At twenty-one, just as she was starting to comprehend the puzzles of adulthood, Sarah Manguso was faced with another: a wildly unpredictable autoimmune disease that appeared suddenly and tore through her twenties, paralyzing her for weeks at a time, programming her first to expect nothing from life and then, furiously, to expect everything. In this captivating story, Manguso recalls her struggle: arduous blood cleansings, collapsed veins, multiple chest catheters, depression, the deaths of friends and strangers, addiction, and, worst of all for a writer, the trite metaphors that accompany prolonged illness. A book of tremendous grace, "The Two Kinds of Decay "transcends the very notion of what an illness story can and should be.
Sarah Manguso is the author of two books of poetry, "Sist""e"" Viator" and "The Captain Lands in Paradise, "and the short story collection "Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape."" "In 2007 she was awared the Rome Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A "New York Times Book Review" Editors' ChoiceA "Time Out Chicago" Best Book Book of the YearA "San Francisco Chronicle "Best Book of the Year
"The events that began in 1995 might keep happening to me as long as things can happen to me. Think of deep space, through which heavenly bodies fly forever. They fly until they change into new forms, simpler forms, with ever fewer qualities and increasingly beautiful names.
There are names for things in spacetime that are nothing, for things that are less than nothing. White dwarfs, red giants, black holes, singularities.
But even then, in their less-than-nothing state, they keep happening.
"
At twenty-one, just starting to comprehend all the traditional puzzles of adulthood, Sarah Manguso was faced with another unexpected challenge: a wildly unpredictable disease that appeared suddenly and tore through her twenties--vanishing and then returning, paralyzing her for weeks at a time, programming her first to expect nothing from life and then, furiously, to expect everything. Manguso recalls her nine-year struggle with Chronic Idiopathic Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy, or CIDP, which disintegrates the myelin coating that protects the nervous system. She endured arduous blood cleansings, collapsed veins, multiple chest catheters, the deaths of friends and strangers, addiction, depression, and, worst of all for a writer, the trite metaphors that accompany prolonged illness. A book of tremendous grace and self-awareness, "The Two Kinds of Decay" surpasses the expectations for a story about illness; Manguso trains the eyes anew on the notion of illness and survival. "In her second year of college, the poet Sarah Manguso developed a neurological disease so uncommon it doesn't even have a real name. The autoimmune condition, a rarer form of the already rare Guillain-Barre syndrome, is known as chronic idiopathic demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, and it took more than four years to run its course . . . In her sharp, affecting new memoir, "The Two Kinds of Decay," Manguso writes from the far side of a long period of remission . . . From an original welter of experience, she has carefully culled details that remain vivid. Filtered through memory, events during her illness seem like 'heavenly bodies' that 'fly until they change into new forms, simpler forms, with ever fewer qualities and increasingly beautiful names.' Manguso is acutely interested in these processes of renaming and remembering, the way time changes what we say about the past. Her book is not only about illness but also about the ways we use language to describe it and cope with it.As much as anything, this book is a search for adequate descriptions of things heretofore unnamed and unknown . . . Through her own attentiveness, Manguso has produced a remarkable, cleareyed account that turns horror into something humane and beautiful."--Emily Mitchell, "The New York Times Book Review" "In her second year of college, the poet Sarah Manguso developed a neurological disease so uncommon it doesn't even have a real name. The autoimmune condition, a rarer form of the already rare Guillain-Barre syndrome, is known as chronic idiopathic demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, and it took more than four years to run its course. For several of them, Manguso had to undergo periodic treatments in which her plasma was completely removed and replaced. The treatments worked, but sometimes only for a few days. Later, she moved to steroid treatments, which restored a degree of physical well-being but created complicated side effects. In her sharp, affecting new memoir, "The Two Kinds of Decay," Manguso writes from the far side of a long period of remission. 'For seven years I tried not to remember much because there was too much to remember, ' she writes. From an original welter of experience, she has carefully culled details that remain vivid. Filtered through memory, events during her illness seem like 'heavenly bodies' that 'fly until they change into new forms, simpler forms, with ever fewer qualities and increasingly beautiful names.' Manguso is acutely interested in these processes of renaming and remembering, the way time changes what we say about the past. Her book is not only about illness but also about the ways we use language to describe it and cope with it. The author of two books of poetry, Manguso brings the virtues of that form to the task of writing memoir. Her book is divided mostly into one- and two-page chapters titled like poems. She mixes high and low language, the crass and the scientific, with a lyric poet's sure-handedness. The chapters themselves--among them 'The Hematologist, ' 'The Forgetful Nurse, ' 'Corroboration'--resemble her own poetry, broken into aphoristic, discrete sections on the page. This disjointedness gives the prose a rhythm that mirrors the confusion and fragmentation of illness. It also clears space for one of the book's most remarkable aspects: its dark h
Industry Reviews
"In "The Two Kinds of Decay," Sarah Manguso has miraculously elevated the act of memory. She has found honesty, fear, longing and beauty in every moment of her young life, giving this book an intensity found nowhere else. You put it down panting with wonder and grief, but never with pity. A breakthrough in the memoir, and in writing." --Andrew Sean Greer "Manguso has produced a remarkable, clear-eyed account that turns horror into something humane and beautiful." --The New York Times Book Review
"Moving . . . a fiercely truthful memoir of illness." --The Boston Globe
"Here is not a day-by-day description of this grueling time, but an impressionistic text filled with bright, poetic flashes. . . . Many sick people learn to live in the moment, but the power of Manguso's writing makes that truism revelatory." --The Washington Post Book World
"Manguso's slender volume is written in a sparese, no-nonsense style that can be chilling but makes you cheer for the author." --New York Post
"Manguso writes this account from the far end of the illness, looking back on it from a position of physical strength, biting ferocity, and unsentimental wit." --Bookforum
"A series of brief, elliptical vignettes composed of sentences as spare as they are unsparing . . . Manguso pushes beyond the familiar confrontation between doctor and patient to explore the linguistic confusion at the heart of the power struggle." --Slate
"[A] stunning story . . . Manguso's deadpan tone works equally well in service of the painful and funny moments, or when the two meet." --Time Out Chicago Manguso has produced a remarkable, clear-eyed account that turns horror into something humane and beautiful. "The New York Times Book Review"
Moving . . . a fiercely truthful memoir of illness. "The Boston Globe"
Here is not a day-by-day description of this grueling time, but an impressionistic text filled with bright, poetic flashes. . . . Many sick people learn to live in the moment, but the power of Manguso's writing makes that truism revelatory. "The Washington Post Book World"
Manguso's slender volume is written in a sparese, no-nonsense style that can be chilling but makes you cheer for the author. "New York Post"
Manguso writes this account from the far end of the illness, looking back on it from a position of physical strength, biting ferocity, and unsentimental wit. "Bookforum"
A series of brief, elliptical vignettes composed of sentences as spare as they are unsparing . . . Manguso pushes beyond the familiar confrontation between doctor and patient to explore the linguistic confusion at the heart of the power struggle. "Slate"
[A] stunning story . . . Manguso's deadpan tone works equally well in service of the painful and funny moments, or when the two meet. "Time Out Chicago"" A "NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW" EDITORS' CHOICE
A "TIME OUT CHICAGO "BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE" BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
"Manguso has produced a remarkable, clear-eyed account that turns horror into something humane and beautiful."--"The New York Times Book Review "
"Moving . . . a fiercely truthful memoir of illness."--"The Boston Globe "
"Here is not a day-by-day description of this grueling time, but an impressionistic text filled with bright, poetic flashes. . . . Many sick people learn to live in the moment, but the power of Manguso's writing makes that truism revelatory."--"The Washington Post Book World"
"Manguso's slender volume is written in a sparese, no-nonsense style that can be chilling but makes you cheer for the author."--"New York Post"
"Manguso writes this account from the far end of the illness, looking back on it from a position of physical strength, biting ferocity, and unsentimental wit."--"Bookforum"
"A series of brief, elliptical vignettes composed of sentences as spare as they are unsparing . . . Manguso pushes beyond the familiar confrontation between doctor and patient to explore the linguistic confusion at the heart of the power struggle."--"Slate"
"[A] stunning story . . . Manguso's deadpan tone works equally well in service of the painful and funny moments, or when the two meet."--"Time Out Chicago" A "NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW" EDITORS' CHOICE
A "TIME OUT CHICAGO "BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE" BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
"Manguso has produced a remarkable, clear-eyed account that turns horror into something humane and beautiful."-"The New York Times Book Review "
"Moving . . . a fiercely truthful memoir of illness."-"The Boston Globe "
"Here is not a day-by-day description of this grueling time, but an impressionistic text filled with bright, poetic flashes. . . . Many sick people learn to live in the moment, but the power of Manguso's writing makes that truism revelatory."-"The Washington Post Book World"
"Manguso's slender volume is written in a sparese, no-nonsense style that can be chilling but makes you cheer for the author."-"New York Post"
"Manguso writes this account from the far end of the illness, looking back on it from a position of p "Manguso has produced a remarkable, clear-eyed account that turns horror into something humane and beautiful."--"The New York Times Book Review
""Moving . . . a fiercely truthful memoir of illness."--"The Boston Globe" "A series of brief, elliptical vignettes composed of sentences as spare as they are unsparing . . . pushes beyond the familiar confrontation between doctor and patient to explore the linguistic confusion at the heart of the power struggle."--"Slate.com "
"[A] stunning story . . . Manguso's deadpan tone works equally well in service of the painful and funny moments, or when the two meet."--"Time Out "(Chicago) "Here is a beautiful, brave memoir that takes us into the heart of a young woman's illness, its pains and terrors and mysteries, yet leads us somehow into brightness. For all its clinical precision of the physical, The Two Kinds of Decay is one of the most movingly humane books I have read in a long time; it is a hard-earned vision of life, every word grounded in both body and soul. Sarah Manguso is a brilliantly talented writer, and this is a book not to be missed."--John Burnham Schwartz "If art can be described as the paths one takes toward some form of compassion, this distilled and luminous book offers us one such a map. An exploration of a body at a particular moment in its history, narrated by an unsparing yet appealing consciousness, "The Two Kinds of Decay" brings the reader to a place of grace and compassion that is absolutely breathtaking." --Nick Flynn
"At the white-hot center of this book burns the intelligence and wit of Sarah Manguso, one of the most brilliantly talented writers at work today. She is a clear-eyed visionary, a connoisseur of the penetrating declarative, an unsentimental chronicler of the horrifying insult of illness and of the desires that drive us headlong into adulthood. With a poet's brevity, with riveting narrative energy, with searing insight and compassion, Manguso leads us into hell and back again; every step of the way, there's the thrill of knowing we're in the hands of a new literary master." --Julie Orringer, author of "How to Breathe Underwater""In "The Two Kinds of Decay," Sarah Manguso has miraculously elevated the act of memory. She has found honesty, fear, longing and beauty in every moment of her young life, giving this book anintensity found nowhere else. You put it down panting with wonder and grief, but never with pity. A breakthrough in the memoir, and in writing." --Andrew Sean Greer "If art can be described as the paths one takes toward some form of compassion, this distilled and luminous book offers us one such a map. An exploration of a body at a particular moment in its history, narrated by an unsparing yet appealing consciousness, "The Two Kinds of Decay" brings the reader to a place of grace and compassion that is absolutely breathtaking." --Nick Flynn
"At the white-hot center of this book burns the intelligence and wit of Sarah Manguso, one of the most brilliantly talented writers at work today. She is a clear-eyed visionary, a connoisseur of the penetrating declarative, an unsentimental chronicler of the horrifying insult of illness and of the desires that drive us headlong into adulthood. With a poet's brevity, with riveting narrative energy, with searing insight and compassion, Manguso leads us into hell and back again; every step of the way, there's the thrill of knowing we're in the hands of a new literary master." --Julie Orringer, author of "How to Breathe Underwater"
"In "The Two Kinds of Decay," Sarah Manguso has miraculously elevated the act of memory. She has found honesty, fear, longing and beauty in every moment of her young life, giving this book an intensity found nowhere else. You put it down panting with wonder and grief, but never with pity. A breakthrough in the memoir, and in writing." --Andrew Sean Greer "At the white-hot center of this book burns the intelligence and wit of Sarah Manguso, one of the most brilliantly talented writers at work today. She is a clear-eyed visionary, a connoisseur of the penetrating declarative, an unsentimental chronicler of the horrifying insult of illness and of the desires that drive us headlong into adulthood. With a poet's brevity, with riveting narrative energy, with searing insight and compassion, Manguso leads us into hell and back again; every step of the way, there's the thrill of knowing we're in the hands of a new literary master." --Julie Orringer, author of "How to Breathe Underwater"
"In "The Two Kinds of Decay," Sarah Manguso has miraculously elevated the act of memory. She has found honesty, fear, longing and beauty in every moment of her young life, giving this book an intensity found nowhere else. You put it down panting with wonder and grief, but never with pity. A breakthrough in the memoir, and in writing." --Andrew Sean Greer
