Sounds Like Crazy
New American Library
(a Penguin Group publisher)
Fall 2009

News

Psychology Today blog One True Thing

Jennifer Haupt’s One True Thing (Psychology Today) interview with Shana Mahaffey is chosen as an “essential read” by Psychology Today editors. To read the interview, click here.

KPIX Channel 5 Bay Sunday
Sue Kwon interviews San Francisco native, Shana Mahaffey about her new book, “Sounds Like Crazy.”
To watch, click here.

Here’s what people are saying about Sounds Like Crazy…

Sounds Like Crazy is a San Francisco Chronicle notable book for fall.
“Mahaffey documents a realistic setting and progression of psychotherapy…Not surprisingly, Holly’s rediscovering the sources of her alternate personalities provides the necessary tools for the ultimate healing of her self. At turns both funny and poignant, Sounds Like Crazy celebrates resilience as an essential element of the human condition.”
-The San Francisco Chronicle

“Mahaffey has infused the book with keen insights into human nature and the complexities of life that challenge all of us…Sounds Like Crazy is a novel that should appeal to anyone who has ever wondered about the little voice in the back of their head.”
-San Francisco Book Review

“…[a] strange yet poignant novel…”
Booklist

“…[a] nuanced tale of triumph over elaborately self-imposed limitations.”
SF Weekly

“Sounds Like Crazy is a fascinating tale!”
Harriet Klausner, Amazon.com’s #1 reviewer

“…evocative…”
Armchair Interviews

“Tender, fresh, and darkly comic, Sounds Like Crazy is a sweet and poignant debut. In exploring the reality of a lonely young woman living with dissociative identity disorder. Shana Mahaffey has created an honest and compelling character that will both touch your heart and have you laughing out loud.”

—Tish Cohen, author of The Inside Out Girl

“Author Shana Mahaffey emerges as a talent with a voice all her own in her remarkable debut novel Sounds Like Crazy. Holly is an Emmy-winning voiceover actress who walks around with voices in her head…and they’re not following the script! It’s an inventive, eccentric and ultimately healing tale of what happens when we keep secrets too close.”

— Kemble Scott, Author of the bestselling novels The Sower, and SoMa

“Shana Mahaffey’s debut novel, SOUNDS LIKE CRAZY, introduces us to a young woman, Holly Miller, who seems remarkably well compensated for what might otherwise be a psychologically debilitating condition, namely Dissociative Identity Disorder.  The author demonstrates a talent for constructing a rich life story, populating it with nuanced and colorful characters, some more ‘real’ than others.  Mahaffey’s portrayal of Holly’s psychoanalyst, Milton, and the give-and-take nature of long-term psychotherapy rings true to this reader, who has spent considerable time on both sides of the therapist-patient equation.”
—Paul R. Linde, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCSF School of Medicine and author of Spirits and Madness

“A comedy about dissociative identity disorder sounds nuts, but “Sounds like crazy” introduces a cast of characters so vivid and entertaining that you’ll wonder how your head ever lived without them rattling inside.”
—Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved

“Surprising, compassionate, and heartbreaking…a story of triumph.”

—Joe Quirk, author of The Ultimate Rush

“Highly original and engrossing.”

—Melodie Brown, author of My Lost and Found Life