Running from the Devil: A Memoir of a Boy Possessed

by Steve Kissing

What's a kid to do when recurring hallucinations lead him to believe that he?s possessed by the devil? In the case of one boy with an over-active imagination and a Catholic parochial school upbringing, you don?t tell a single soul for fear of being ridiculed, sent away for treatment, or perhaps even burned at the stake. Instead, you wage a private holy war against Satan. Based on an award-winning feature story, Running from the Devil is Steve Kissing's poignant, yet humorous, memoir about the remarkable steps he took to hide his condition—later discovered to be epilepsy1and exorcise his demons. The tale is a testament to the power of a child's imagination and religion's influence on an impressionable mind.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[John]

Another in the latest trend of books that is supposedly a memoir, but contains fictional accounts of childhood occurences. OK, I can't prove that the accounts are fictional (except that names were changed). He gives intricate details of cartoon characters he sees when he has seizures. And did I mention that most everything he writes about happened 25-30 years ago? Since he's the only one that had the seizures, I'm pretty sure he had to get creative and pull something interesting out of his a$$. He also recounts his experiences with colorful similes and metaphors that start to wear thin towards the end of the book, as if they were really that funny to begin with. Also, his adolescent struggles with masturbation were an awkward departure from his happier childhood recollections. I could've done without those stories or the story about him trying to cop a feel at CYO dances.

Overall, it was an interesting story approached in a rather sloppy manner

[Gregory]

I bought this book last 2008 and I amazed that story of him critically stunning that he discovered himself possessed by evil. And doing dorkness is one thing he just odd to. I like this book, quite fantastic. I wanna be possessed too.

[Cyndi]

Interesting perspective into living with teenage epilepsy. He gives great descriptions of what a absence seizure feels like in a way that most epileptic children cannot.

[Catherine Basil]

Hilarious growing up story. I kept laughing so much my husband was annoyed with me. I want this made into a movie it's so funny.

[Valerie]

A little heavy on the running aspect, but a very nice read.