Summary Of Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir By Lauren Slater

In my sophomore year at Boston University, I was introduced to a book called Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir by Lauren Slater. It was a powerful and stimulating memoir that forced me as a reader to redefine boundaries between what we know as facts and what believe through our own personal narratives. The book intrigued me from the beginning as the author examined her childhood memories after she was diagnosed with a mental illness that lead her to develop seizures, neurological instabilities and also a compulsion to lie all the time, which made the readers question the trustworthiness of the memoir. I remember getting frustrated as this was supposed to be a memoir and the author’s approach was completely different. Once I put that frustration away and began reading the book, I forgot that I was reading a memoir and began reading the book as if it was a patient’s file.
I used my knowledge from my biology and neuroscience classes to try and figure out which parts of the memoir could be real and which could be part of the author’s imagination. The way the book was structured made me feel as if I am a doctor and the author was my patient. This made me realize the importance of applying my knowledge of biology to individual situations. I know the anatomy and physiology of the brain and what happens biologically to a person with schizophrenia, but after reading this book, I actually understood the feelings and personal conflicts and events that happen to someone with this illness. Not only did it help me understand schizophrenia but also other illnesses in the sense that illnesses will have general characteristics but it will always be unique to each