Thank you netgalley for an eARC of this book im exchange for a non bias review. I didn't enjoy this memoir at all. I didn't know who Anna Tendler was, but apparently she is very famous! I was drawn in by the blurb, and as someone who has experienced severe mental health problems. I was intrigued.

This book felt more like a list of past relationships and how she hasn't achieved anything after a little Google it doesn't appear as though she has done much. I found the writing to be very scatty, hard to follow and just not very well thought out. I didn't know who Anna was beforehand, but this memoir has made me not want to know.

I didn't enjoy this book at all. It felt like a slog, and I wouldn't recommend to people.

I really enjoyed this. I loved the way Anna explores her experiences leading up to, during and following her mental health treatment, although at times they are difficult to read. As someone who has also experienced mental ill health, I found the ending where Anna is looking at her notes from her time in treatment to be very relatable. A brilliant memoir and one I will be recommending.

*2.5 stars, rounded up.

For the first quarter of “Men Have Called Her Crazy,” I was engrossed. Anna Marie Tendler’s writing was smooth and evocative, and her reflections about her mental health were so honest that it almost felt like I was reading about a close friend. We follow as she enters a psychiatric hospital amidst the Covid pandemic, experiencing suicidal thoughts, self-harm and an eating disorder. Tendler recounts each day at the facility down to the most minute details, which are both fascinating and truly sobering to read about. Slowly but surely, an overt underlying thread of Tendler’s resentment toward men begins to emerge. Through alternating chapters, she switches from recalling her experiences with men – almost all of them negative – to her time at the hospital.

Through these episodes I found myself in an uncomfortable struggle. As the page count increased and my initial feelings subsided – and particularly as we moved further away from her time at the psychiatric hospital and more toward Tendler’s reflections on men – I started to become somewhat numb. Was I still reading because I was truly getting something from the experience, or was it because of some kind of ugly nosiness, an inability to resist finding out what happened to a real human being who had reached crisis point, compounded by her simmering fury toward men?

Tendler occasionally glosses over events that seem like they should have been incredibly significant, and lingers on areas that are perhaps less relevant. She mentions falling in love with a friend in a single sentence, and skips over her marriage to the comedian John Mulaney, and their subsequent divorce, entirely. Her dog, Petunia, however, is devoted entire chapters. This is a memoir, and therefore those choices are one hundred percent personal – they just didn’t quite work for me.

I really wish I could say I found the book powerful, but being totally honest I simply wasn’t feeling much, I was just absorbing it. It didn’t seem right, especially as I could clearly acknowledge the anguish that Tendler was going through. Past a certain point in the book, my continuing to read it felt almost gossipy.

Some reflections about her hatred of men felt thin, sweeping and unfocused; speaking entirely personally, they sometimes made me uncomfortable. However, I can also acknowledge that it is both wrong and impossible to lay down any sort of real judgment when it comes to reviewing a memoir – these are her experiences, and she owns them entirely.

Tendler’s story is at times very moving and certainly relatable. At my favourite moments in the book, I felt I was getting a unique insight into the U.S. mental health system as well as an admirably vulnerable, highly readable memoir. Whilst her outlook ultimately didn’t resonate with me, I do think many women will feel a deep pull to her story.

Many, many thanks to Bonnier Books for the review copy.

Absolutely brilliant. In equal turns heartbreaking and uplifting - I think this is the start of something special. I will be reading more from Anna Marie Tendler - I couldn't put this book down! Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance!

In this soul-baring memoir Anna Marie Tendler invites readers into some of the most vulnerable periods of her life with a relatability that effectively transcends the complex circumstances she recounts. Tendler writes about her life pragmatically, but her empathy and eye for art lends itself to moments of quiet beauty within even the most painful recountings. A portrait of a woman finding her way through crisis, and an examination of the experiences that brought her there, this memoir is intimate as a midnight conversation amongst old friends while maintaining an unflinching honesty of tone about the realities of the struggle with self harm and suicidal ideation. Men Have Called Her Crazy is a poignant and vulnerable reflection on womanhood, mental illness, and what it means to suffer under the yolk of both in a patriarchal society.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for access to this ARC

Tendler takes the reader on an incredibly personal journey throughout this novel, one that felt painful but necessary to tell. As someone with mental health struggles, there were several moments I deeply related to. Tendler does not write about these difficult moments for shock factor or to upset the reader, rather to write her own truth, which is something I really appreciate and I feel that most writers struggle to do.

I really enjoyed reading about her personal experiences that made her the person she is today. Her emotional connection to her artwork and her dog in particular were heartwarming and at times heartbreaking to read about. This entire novel felt cathartic to read, and for Tendler to write. A truly exploratory and thoughtful read.

Ive just cried so much at this which is quite a look because it's almost 3 am and im wearing a Shrek headband to keep the hair off my neck.

Because I am decidedly offline (bar Goodreads and twitter this week for the elections!!), I had absolutely no idea who Anna Marie Tendler was beforehand, and nothing in the book gives away how others may know her; and for this is am grateful. I am grateful that I have this picture of a beautiful and complex woman (as all women are) who relearns hope despite of, and because of, challenges faced.

This year for me has been wrecked with mental health struggles, I am not one to shy from admitting this, and reading this raw and reflective piece of a woman gaining hope in the face of hardship, I can say has fundamentally effected me and I will carry this with me throughout the rest of my life.

Its insightful and brilliant and I urge anyone and everyone to read it regardless of gender or relationship with mental health.