Zachary Levi’s “A Radical Love”

Zachary Levi’s book “Radical Love” details his journey of dealing with mental illness and the causes of his depression. This book is semi-autobiographical, detailing Levi’s childhood of growing up in an abusive household with an abusive mother and an absent father. It also addresses generational trauma through stories about his grandparents. This book reads like a collage. It shifts in time, describing the intricacy of Levi’s relationships that both led to fostering his mental illness and the special relationships that helped him to recover.  

This book can be heavy for someone that hasn’t dealt with a great deal of trauma or child abuse. However, this book is good and relatable for people who have gone through a great deal of child abuse and understand growing up in a family full of generational trauma or growing up with parents that dealt with their trauma in unhealthy ways.

It can be a bit clinical. He talks about depression and medication and psychology in clinical ways that are also infused with spirituality. His faith in God and his battles with faith are apparent throughout the book while also touching on relationships that are key and instrumental to him and his growth, how he operates in relationships, particularly with women, and one crucial relationship that he had while away in therapy and his admission that what he really needed at one point was a mother’s love.

This was the part of the book that I found most touching and honest. It was a good read although it did feel dense at times. It gave a great insight into how hard it is to deal with the battle of loving a mother that doesn’t love herself due to her past shame and trauma and the impact that has on one’s life.