Crazy love: An autobiographical account of marriage and madness

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Book by Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana, US on January 4, 1933.

Her family were strongly religious with conservative, midwestern values and most of her childhood was spent moving a lot due to her father's occupation as a salesman.

Though she grew up during the Depression and her family did not have a lot of money, Naylor stated that she never felt poor because her family owned good books. Her parents enjoyed reading stories to the children--her father would imitate the characters in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer--and her mother read to them every evening, "almost until we were old enough to go out on dates, though we never would have admitted this to anyone."

By the time Phyllis reached fifth grade, writing books was her favorite hobby and she would rush home from school each day to write down whatever plot had been forming in her head - at sixteen her first story was published in a local church magazine.

Phyllis has written over 80 books for children and young people. One of these books, "Shiloh," was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1992, was named a Notable Children's Book by the American Library Association and was also Young Adult Choice by the International Reading Association.

Naylor gets her ideas from things that happen to her or from things she has read. "Shiloh" was inspired by a little abused dog she and her husband found. The little dog haunted her so much that she had to write a story about him to get it out of her mind.

Reviews

[Kricket · Rating 4 out of 5]

after reading her books for kids and teens almost my entire life, i realized i knew very little about phyllis reynolds naylor. this memoir is about her first marriage, to a man eventually diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. the story is heartbreaking but still has bits of her humor. it was funny to recognize bits of her own story that she later used in her fiction. for example, in the alice mckinley books, alice finds love letters her father wrote to her mother, who died when alice was young, and naylor borrowed a snippet from one of her first husband's love letters to herself.

i also loved the way she wove her first husband's favorite poem, "the love song of j. alfred prufrock" into his story. really beautifully done and very poignant.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought and read this book because I wanted to know more about the woman who wrote the "Alice" books. I think it’s out of print and I got my copy from Better World Books. This book is much more calm and compassionate than the cover and title would suggest. I would love to see a new edition with a different title. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor tells the story of her marriage at 18 to a man who developed paranoid schizophrenia. She describes her hopes, fears, and questions, and the setbacks of trying to get treatment for him.

[Edith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This children's author tells her own story about her husband who eventually had to be hospitalized. He was institutionalized in a posh asylum in Rockville, MD which is now closed, but which I've driven past many times when living there.