Books by Donald Antrim

As the sun lowered in the sky one Friday afternoon in April 2006, acclaimed author Donald Antrim found himself on the roof of his Brooklyn apartment building, afraid for his life. In this moving memoir, Antrim vividly recounts what led him to the roof and what happened after he came back down: two hospitalizations, weeks of fruitless clinical trials, the terror of submitting to ECT-and the saving call from David Foster Wallace that convinced him to try it-as well as years of fitful recovery and setback.Through a clear and haunting reckoning with the author's own story, One Friday in April confronts the limits of our understanding of suicide. Donald Antrim's personal insights reframe suicide-whether in thought or in action-as an illness in its own right, a unique consequence of trauma and personal isolation, rather than the choice of a depressed person.A necessary companion to William Styron's classic? Darkness Visible, this profound, insightful work sheds light on the tragedy and mystery of suicide, offering solace that may save lives.

Twenty psychoanalysts and a narrator meet for dinner in a pancake house. The narrator, Tom, finds himself locked in a bear hug by Bernhardt, the father figure of the group. The effects are disastrous as he is forced into an out-of-body experience and watches as his friendships and marriage unravel.

A devastatingly funny, achingly tender short story collection from a MacArthur Foundation 'Genius' Grant recipient and an acknowledged master of the form

A surreal exploration of the combined love and loathing felt between a family of a hundred brothers as they try to settle their differences

* A brilliant, touching and desperately funny portrait of an American family in all its glorious oddity