Madwomen: Is It Trauma or a Curse?

Renee shares some of her favorite mental health memoirs and Mariquita interviews author Anamely Salgado Reyes, all in a search for the answer to an age-old question: Are we mad or is it just trauma?

Renee’s Reading Corner: Mental Health Memoirs (0:21)

Instead of a longer review of one book, Renee shares six mental health memoirs that made a last impression on her. From C-PTSD to depression, from sociopathy to anxiety, this segment covers a lot of ground.

You Will Make Mistakes: Finding Home and Family in My Mother Cursed My Name (12:19)

Mariquita interviews author Anamely Salgado Reyes about her debut novel, My Mother Cursed My Name. They discuss the legacy of trauma passed along by family who did their best, what it means to feel othered, how to define home, and just how, exactly, you can break a curse.

Books and Resources Mentioned:

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo

A Flat Place by Noreen Masud

The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction Short List – podcast episode with Sally and Renee

The Valedictorian of Being Dead by Heather B. Armstrong

Sociopath by Patric Gagne

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

My Mother Cursed My Name by Anamely Salgado Reyes

Support this episode’s hosts and guests:

Follow Renee: Instagram // The StoryGraph

Follow Mariquita: Instagram 

Follow Anamely: Instagram

Today’s episode is sponsored by Gretchen Sisson, author of Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. Your support helps keep feminist media independent!

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This episode was edited and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

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Renee Powers

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Renee Powers founded Feminist Book Club in 2018 to provide a space for intersectional feminists to learn, grow, and connect. When not reading or running the biz, you can find her drinking coffee and trying unsuccessfully to teach her retired racing greyhound how to fetch. Favorite genres: feminist thrillers, contemporary literary fiction, short stories, and anything that might be described as "irreverent"