Out of Tune

Scenes from a Misbegotten Life

Victoria Maiden

• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781977239686
• eBook ISBN: 9781977252012
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Why would an honor student who loves books vandalize a public library, leaving shattered glass all over? Why would a man who barely survived a horrific motorcycle crash insist that his recovery was due to a mysterious falcon that flew over to his bedside every night and assured him the world could not afford to lose him? What could make a brilliant Harvard-bound young man suddenly abandon all career plans, lock himself in a basement to set up "the greatest corporation there ever was or ever will be" and then actually go down to the County Clerk's office and file the necessary papers to register his company? What would make a lonesome, single woman in her thirties point a gun at some birds chirping in the trees above her apartment and shoot? Why would a gifted poet get into so many barroom brawls at her favorite watering hole that she has to be permanently banned? How could an office worker out on her lunch hour suddenly develop a compulsion to stare at the sun? No, these are not characters from some dystopian novel. This is not fiction. These are all real people whose lives have been warped and disfigured by mental illness. They all show up in the pages of Ms. Maiden's difficult memoir of living life as a person who must deal with the scourge of mental illness day in and day out. It is an affliction that comes in many flavors and colors, some of them muted or subtle, not immediately visible to an outsider. It is an illness that can be, and often is, deadly. This memoir, through a series of poignant vignettes that trace the author's "misbegotten" life from early adolescence to senior citizen, gives the reader a tour of a dark and disturbing landscape, but one that is familiar to millions of our fellow travelers, some of whom you might never suspect. Told with brutal honesty, graphic and unsparing in details, this book gives a raw, unfiltered look at an illness that has been shrouded in shame and secrecy for far too long.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• 1. Why I Bothered Writing This
• 2. A Solemn Decision
• 3. True Confessions
• 4. Not Hiring
• 5. Two Doctors, No Cures
• 6. Kneesocks
• 7. Hot Tantrum in a Firehouse
• 8. Poetry and Raw Milk
• 9. A Motley Crew
• 10. How I Spent My Summer Vacation
• 11. A Scarlet Letter
• 12. West Side Story
• 13. The Beat Goes On
• 14. From Church Basement to Sugar Hill
• 15. Belly Dancing in Bloomingdale’s
• 16. Anger Management 101
• 17. King Tut’s Tomb and a Belated Christmas Gift
• 18. Crime and Punishment
• 19. Sweet Georgia Brown
• 20. Trip the Light Fantastic
• 21. The Sun God’s Revenge
• 22. The Milkman Cometh
• 23. Folks Got to Eat
• 24. Water Sports
• 25. Swinging on a Star
• 26. Full Employment
• 27. Ruffles, Feathers, and Lace
• 28. Saints and Sinners
• 29. Makes Me Wanna Holler
• 30. Born to Lose
• 31. Lost in the City of Fallen Angels
• 32. Midnight Desperado
• 33. Death Begins at Forty
• 34. Tall, Dark, and Stark Raving Mad
• 35. The Magic Wears Off
• 36. Carolina Blues
• 37. Mania Meets Music
• 38. The Day the Towers Fell
• 39. Moonlight in Vermont
• 40. Goodbye, Mom
• 41. You Can’t Go Home Again (Until You Have To)
• 42. Seeking Exotic Adventures After Fifty
• 43. Blood and Treasure
• 44. ‘Tis the Season...Sigh…
• 45. It’s a Family Affair
• 46. Minus Two
• 47. Totally Unedited
• 48. The Unraveling
• 49. Soul Searching Across the Pond
• 50. Rocky Mountain High
• 51. Epilogue