Welcome to My Breakdown: A Memoir

Written by Benilde Little

Narrated by Benilde Little

"My mother was gone. I never thought I would survive her death."

A major bestselling novelist and former magazine editor, long married to a handsome and successful stockbroker with whom she has a beautiful daughter and son, Benilde Little once had every reason to feel on top of the world. But as illness, the aging of her parents, and other hurdles interrupted her seemingly perfect life, she took a tailspin into a pit of clinical depression.

Told in her own fearless and wise voice, Welcome to My Breakdown chronicles a cavern of depression so dark that Benilde didn't know if she'd ever recover from what David Foster Wallace called "a nausea of the soul." She discusses everything from her Newark upbringing, once-frequent visits to a Muslim mosque, and how it felt to date a married man, to her doubts about marriage, being caught between elder care and childcare, and ultimately how she treated her depression and found a way out.

Writing in the courageous tradition of great female storytellers such as Joan Didion, Nora Ephron, and Pearl Cleage, Benilde doesn't hold back as she shares insights, inspiration, and intimate details of her life. Powerful, relatable, and ultimately redemptive, Welcome to My Breakdown is a remarkable memoir about the power within us all to rise from despair and to feel hope and joy again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jul 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781494582708

Benilde Little

Benilde Little  is the bestselling author of the novels Good Hair (selected as one of the ten best books of 1996 by the Los Angeles Times), The Itch, Acting Out, and Who Does She Think She Is? A former reporter for People and senior editor at Essence, she lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with her husband. Follower her on Twitter and Instagram @BenildeLittle and read her blog, Welcome to My Breakdown, at BenildeLittle.Wordpress.com.

Reviews for Welcome to My Breakdown

[writermala · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It takes Benilde years to realize that her "Crown had been bought and paid for. All she needed to do was put it on." She struggled with ambivalence about her life and choices and her mother was a major part of who she was. When Clara, her mother died Benilde fell into a depression - a nausea of the soul. This memoir tells the tale of her life, her fall into the abyss that was depression and the story of how she fought out of it. I enjoyed her honesty and her "tell it like it is," candid account and would recommend it as a good summer read.

[sj1335 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received the Kindle version of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.I loved this book, it touched on many subjects that are close to me. If you have ever suffered from depression, you can sure empathise and relate with her story. She went through some tough times and handled them with grace and worked desperately not give up on herself. She has a loving family, material possessions she's been blessed with everything that people would look at and say,"Why does she have any problems everything looks fantastic from where I'm standing?" That's what really pulled me into this book, Ms. Little looked like she has it all together but inside, she suffers from the same toxic thought patterns and that we all do and some of us are still battling. A lot of memoirs are not as candid with their most intimate feelings regarding some of the challenges they have been dealt with or without depression. She wasn't afraid to hold anything back even her own shortcomings. That's what makes a great memoir. Ms. Kelly is an amazing woman, and should be very proud of herself and the many accomplishments she has achieved. She's not only a great writer, she is also a great mother, wife and daughter. I can bet she's an awesome friend as well. This memoir has been a true inspiration to me and I'm sure it will be others as well. I hope she has experienced some healing in the process of writing it.