From Agoraphobia to Zen
By Marilyn Mendoza
Reviewed by Angie Mangino
Rating: 4 stars
With a memoir that enters into the deep recesses of mental illness, Marilyn Mendoza shares a journey that is both heartbreaking and encouraging.
Set both in a project in Brooklyn and in Hawaii, and alternating from her mother’s journal that shows the depths she descended into with her illness, to the struggles the author had in her own life with panic attacks, From Agoraphobia to Zen grows to the ultimate success achieved. It truly does as the subtitle describes, “uncovering the core of my anxiety and reclaiming my life.”
The writing style of the memoir resembles a journal itself in its listing of events in a voice heavy in the mental perception at the time described. Readers will feel the pain and confusion with her, but In the end, she achieves peace in her life; trusting herself more, making sounder decisions, finding a love of life through learning to love herself.
This journey shared helps readers achieve a perception of Zen, too, through its telling.