I think it's very curious that I hadn't really encountered a book that was half essay, half prose, and now I've encountered the format twice two months in a row (the other book is the autobiographical In the dream house)

This was a hard read, not because I wasn't interested or the prose wasn't good, but because the topic hit a bit too close to home. I even had to stop reading one day because it triggered a depersonalization episode. 

The main character's delusion felt really #relatable to me, as is the topic of a mental illness that feels like a possession, a haunting, something to be exorcised in secret because nobody will believe you if you told them. 

Also it just feels really good to read a book with a psychotic main character that isn't demonized, and to know that the author herself experienced psychosis and wants to shine a light on the subject with her book.