TLC Book Tours: Shadows in the Sun by Gayathri Ramprasad

Title: Shadows in the Sun
Author: Gayathri Ramprasad
Format: ARC
Publisher: Hazelden
Publish Date: March 4, 2014
Source: TLC Book Tours

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a fan of memoirs.
• You're interested in different cultures.
• You don't mind tough subjects.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Gayathri Ramprasad was a blossoming, young Indian girl being raised by a loving family steeped in tradition. But as she grew into an adolescent, she found it more and more difficult to cope with the routine ups and downs of life. The “tipping point” came after Ramprasad failed a class at college and became inconsolable. Unlike a reasonably healthy person, who might be upset at first but come to a place of acceptance and a rational state of mind, Gayathri could not stop herself from obsessing over her failure and what this would mean to her future and her family.

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Gayathri’s arranged marriage, moving to America, and the birth of her first child all led to suicidal ideation and attempts, along with varying degrees of fear and chaos for her growing family. At her lowest point, she was found digging a grave for herself in her backyard with her bare hands, mumbling unintelligibly, with her young daughter sitting in the house alone. Over time, she learned how to respect her illness without letting it dominate her existence. She also realized she wasn’t alone. Having grown up in a family and culture that initially thought her illness was a curse, was surprised to learn that her father, brother, and sister all struggled with mental illness. Today Gayathri Ramprasad is president of ASHA International, a nonprofit organization she founded, whose mission is her calling—to promote personal, organizational, and community wellness around the world. SHADOWS IN THE SUN illustrates how troubled a person can become and how wonderful it is when she can walk out of the darkness and into the light of recovery."

 

My Two Cents:

"Shadows in the Sun" is the powerful memoir that centers on a woman struggling with depression. Gayathri comes from a very traditional Indian family. From the time that she was fairly young, she started having feelings that she did not know how to deal with and her family didn't really know either, mostly because mental illness was not really addressed in her family's culture. It took Gayathri coming to the United States and suffering a mental breakdown before she really got treatment.

This book is both a personal story but it also explores how mental illness is seen and how it is treated in different places. It was so interesting to read about this aspect in the book. I guess I took for granted that it would be easy to get treatment for a recognized issue if you wanted it no matter where you were. It was really eye-opening to me to read about that. It made me realize that there is a long way to go with treatment in many places!

This book was often hard for me to read because I wanted so badly for her to get treated. Gayathri gives an unflinching look at what she went through. Although she had suffered from depression as a teen, she suffers horrible depression after the birth of her child, which had to be so incredibly scary.

I think this book acts as a good case study of why treatment is so important!

Follow the Rest of the Tour:

Monday, March 3rd:  Svetlana’s Reads and Views
Tuesday, March 4th:  Bookfoolery
Monday, March 10th:  The Written World
Tuesday, March 11th:  A Bookish Affair
Wednesday, March 12th:  The Whimsical Cottage
Thursday, March 13th:  Patricia’s Wisdom
Monday, March 17th:  Booksellers Without Borders
Tuesday, March 18th:  Lavish Bookshelf
Wednesday, March 19th:  Sarah’s Book Shelves
Thursday, March 20th:  Literally Jen
Monday, March 24th:  The Best Books Ever
Tuesday, March 25th:  Bookish Ardour
Wednesday, March 26th:  Good Girl Gone Redneck
Thursday, March 27th:  Books in the Burbs