Have you ever felt like you'd like to be in someone elses' mind for a day? How about the mind of someone struggling with mental illness? No matter if you have a mental illness, or simply are curious as to what it feels like to have one; Lady Injury is the quintessential "day in the life" memoir that will suck you into the mind of a young woman plagued by self injury and bulimia. Melissa by all accounts seems like a normal girl at first glance, but if you knew her, you'd find out that she was locked in a battle with her mind - trying to escape her past while simultaneously losing touch with reality. Follow her journey from sick to recovery as she is admitted to a psychiatric ward and forced to deal with her problems head-on. At times the conditions in the psychiatric ward seem unbearable and are almost physically uncomfortable to read about, because you feel you are experiencing these things right along with the author. At other times, the book is lighthearted as Melissa's somewhat dry sense of humor laces the otherwise heavy subject matter with laugh-out-loud quips and sarcastic remarks about her unfortunate situation. Throughout the book the reader is rooting for Melissa, while also despairing when she rebels against the treatment she is offered. Lady Injury is akin to being left alone with the diary of someone who suffers from mental illness, who documented every moment in startling and candid detail. Most are never afforded this opportunity, but it presents itself here in Melissa's brave personal memoir. While Melissa's story does not offer a resolute ending to her plight with mental illness, it does offer a glimmer of light at the end of a dark tunnel, and the reader will undoubtedly close the book longing for a sequel. As a fellow self-injurer, and someone who has struggled with mental illness for most of my life; I saw myself in the pages of this book. I have hope that this book will not only reach out to people struggling like Melissa, but also to people who do not struggle with mental illness. Lady Injury exposes the very raw and real human side of life with mental illness, and everyone could benefit, learn and grow from reading this candid memoir. After all, like Melissa says in the book: "We are all just people who break in different ways".