Review by Lisa C. Taylor
Momma May Be Mad is unlike any memoir I’ve previously read or reviewed. The opening of the memoir pulls the reader into the nonlinear hellscape of the author as she simultaneously battles anorexia, alcoholism, and bipolar disorder. By outward appearance, Kerry Neville looked successful: an attractive woman with a Ph.D. but her anorexia, addiction, and multiple attempts to end her life derailed her for many years. The suicide attempts led to multiple hospitalizations where she was treated with ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) and antipsychotic medication. The ECT created gaps in her memory, and those gaps are incorporated into her writing style, creating a kaleidoscopic effect as past and present merge in free association. The birth of her two children and the eventual breakup of her marriage underpin the first section of the book. It is impressive how she stays neutral even when her husband (referred to only as X) falls in love with another woman. She credits X’s patience and attempts to support her through multiple breakdowns. This memoir is refreshingly devoid of anger and blame.
In Momma May Be Mad, the reader becomes “dear reader”, a witness to her story. Kerry Neville also refers to “pushpins” which are literally called up notes that one visualizes as a bulletin board with pinned scraps of paper. In this way, she invites readers into her unreliable memories strewn along a treacherous path. When she meets a psychiatrist who labels her “hopeless”, she refers to him to as “Dr. Disregard”. This offers the motivation she needs to change the trajectory of her life. When the author’s husband said he no longer loved her because of the intractable nature of her self-destructiveness, she writes that she needed to “argue against consensus” and “these scars remind me of how much I have to say and the imperative to say it.”
The book is organized into sections beginning with the past and its imperfect memory, continuing to the present, and looking forward to the future. She details the “Splinters and fragments: a fat file of doctor’s shorthand notes and coded diagnoses. Social Security Disability Insurance legalities, journal entries composed in situ, email correspondence with therapist, and friends who fill in the blanks.”
Her move from Pennsylvania where her children resided with her ex-husband to Georgia to accept a teaching position is marked by a visit to Flannery O’Connor’s homestead. Kerry finds inspiration in Flannery O’Connor’s commitment to her writing even as she was suffering from Lupus and writing on scraps of paper from her bed. Every writer understands the urgency of getting words down on paper. It takes a leap of faith and a commitment to something completely intangible. Kerry Neville’s resolution to tell her story is fearless and inspiring.
A unique aspect of this memoir is how her writing style changes from the beginning to the end of the book. She is a lyrical and insightful writer throughout, but the beginning of the book is chaotic, random, and intentionally disturbing. As she emerges from the darkness through sheer determination, 12 Step Programs, medication and therapy, she becomes attentive to the world around her. Nature, teaching, unconditional love for her now adult children, Ireland, and friendships define her life. A Fullbright Scholarship led her to Ireland and a mentor who became part of her journey. As she struggled to learn Irish, her mentor reminded her “The language is already in you.” She came to a degree of fluency in this difficult language as her mentor told her, “You must feel the sounds become part of your body.”
Ireland continues to be a healing balm in her life. She taught in the University of Limerick Master’s Program. Learning Irish is a part of her journey. As she says, “Language is how we talk ourselves into being, how we recount our history, how we compose our poetry and song, how we know who we are: I think, therefore I am, yes, but I speak and know who I am becoming.”
In Momma May Be Mad, Kerry Neville moves from near-death and self-destruction to a productive life in process. No journey of self-discovery is ever complete. The 12-step programs tell those in recovery to take it “one day at a time.” This memoir is about tenacity, the lifelong process of personal transformation, and the power of writing to change both the writer and reader.
Momma May Be Mad by Kerry Neville
Madville Publishing 2025 $21.95
ISBN: 9781963695410
Kerry Neville is the author of the award-winning short fiction collections, Remember to Forget Me and Necessary Lies. Her fiction and essays have been widely published. She has twice received the Dallas Museum of Art Prize for Fiction, The John Guyon Prize in Literary Nonfiction, The Texas Institute of Letters/Kay Cattarulla Prize for the Short Story, and the Short Story Book of the Year Prize from Independent Publisher Magazine. As a 2018 Fulbright Scholar in Ireland, she was Visiting Faculty in the M.A. Creative Writing Program at University of Limerick. She is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville.
Lisa C. Taylor is the author of the novel, The Shape of What Remains, two short story collections, and three poetry collections. She co-directs The Mesa Verde Writers Conference and Literary Festival and teaches online. Her honors include the Hugo House New Works Award, Pushcart nominations in fiction and poetry, and residencies at Tyrone Guthrie Centre Annaghmakerrig and Vermont Studio Center. She spends as much time as possible in Ireland.