Letters to a Young Madman: A Memoir

Gary Schoener, the Director of the Minneapolis Walk-In Counseling Center, thinks Gruchow writes with ''the power of a confessional poet like Anne Sexton.'' He further says of the book, ''It is a first hand account -- an authentic look from the inside -- with graphic personal descriptions admission to a psychiatric ward, electroconvulsive shock treatment, and so many other things familiar to the mentally ill, but not everyone else. What is so illuminating about this very honest and direct personal account is the integration of personal observations with philosophical statements and ideas.''