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Robert A. Burt: Anne Dailey asked me to review your new book, Elyn, The Center Cannot Hold, for American Imago, even though I had already praised the book in print—specifically, on the dust jacket, where I said it was “an extraordinary, gripping account of Saks' struggle with mental illness…. [S]he refutes fearful prejudices and demonstrates the respect deserved by all people with serious mental illness.” Before writing this, of course, I had read the book in manuscript. As I was reading (devouring it might be a more accurate description), I told my wife how captivated I was by the manuscript; she asked to see it, and for an entire day, the two of us sat across from one another in our living room, with me passing pages to Linda as quickly as I could finish them, and her waiting eagerly for more.
Now I have reread the book, and once again was struck by the strength of your narrative and the beauty of your writing style. Few books, in my experience, stand up so well on second reading. When Anne Dailey, and then Peter Rudnytsky, asked me to write a review, I happily agreed—but then found myself stumped. What more could I say than I'd already said? That's when I called you, told you my assignment and the impossibility as I saw it of writing a standard review, except to praise the book once again. I suggested that we might instead have a conversation about the book in which I would ask some questions, you would respond, and our interchange would then appear in print; and you agreed.
To begin, I have three related questions that arise from reading your previous books on mental illness and the law, Jekyll