- Hardcover: 319 pages
- Publisher: Viking Books (7 Sep 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0670022306
- ISBN-13: 978-0670022304
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
573,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #34 in Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Divorce
Fury: A Memoir
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20 reviews
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Best memoir I've ever read.
17 Sep 2010
Format:Hardcover
I read Koren Zailckas' "Smashed" almost exactly four years ago, and while I definitely identified with the awkwardness of growing up and was enthralled with the author's use of language, I was never much of a drinker so it didn't hit me in the same life changing way it did other readers. When I heard that Zailckas was tackling anger and depression in her next book (two issues I've been dealing with personally for years) I started to wonder if "Fury" would have the same effect on me that "Smashed" did on her legions of other fans. I can safely say after reading her new memoir that I have never identified more with a piece of literature in my long, book-filled life.
Koren Zailckas' mastery of language and voice are back with a vengeance in "Fury." When she's mad, her words sizzle off of the page, when she's depressed, you can feel yourself sinking with her into the depths of her gloom. I found myself hesitating after certain lines, reading them over and over again mystified with her imagination ("...a rented room that grew dank at night when the garden snails slipped inside to consort beneath her bed."). Zailckas also works herself into a rhythmic storytelling style (that's vaguely reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk) as she researches, tries diverse therapies, agonizes over her book, and repeats. The end result is an incredibly complex subject made not only digestible but also addicting. I finished the book in 3 sittings but that's only because eventually I had to convince myself not to do "just one more page" and go to sleep.
I've read the argument on here that the author is condescending "to demonstrate her own intelligence and superiority." This couldn't be further from the truth. This tone that rears its head on occasion is natural in a piece that is this unflinchingly honest and personal. The ranting and raving in "Fury" serves more to put us in Zailckas' mindset during her long trek to the light at the end of the tunnel. We're inside her head during every argument and get to see the negative effects that this rage has had on her personal relationships. I don't want to go into too many details and spoil anything, but I find it hard to believe that someone would think that the author is just someone with a superiority complex during the final chapters.
Whether you feel like a pretzel of emotions, have struggled with your own rage for years, or just want to follow a brave woman's struggle through a dark time in her life, there is something in this book for you. I can't recommend it enough.
Waiting anxiously for book #3,
Stephen W.
Koren Zailckas' mastery of language and voice are back with a vengeance in "Fury." When she's mad, her words sizzle off of the page, when she's depressed, you can feel yourself sinking with her into the depths of her gloom. I found myself hesitating after certain lines, reading them over and over again mystified with her imagination ("...a rented room that grew dank at night when the garden snails slipped inside to consort beneath her bed."). Zailckas also works herself into a rhythmic storytelling style (that's vaguely reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk) as she researches, tries diverse therapies, agonizes over her book, and repeats. The end result is an incredibly complex subject made not only digestible but also addicting. I finished the book in 3 sittings but that's only because eventually I had to convince myself not to do "just one more page" and go to sleep.
I've read the argument on here that the author is condescending "to demonstrate her own intelligence and superiority." This couldn't be further from the truth. This tone that rears its head on occasion is natural in a piece that is this unflinchingly honest and personal. The ranting and raving in "Fury" serves more to put us in Zailckas' mindset during her long trek to the light at the end of the tunnel. We're inside her head during every argument and get to see the negative effects that this rage has had on her personal relationships. I don't want to go into too many details and spoil anything, but I find it hard to believe that someone would think that the author is just someone with a superiority complex during the final chapters.
Whether you feel like a pretzel of emotions, have struggled with your own rage for years, or just want to follow a brave woman's struggle through a dark time in her life, there is something in this book for you. I can't recommend it enough.
Waiting anxiously for book #3,
Stephen W.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Family feuds...Thank god I'm not the only one!
14 Oct 2010
Format:Hardcover
I don't really read memoirs, but years ago a friend recommended SMASHED and I read it in one sitting. I've never been much of a drinker myself, but Koren just captured my attention and my heart. She has an undeniable way with words. While FURY is a more gut-wrenching read, I related to it in a way I couldn't relate to SMASHED. My family is a minefield. Grudges left and right. Screaming fights over the Thanksgiving dinner. Divorce drama. Sibling rivalry. Long silent treatments, etc. I didn't realize just how much anger I've been carrying around until I read this book. This was such an emotional read for me, but it also helped me understand my family better. I swear I reached for my highlighter every third page. This book changed my outlook, maybe even my life.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Unexpected Healing
15 Sep 2010
Format:Hardcover
When I was in grad school studying counseling and psychology, I learned that equally positive results could be attained either through face-to-face counseling, group therapy, or bibliotherapy (reading a book about healing). Koren Zailckas's book, Fury, is a superb example of bibliotherapy.
She sets out to write a book about anger after publishing her first book, Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood. While doing the research for this new book, Zailckas gets stuck in the details. She cannot write the book until a breakup with her boyfriend sends her home to live with her parents for a few months, waiting for her sublet apartment to be available. Here she finds herself reliving the scenes from her childhood and responding to her parents in the same angry way she used in the past.
Under the guise of "research," she attends group therapy for people needing anger management skills and tries various therapies such as homeopathy, yoga, counseling, Tonglen meditation, and journaling. This memoir is her journal, creatively interwoven with facts from her research. She says, "The book I was trying to write when I undertook this subject four years ago died on the delivery table for the same reason this record now exists: I set out to write an objective book about modern remedies for anger and I ended up with an achingly personal account of why I went looking for remedies in the first place."
Zailckas identifies characteristics of people who have anger issues, including perfectionism, fear, family histories of anger or avoidance of anger, passive- aggressive behavior, and other self-defeating behaviors. Fortunately for me, an owner of many of these characteristics, I learned from reading Fury that there's hope for people like me. May they find this amusing, insightful report as helpful as I did.
by Susan M. Andrus
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
She sets out to write a book about anger after publishing her first book, Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood. While doing the research for this new book, Zailckas gets stuck in the details. She cannot write the book until a breakup with her boyfriend sends her home to live with her parents for a few months, waiting for her sublet apartment to be available. Here she finds herself reliving the scenes from her childhood and responding to her parents in the same angry way she used in the past.
Under the guise of "research," she attends group therapy for people needing anger management skills and tries various therapies such as homeopathy, yoga, counseling, Tonglen meditation, and journaling. This memoir is her journal, creatively interwoven with facts from her research. She says, "The book I was trying to write when I undertook this subject four years ago died on the delivery table for the same reason this record now exists: I set out to write an objective book about modern remedies for anger and I ended up with an achingly personal account of why I went looking for remedies in the first place."
Zailckas identifies characteristics of people who have anger issues, including perfectionism, fear, family histories of anger or avoidance of anger, passive- aggressive behavior, and other self-defeating behaviors. Fortunately for me, an owner of many of these characteristics, I learned from reading Fury that there's hope for people like me. May they find this amusing, insightful report as helpful as I did.
by Susan M. Andrus
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
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