DAVID STUART MACLEAN is a Pen/American award-winning writer. His work has appeared in Ploughshares and on the radio program This American Life. He has a PhD from the University of Houston and is a co-founder of the Poison Pen Reading Series. He lives in Chicago with his wife.
Praise for The Answer to the Riddle is Me "A gripping medical
mystery, a heartwarming personal journey, and a chilling indictment
of the commonly prescribed drug that upended MacLean's life--but
left his superb literary skills intact."
--Rebecca Skloot, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortal
Life of Henrietta Lacks "A mesmerizing, unsettling memoir about the
ever-echoing nature of identity--written in vivid, blooming
detail."
--Gillian Flynn, New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl
"MacLean fearlessly explores his journey to the edge of madness and
his subsequent return to sanity in an unsettling, sometimes
riotous, memoir."
--Publishers Weekly
"A deeply moving account of amnesia that explores the quandary of
the self . . . MacLean has written a memoir that combines the
evocative power of William Styron's 'Darkness Visible, ' the lyric
subtlety of Michael Ondaatje's 'Running in the Family' and the
narrative immediacy of a Hollywood action film. He reminds us how
we are all always trying to find a version of ourselves that we can
live with."
--Los Angeles Times "incandescent...MacLean's account is raw and
unsparing, and will surely take you out of your comfort zone -- the
reader is immersed in the writer's oblivion and his vertiginous
journey of recovery -- but the reward for sticking with it is the
privilege of reading MacLean's profound and finely nuanced
meditation on memory and identity."
--The Seattle Times "What does it mean to be the person you are?
How much can be stripped away before you are no longer you? This is
a fascinating book that resides in the mind as if you lived it
yourself. "
--Robert Boswell, author of Tumbledown "Thoughtful, terribly
honest, often funny, and utterly un-self-indulgent, this is a
riveting work of narrative art."
--Tony Hoagland, author of What Narcissism Means to Me "A
compelling personal account and a frightful caution to physicians
and travelers who continue to place their faith in a very dangerous
drug."
--Dr. Remington L. Nevin, MPH, Mefloquine expert "Brilliant and
painful and hilarious."
--Antonya Nelson, author Some Fun "David Stuart MacLean is a writer
who can break your heart, terrify you, and make you laugh all on
the same page. The Answer to The Riddle is Me is a masterful
exploration of the funhouse of identity."
--Mat Johnson, author of Pym "While MacLean's experience is unlucky
indeed, the luck becomes ours as he takes us with him on his
harrowing journey, which is rendered with exactitude, humor, and
lyricism."
--Maggie Nelson, author of The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning
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