Strangers to Ourselves

A subtle and penetrating investigation into how mental illness is diagnosed … Aviv is an instinctive storyteller… meticulous, empathic, tirelessly inquisitive. – Hephzibah Anderson * Observer *
So attuned to subtlety and complexity… a book-length demonstration of Aviv’s extraordinary ability to hold space for the “uncertainty, mysteries and doubt” of others. * New York Times Book Review *
Profoundly intelligent … superbly written portraits … [A] remarkable book. * Guardian *
Captures with subtlety and empathy the honest reality of mental illness… a human chronicle that is intimate and unpredictable… Instead of demonizing disorders of the mind, Aviv seeks to understand their causes. * The Times *
An incredibly researched, empathetic, and moving book. * Lit Hub *
Combines the poise of Janet Malcolm and the confessional bravery of Joan Didion … Through half a dozen vivid case studies - one being the story of her own hospitalization at age six - Aviv unravels medical diagnoses and demonstrates how societal narratives around illness take hold. The result is fascinating and empathetic. * Vogue *
Aviv applies her signature conscientiousness and probing intellect to every section of this eye-opening book … A moving, meticulously researched, elegantly constructed work of nonfiction. * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *
In writing against the limits of psychiatric narratives, into the space where language has failed, Aviv paradoxically finds language for the most ineffable registers of human experience. * Wall Street Journal *
Writing with uncanny empathy and integrity … Strangers to Ourselves is a work of landmark reporting that is truly heartbreaking and astonishing. – Cathy Park Hong, author of MINOR FEELINGS: An Asian American Reckoning
A groundbreaking, paradigm-shifting exploration of the relationship between diagnosis and identity. This is the kind of book that can make your life flash before your eyes, glittering with new insights and a sense of unguessed possibilities. – Elif Batuman, author of EITHER/OR and THE IDIOT

RACHEL AVIV is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she writes about psychology, medical ethics, and criminal justice, among other subjects. She is a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing and the winner of a George Polk Award and a National Magazine Award. Her 2022 book, Strangers to Ourselves, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, was a New York Times bestseller. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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