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Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature
A black comedy about writing focuses on a young novelist who is about to publish his first book amid intense feelings of paranoia and powerful delusions that drive him to the brink of insanity and suicide. Original.
273 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 19, 2021
This book isn't the typical book I'd read, but my husband gave it to me for Christmas because I'm a writer. I enjoyed the book, but it's not something I'd read again. It was a quick read (it took me a few months because I put it down to read other books). Sometimes when I read it before sleeping, I'd have dreams that I was going crazy, and that freaked me out. But, overall, it was an interesting look at mental illness, and it was interesting to read a book from a point-of-view I've never experienced before.
January 8, 2009
Librarian Jan Lars Jensen just sold his first novel - a science fiction story set in future India - to a publisher. Excellent news to any writer, but as he revised the story for his editor, he grew increasingly convinced that his novel - which featured the gods of Hindu mythology - will anger the Hindus, lead to the collapse of his life, and the destruction of the world. [return][return]While it's natural for most authors to be apprehensive about an upcoming release of a new novel, Jensen lost his grip on reason and reality. He was unable to sleep and is highly paranoid. Convinced that the only way to fix the situation is that he died, a suicide attempt followed and Jensen woke up in a psych ward. The ward did little to curb his paranoid; it merely provided additional nooks and crannies to feed it. [return][return]"Nervous System" is Jensen's account of his swift decline in mental health, and his much slower recovery. While mental illness isn't funny (especially if you have it), Jensen is blunt and candid about the various conditions of his mind throughout the whole incident. His memoirs are readable and conversational, even if the topic is usually avoided in polite company.[return][return]There were many nights when he is convinced that there is a sniper or assassin outside, waiting for a chance to kill him. What's comical about that situation is how resigned Jensen is to his eventual fate, and how concerned he is that none of his fellow patients are at any time, between him and a possible bullet. He charts his relationship with his doctors, fellow patients, and his wife. [return][return]There was no angel choir or great revelation when Jensen won the battle with his mind, just a gradual healing and acceptance of "normal"... with the occasional pep talk to himself that there is no reason to give in to any renewed paranoia.[return][return]Most memoirs are about how a person had an awful life but became famous and awesome in spite of it. We all want to be inspired to be great, especially when our lives are nowhere half as awful as people who merit getting their own biography. Perhaps that's why many of us will not be immortalised in a book; there's nothing unusual or remarkable about finding your own rut and staying there.[return][return]"Nervous System" will probably find an audience with people who are interested in mental illness from an eloquent patient's perspective, or for writers who believe they are this close to going crazy. At least the writers can rest assured in the fact that if they survive a lapse in mental health, they can write an entertaining book about it.
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March 10, 2022This book wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be.; It was cool that he was Canadian though. It was different that what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be more about his mental illness and classic books, but instead it was about the publication of his book, which seemed a little self-centered.
August 29, 2016
Both a tale of a nervous breakdown/suicide attempt and publishing, Nervous System pushed a lot of my buttons and I'm very happy to have read it.
How effective is Jensen's writing? After the chapter describing his various anxieties I was overcome with my own. I left work early and raced home, convinced that I'd left the front door unlocked and my dogs had busted loose and were running around the neighborhood.
How effective is Jensen's writing? After the chapter describing his various anxieties I was overcome with my own. I left work early and raced home, convinced that I'd left the front door unlocked and my dogs had busted loose and were running around the neighborhood.
December 12, 2020
I enjoyed this book, it's very easy to read and easy to relate too. Really honest and open - would recommend it.
January 17, 2021
A really insightful book into a man’s mental breakdown. I love how he describes so well what it was like to be him, in his thoughts, at the time.
July 28, 2012
All in all not a bad book at all, but the book has (for me) a very though and boring middle part where the author bores the reader with ongoing nagging about his book publication. When that's all set and done Jan Lars Jensen returns to analysing his sickness and his time in the ward and his way to getting sane again and the book turns out to be quite deep. At first I thought of only Jan as a deep character but in the last parts of the book you get a glimpse of Michelle's thoughts and behavior too.
July 2, 2007
Another memoir - by a guy who had a complete break with reality and thought he would bring down the entire world civilization with his novel Shiva3000, and how he struggled to be able to read afterwards. Really, really fascinating.
June 11, 2018
In Nervous System, Jan Lars Jensen recounts about the time he had a nervous breakdown that was set off by the publication of his up-coming book.
Beating the odds, Jensen gets a contract on the book he wants to write. After putting all the time and effort in, and as it nears it's publication, suddenly Jensen feels like his book will usher in the end of the world.
He wrote a book set in India about Shiva. He suddenly worries that it will be found offensive and somehow start a world war that will only end with countries lobbing nuclear bombs at each other. I can read that and go, um, I don't think one fiction book goes that way, but in throes of his illness he couldn't see that.
While this is a serious topic, Jensen takes a humorous approach to the book. Not to negate what has happened to him, but I would assume (because I would do the same thing) to make the topic more approachable and to make writing about it easier.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. While I've never been suicidal or delusional, I have experience depression that has affected my family and I related to several parts of the book.
Beating the odds, Jensen gets a contract on the book he wants to write. After putting all the time and effort in, and as it nears it's publication, suddenly Jensen feels like his book will usher in the end of the world.
He wrote a book set in India about Shiva. He suddenly worries that it will be found offensive and somehow start a world war that will only end with countries lobbing nuclear bombs at each other. I can read that and go, um, I don't think one fiction book goes that way, but in throes of his illness he couldn't see that.
While this is a serious topic, Jensen takes a humorous approach to the book. Not to negate what has happened to him, but I would assume (because I would do the same thing) to make the topic more approachable and to make writing about it easier.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. While I've never been suicidal or delusional, I have experience depression that has affected my family and I related to several parts of the book.
September 27, 2022
I hadn't even realized this was a memoir until the third time I picked it up and tried to read through it again. Somehow that knowledge made it more palatable and I was able to finally finish this book that has been on my shelf forever. I found it enjoyable, but that's about all I can say about it. I appreciate the perspective, the insight on mental illness and the healthcare available to treat it, how hard it is to communicate that illness to others in your regular everyday life, the rocky path back to a semblance of a regular everyday life. But the way it was written, so close to fiction in its internal monologue, though entertaining, kind of took away from those insights. The suspension of belief that so easily accompanies a work of fiction kept creeping in--maybe that's a personal problem. In any case, this was supposed to be a positive review. I enjoyed my time with this book.
February 26, 2020
Humorous and frank view of the author’s experience in a psychiatric ward. I’m in my second year of a graduate program in Art Therapy/ Counseling, so Larsen’s memoir held professional interest for me.
Want to read
June 11, 2020Nervous system
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 10, 2012
It's was a nice read, especially towards the middle of the book. Skip the last 40 pages or so, it's too much yada about his plans of publishing this book and comparisons with other books. Not highly recommended but worth reading when you're interested in the author's 'crazy' breakdown. Haven't read shiva 3000 though so maybe that is an important factor too.
April 17, 2015
Interesting narrative on an author's nervous breakdown spurred by the news of an upcoming publication of his latest novel. I enjoyed Jan Jensen's honest rebelling of his time spent on the hospital and especially his manic thoughts throughout his return home and back into the real world. Overall this book was a little dull and I put it down for a few days and almost forgot about it.
June 25, 2007
Sort of a strange memoir about a writer going crazy about the book he's written. Everything's all tangled up - he's writing about writing making him go crazy, making him sort of an unreliable narrator. I liked it okay but didn't love it enough to really recommend it.
December 25, 2012
well, the book was fresh. I admire the writer and his strength in writing about his lowest point in life. It really does gives us a better understanding to mental illness. I guess all of us will lose our minds at some point in our lives.
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August 11, 2011A disarmingly honest and well written account of the writer's descent into insanity,and his subsequent recovery.If you enjoyed this,you might enjoy the work of Chuck Pahlaniuk and Dave Sedaris.
January 29, 2012
Scary-because-it's-true tour of a descent into mental illness with a paranoia tinge. Much more engaging than I had expected, this story stuck with me all day long during the week that I read it.
March 17, 2013
Super interseting, a really good insight into the authors mental condition. Funny, interesting and sad in turns.
December 30, 2014
I've added my review to Heather's because I disagree with it being 'self-centred.' It was a blessing 8 years ago but at the moment I wish it was in comic form!
February 29, 2016
Hated this book. Took forever to get the will to finish. I don't know that the book could be considered objectively bad or anything, I just never got engaged.
November 15, 2015
Humorous and a courageous look on mental illness.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews