Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett

I can’t say that Imagi e Me Go e by Adam Haslett is an enjoyable read. It is not. And there are certain aspects I wish he wrote differently. However, his novel provides an important contribution to the understanding of mental illness. He doesn’t criticize or complement his characters. He simply gives empathic and eloquent voices to one family’s pain and suffering as they cope with an illness that is not understood or curable.

The novel follows the slow devolution of a family wrestling with the effects of mental illness on two family members. Both parents - John and Margaret - and the three kids - Michael, Celia, and Alec - take turns narrating the story, which adds to the story’s impressiveness. When Margaret and John are young, engaged, and living in England, John lands in a mental hospital. Though the psychiatrist warns Margaret about John’s clinical depression, she does not hesitate to marry him. She loves him. They move to the United States and begin their life together and John’s mental state stabilizes.

Soon after their move, Margaret and John have children, their finances are strained, and sometimes John cannot get up off the couch. Margaret carries the weight of the family responsibilities. The three kids suffer as they witness their parents’ frequent fights and their father’s mental diminishment. When John falls into a deep depression, his family tries to reach him, but their efforts are futile.

When Michael, the eldest son, takes over as narrator, it becomes clear that there is something quite different about him. No question he is intellectually gifted, but there is a neediness, incoherence, and manic element to his narration. Michael’s mother and siblings remain loyal and steadfast. Margaret understands her son and yet she cannot save him from himself. Margaret remembers Michael being different from the day of his birth.

Michael’s family and a few close friends understand his misfiring mind. Their loyalty and devotion to Michael, given his difficult personality, is impressive. His obsession with slavery and oppression exhausts those around him. Michael moves from rabbit hole to rabbit hole, desperate but unsuccessful in establishing relationships. Michael says, “People don’t want to be loved the way I love them. They get suffocated. It isn’t their fault. But it isn’t mine either.”

Michael’s family is willing to do most anything for him. And yet Michael’s mental illness penetrates their emotional and financial lives. Michael’s siblings, Celia and Alec, counsel him, comfort him, and try to provide him the hope he needs to keep living. Even as Celia and Alec live their own lives, Michael’s mental state haunts the entire family as they all struggle and suffer.

Chosen as a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award Long List, Adam Haslett's book successfully tackles this difficult subject with compassion and insight. This is not a book about dysfunctional family dynamics. This is a book about illness: mental illness and its debilitating effects on the afflicted and those who support and love them.