Book Review: Secrets for the Mad: Obsessions, Confessions and Life Lessons by Dodie Clark

April 16, 2020

I am not much of a “read this book a recording artist published” kind of person. Not that there is anything against it, but generally speaking they aren’t the most interesting books. But Dodies book was different. It wasn’t just another way to make money (or maybe it was, but it didn’t read that way). It really felt like this book was written to a friend of hers. Someone she genuinely wanted to teach from her mistakes and heartaches and achievements and dreams. It felt like a long letter from an old friend.

She talks about her mental illness with such candor and her past mistakes with such vulnerability that it is hard not to fall in love with her upon reading. I have only passively listened to her music – I am not a die hard fan – so some of the lyrics in her book were songs that I had not heard. This made it feel all the more like this was an old friend that was just catching me up on her life and spending time taking to me about the struggles she has been through for the past couple years.

Her words are sad, but hopeful. There’s no hiding that she struggles, but there is also no hiding that she is strong and growing and has a witty sense of humor.

This was not the quickest read I have ever had – I had started it three times before reading it all the way through – but it was sweet and thought provoking. It is something worth reading if you listen to her music at all, or even if you don’t and just want to take a peak inside a letter from a close friend.