65/111 - Sunbathing in the Rain by Gwyneth Lewis

I bought this book a little while ago, but it's not until recently that I decided to read it. The strapline describes is as 'a cheerful book about depression', however I'm not really sure this fits the bill.

A couple of years ago I read Sally Brampton's Shoot the Damn Dog, which was excellent from both a personal viewpoint and as a way of explaining and putting into words what depression really is. On the contrary, Sunbathing in the Rain can't seem to decide what it wants to be - memoir, book of motivational quotes, poetry collection.

The book itself is written in lots of small sections, and the author explains that this is because she has designed the book in part to be accessible to people who are currently depressed, and so the chunks are very small because depression robs you of your ability to take in information. This is really thoughtful, however I found it to be quite distracting and I wasn't able to follow one train of thought, so the unconventional structure didn't really work for me.

That's pretty much all I have to say about this book. I skimmed it on the train, mostly, and didn't have any strong feelings other than mild boredom.

Next: The Locked Ward by Dennis O'Donnell