Imagine Me Gone

Adam Haslett's novel Imagine Me Gone is the story of a family dealing with mental illness. It is written with clarity and compassion and feels honest and true. Margaret marries John, even though he struggles with crippling depression for which he is hospitalized, and they build a life together and have three children. The oldest of these children, Michael, struggles with his own mental demons and is frenetic and obsessive. He is brilliant and musical and yet cannot keep a job or stay in school or maintain healthy relationships. John succumbs to his depression by committing suicide, and his family members each deal with that in their own ways. Most of the book is focused on how the family copes and cares for Michael. His siblings, Celia and Alec, have very different personalities and approaches to life and to dealing with Michael. Celia is very rational, and Alec wears his feelings on his sleeve. Michael forms the center around which Margaret, Celia, and Alec revolve. The love and caring they show for him is deep and real, but this is not a candy-coated story of love conquers everything. Because it doesn't. This is a sad book, but it is heartwarming, too, because you see the love and the ways in which these very complex characters express it and struggle with it. They try, and that is what matters.

Reviewed by Kelly Currie