Critical Praise

“An important addition to the literature of mental illness."

—Andrew Solomon, The New York Times Book Review (front cover review)

“I will not be the last to thank Ms. Merkin for resisting this desire [to die] long enough to give us what is one of the most accurate, and therefore most harrowing, accounts of depression to be written in the last century.... Ms. Merkin speaks candidly and beautifully about aspects of the human condition that usually remain pointedly silent.”

—John Kaag, The Wall Street Journal

“[A] triumph on many levels... As insightful and beautifully written as it is brave... THIS CLOSE TO HAPPY earns a place among the canon of books on depression...books that offer comfort to fellow depressives and elucidation for those lucky enough to have dodged its scourge."

—Heller McAlpin, The Washington Post

“THIS CLOSE TO HAPPY is as illuminating and hard to put down as it is painful."

—People