Donald Antrim's personal insights reframe suicide-whether in thought or in action-as an illness in its own right, a unique consequence of trauma and personal isolation, rather than the choice of a depressed person.Ī necessary companion to William Styron's classic? Darkness Visible, this profound, insightful work sheds light on the tragedy and mystery of suicide, offering solace that may save lives. Through a clear and haunting reckoning with the author's own story, One Friday in April confronts the limits of our understanding of suicide.

In this moving memoir, Antrim vividly recounts what led him to the roof and what happened after he came back down: two hospitalizations, weeks of fruitless clinical trials, the terror of submitting to ECT-and the saving call from David Foster Wallace that convinced him to try it-as well as years of fitful recovery and setback. Through a clear and haunting reckoning with the authors own story, One Friday in April confronts the limits of our understanding of suicide. He’ll join Deborah Treisman, the fiction editor of the New Yorker, to discuss the launch of this important and insightful new work. As the sun lowered in the sky one Friday afternoon in April. As the sun lowered in the sky one Friday afternoon in April 2006, acclaimed author Donald Antrim found himself on the roof of his Brooklyn apartment building, afraid for his life. Robinson for a Better World, The Afterlife) continues the conversation by offering a new understanding of suicide as a distinct mental illness in his brave new memoir One Friday in April. A searing and brave memoir that offers a new understanding of suicide as a distinct mental illness.

One Friday in April by Donald Antrim