Sounds Like Crazy

So I finished Sounds Like Crazy by Shana Maheffey last week, and actually liked it a lot more than I anticipated. I was excited when Terry bought it for me for Christmas, but reading books that really delve deep into character's psyches can sometimes freak me out.

The main character, Holly Miller, suffered from dissociative identity disorder (which in the past was referred to as multiple personality disorder). Four of her personalities, Ruffles (an obese, chip munching woman who lived her life on a large purple pillow), Sarge (a military officer with a scar on his neck), The Boy (who wore red converse sneakers and didn't have a face) and the Silent One (a meditating man who never spoke), were pretty harmless. For a while it seemed as though their main function was to help Holly survive day to day situations involving her fifth personality, Betty Jane (a Southern belle with a horrible temper, who forced Holly to spend her parent's credit cards on clothing, private transportation and Charmin toilet paper). These five personalities made up the Committee. While Holly was working as a waitress at a diner in New York City, she would sometimes allow either Betty Jane or Ruffles take over her personality since they were far more outgoing and thus more likely to make better tips. During one instance when Betty Jane was in control, Holly met the developer of a new animated television show. He was incredibly interested in having Holly (Betty Jane) audition for the role of the main character.

After working for a month perfecting the art of becoming a voice-over actor, Holly won the part of Violet. She got a reputation for being extremely high maintenance because for Holly to use Betty Jane's voice, she also had to fork over her free will and allow Betty Jane to be completely in control of her body, her mind, and the Committee. As time passed, Holly also auditioned for the part of Harriet, using Ruffles' voice. She went on to win two Emmys, but her continued strange, diva behavior resulted in her being fired from the show.

Her dismissal brought upon a deep depression, where she began having difficulty maintaining control over the Committee. Her therapist helped her attempt to integrate both the Committee and herself into one, and by doing so revealed that dissociative identity disorder is ordinarily caused by intense trauma. Throughout sessions with her therapist, Holly unearthed the tragedies of her past and slowly gained insight on each of the Committee members, who they represent, and what role they played in her past and present.

The story was both hilarious and haunting, and while I was rooting for Holly to overcome her past and become a fully functioning person with only one personality, I found myself also wishing for Ruffles, Sarge, The Boy, and The Silent One to become their own people as well. And while I knew that Holly had to be hiding some truly traumatic things from herself, Mahaffey really surprised me with the intensity of it all.

I let Emily borrow the book after I finished with it since she went to school for psychology, and would probably have a completely different reaction to the story than I did. However, I would highly recommend the book to anyone despite their previous knowledge of psychology or dissociative identity disorder. It was a great train read, not only immensely entertaining but also wildly thought provoking.

Overall, I'd give it 4 stars. I really enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say that it's one of my favorite books of all time.

This week I borrowed Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon from Emily. She said I'd probably read it in one sitting, so I'm also reading Push: A Novel by Sapphire. I haven't seen Precious yet, but am looking forward to hopping on that bandwagon.