt Mark an, Stimmen zu hören. Die Hippie-Utopie gerät mehr und mehr zum Alptraum – einem Horrortrip, der am Valentinstag 1971 in der Gummizelle einer psychiatrischen Klinik endet. Nach intensiver Behandlung und vielen Rückschlägen wird Vonnegut schließlich geheilt und beginnt ein neues Leben – in die Kommune kehrt er nie wieder zurück. Das Buch gilt längst als Klassiker. Nun erscheint es, mit einem Vorwort von Kurt Vonnegut versehen, zum ersten Mal auf Deutsch.