What do you think?
Rate this book
Hello to All That: A Memoir of Zoloft, War, and Peace
His own chemistry was his worst enemy, and it took John Falk to some very strange places--from Garden City, Long Island, to sniper-infested Sarajevo during the Bosnian bloodbath. But through it all, in the face of chronic depression, Falk kept reaching out for the life he'd always wanted. Hello to All That is his story--crazed, comic, poignant, suspenseful, and hopeful.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 4, 2005
6 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
John Falk
6 booksSee also:
John H. Falk
John R. Falk
John L. Falk
John Carl Falk
John was a foreign war correspondent, author and screenwriter.
John H. Falk
John R. Falk
John L. Falk
John Carl Falk
John was a foreign war correspondent, author and screenwriter.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 29, 2013
Hands down this is on my top 5 memoirs list.
Intense and tender and funny.
And his adventure as a war journalist in Bosnia was hysterical...shocking...scary...and human. I wanted to be this dude's buddy he seems so effortlessly cool and crazy.
And the lengths that he went to to help the family he lived with during the war was so intense it was a David vs Goliath in real life.
And the ending was so insightful it tied up the depression thread with both a surgical and artistic touch.
Intense and tender and funny.
And his adventure as a war journalist in Bosnia was hysterical...shocking...scary...and human. I wanted to be this dude's buddy he seems so effortlessly cool and crazy.
And the lengths that he went to to help the family he lived with during the war was so intense it was a David vs Goliath in real life.
And the ending was so insightful it tied up the depression thread with both a surgical and artistic touch.
February 19, 2017
John Falk's memoir Hello To All That is one of those books that has stayed with me for years.
I first came across Falk's writing when he wrote a piece for Details magazine about two snipers of the Balkan's war. The piece was fascinating and dealt with a pair of former, childhood friends, turned snipers (a Serbian and a Bosnian) hunting each other. HBO later made a movie out of the story called Shot Through The Heart.
Falk's memoir deals with his battle of depression mental illness and is one of the better chronicles of a person's struggle with these diseases.
Falk's memoir provides more details of his war correspondence and search for relief from his illness.
Highly recommended.
I first came across Falk's writing when he wrote a piece for Details magazine about two snipers of the Balkan's war. The piece was fascinating and dealt with a pair of former, childhood friends, turned snipers (a Serbian and a Bosnian) hunting each other. HBO later made a movie out of the story called Shot Through The Heart.
Falk's memoir deals with his battle of depression mental illness and is one of the better chronicles of a person's struggle with these diseases.
Falk's memoir provides more details of his war correspondence and search for relief from his illness.
Highly recommended.
August 8, 2010
Fazia tempo que um livro não me tocava tanto como este. O autor John Falk enfrentou durante anos uma depressão profunda e é capaz de descrever sintomas, experiências e comportamentos ligados à depressão de maneira magistral. Tratou-se com Zoloft e foi considerado o "paciente x" deste medicamento. Um livro que deve ser lido por qualquer pessoa que tenha esta doença ou que tenha parentes/pessoas próximas com ela. Mas o livro não é só sobre a doença, pois mostra a experiência de Falk como correspondente de guerra em Sarajevo. História bem escrita, interessante, enfim muito bom mesmo.
June 24, 2008
this was a smooth, incredibly engaging read. Is it a blow-your-mind-mail-this-to-all-your-friends book? Not exactly. But it is an excellent relation of how a man encountered the genetics of depression, went through trial and error to successfully deal with it (hello zoloft), and wound up in an unlikely place: in the middle of war. The self discoveries that Falk goes through are simply and frankly described, with no trace of self indulgence or embellishment (which I love, glorifying and romanticizing the horrors of the Bosnian war and centering them around one's own happenings is something I would have blown a gasket over). The older I get, the harder it is to find a book, much less a memoir, that keeps me engaged and focused with linear story telling, this book succeeded.
If you're familiar with depression and the ravaging effect it can have on your life and others, then this is an interesting study on how medication and self-perseverance can tie in nicely with war reportage.
If you're familiar with depression and the ravaging effect it can have on your life and others, then this is an interesting study on how medication and self-perseverance can tie in nicely with war reportage.
September 8, 2007
Just a wonderful story of someone overcoming massive depression. A quick and easy read that accounts the struggles of depression.
February 22, 2021
A deeply moving look at the impact of clinical depression on a young man trying to find meaning to his life. It's a hard read at times, but he does interject a good dose of humor as well. Highly recommend for those who have never struggled with mental health and want to understand what it can be like. Very relatable for someone who knows the struggle of clinical depression. Didn't care much for the ending (a bit trite for my taste), which is too bad given how much I liked 95% of the story.
April 26, 2010
“…A black void had opened in my head and I became hyper-aware that I was somehow shut out from whatever it was that made other people tick. What the fuck did I have to do? I had tons of friends, family that loved me, had accomplished things, but it meant nothing. Why the hell did I feel so dead inside? I had tried so long and so hard to keep it together.
“It never occurred to me that I might be depressed because to me depression meant someone who had no fight left. To me, depression meant…people swept away to a lonely place, people so far gone they just couldn’t be saved. Yeah, I felt miserable. Yeah, I felt always alone, no matter what. Yeah, I felt empty inside. But I wasn’t depressed. It was the dull-ass world around me that was the problem. I set out to find something more, somewhere, where I could feel alive and do something that felt good and right.”
(p 114-115)
“I guess I should have been elated. I was finally doing what I had always wanted to do. But still it was bittersweet. I had been alone so long in spirit that I had not only learned to live without others but I had even grown to prefer it. When it came down to it, even after the Zoloft had done its magic, I only truly felt myself when I was alone. Deep connections with others had over time become a burden, something that took more from me than it gave. In a real sense, I just didn’t understand what made normal people tick.
“And that’s what hurt. Not that I wasn’t coming back to visit. Not that I wasn’t going to keep in touch. Not that I wasn’t even going to eventually end up living back in New York. It was that I would always be different in that way, walled off from those connections in spirit if not always in reality. And when I said good-bye to my parents before, I didn’t have the heart to tell them that truth. That I wasn’t just simply saying good-bye, but I was in a real sense saying good-bye to all they had hoped for me, an easier life, a normal existence, all that.”
(p 258)
“It never occurred to me that I might be depressed because to me depression meant someone who had no fight left. To me, depression meant…people swept away to a lonely place, people so far gone they just couldn’t be saved. Yeah, I felt miserable. Yeah, I felt always alone, no matter what. Yeah, I felt empty inside. But I wasn’t depressed. It was the dull-ass world around me that was the problem. I set out to find something more, somewhere, where I could feel alive and do something that felt good and right.”
(p 114-115)
“I guess I should have been elated. I was finally doing what I had always wanted to do. But still it was bittersweet. I had been alone so long in spirit that I had not only learned to live without others but I had even grown to prefer it. When it came down to it, even after the Zoloft had done its magic, I only truly felt myself when I was alone. Deep connections with others had over time become a burden, something that took more from me than it gave. In a real sense, I just didn’t understand what made normal people tick.
“And that’s what hurt. Not that I wasn’t coming back to visit. Not that I wasn’t going to keep in touch. Not that I wasn’t even going to eventually end up living back in New York. It was that I would always be different in that way, walled off from those connections in spirit if not always in reality. And when I said good-bye to my parents before, I didn’t have the heart to tell them that truth. That I wasn’t just simply saying good-bye, but I was in a real sense saying good-bye to all they had hoped for me, an easier life, a normal existence, all that.”
(p 258)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2008
Chapter 1's leap into Sarajevo had me. Chapter 2's first expressions of adolescent depression put me off, and I thought I was going to hate this book (and its author) as another self-centered, whine-fest, but there was a drama there that kept me reading. By chapter 3 I had surrendered to Mr. Falk's story, and I eventually succumbed to Mr. Falk's charms as an author. At least until I started writing this review.
"Hello to All That..." is harrowing, humorous, and compelling, but it also seems a bit glib in a made for TV sense. There's a need to entertain that subtly subverts the power of the story. "Hello to All That..." is a crisis memoir that addresses the search for self in the midst of profound depression, and the redemption of "cure" through drug therapy, and release from self. It's a privileged child's coming-of-age memoir that reminded me that privilege is not necessarily protection, and hardship is only romantic to the detached observer. It's also a war story in which the scenes played out in ways that added to a dramatic made for TV feel.
My other problems with the book were in its alternating chapter strategy which caused a wrench in flow, and I wonder that Mr. Falk or his editors weren't able to develop smoother transitions; and the author's admission that the chronology was altered for dramatic impact. The chronological tinkering is the larger problem. I don't know if that's fair in a memoir, and given the recent controvery with James Frey's, "A Million Little Pieces," it's tricky ground to be walking on. Mr Falk's desire to create drama may also have something to do with the "let me entertain you," feel I got from the book. The admission is admirable, but I find it troubling nonetheless.
"Hello to All That..." was a good read, in the moment, but quite problematic on reflection.
"Hello to All That..." is harrowing, humorous, and compelling, but it also seems a bit glib in a made for TV sense. There's a need to entertain that subtly subverts the power of the story. "Hello to All That..." is a crisis memoir that addresses the search for self in the midst of profound depression, and the redemption of "cure" through drug therapy, and release from self. It's a privileged child's coming-of-age memoir that reminded me that privilege is not necessarily protection, and hardship is only romantic to the detached observer. It's also a war story in which the scenes played out in ways that added to a dramatic made for TV feel.
My other problems with the book were in its alternating chapter strategy which caused a wrench in flow, and I wonder that Mr. Falk or his editors weren't able to develop smoother transitions; and the author's admission that the chronology was altered for dramatic impact. The chronological tinkering is the larger problem. I don't know if that's fair in a memoir, and given the recent controvery with James Frey's, "A Million Little Pieces," it's tricky ground to be walking on. Mr Falk's desire to create drama may also have something to do with the "let me entertain you," feel I got from the book. The admission is admirable, but I find it troubling nonetheless.
"Hello to All That..." was a good read, in the moment, but quite problematic on reflection.
February 2, 2009
John Falk details his battle with severe depression and the journey to accept that something was wrong and to find a cure that would work for him. When he happens upon Zoloft, he decides to fulfill his dream of becoming a reporter so he flies to Sarajevo on a whim. Most of this story consists of his journey through Sarajevo, the people he meets and flashbacks to his childhood. Very engaging read if you like nonfiction.
February 26, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. The author writes of the period mainly from adolescence through his late 20’s as he battles depression and in the midst of that decides to go off to Bosnia in the midst of the war and become a journalist. His encounters with humanity and war and his own self - are instructive and challenging and beautiful.
May 30, 2013
This is a great book, which moves back and forth between Sarajevo in the midst of war and siege and John Falk's life growing up in suburban Long Island. Falk's rendering of Sarajevo at war and the incredible characters he meets there is gripping and keeps you turning the page. I give this book two thumbs up.
January 11, 2008
I loved this book. I couldn't put it down. What a story!
February 10, 2025
i had to read this book for my mental health care and services class, but i'm glad i did. its a beautiful story where you can't help but become invested in the lives involved and the outcomes. the end was a great reflection of his depression and it all tied up nicely how depression can really change someone, warp their mind, etc ---- but you can still recover, heal, and get better
April 18, 2013
In 1992, a clinically depressed young man, unable to live any sort of worthwhile life, becomes one of the first psychiatric patients to take Zoloft. His depression recedes and he decides to go have an interesting life.
That interesting life is of a photojournalist who covers the Bosnia-Herzegovina-Serbia-Croatia civil war, where he spends the next several years surviving by dodging bullets, and also selling his photos to wire services, and recording news stories for NBC Radio.
He replays the war as he saw it, nearly dies a handful of times, and ultimately escapes the country with two war orphans in tow, for whom he obtains political asylum in the U.S. They gain residency, complete their educations, and lead their own interesting lives.
The most compelling aspect of this book is the author's insider details. His experiences navigating through war-torn countryside, interviewing fighters, observing battles. One of the most intense and involving episodes comes when he is invited into the lair of Bosnian snipers who fight to repel the Serbian aggressors in their city. Their stories of loss of family members due to artillery fire and snipers, followed by rededicating their lives to attacking the attackers, left me with the most indelible impression overall in the book.
Fascinating story, well worth the read. The Zoloft aspect, while integral to the author's attainment of normalcy, can be viewed without distraction in this otherwise up-close and personal view of this very sad war.
On a personal note, I was befriended by a Bosnian Muslim family in New York in the mid-1990s. They'd escaped the war to Italy, eventually obtaining refugee status in the States and settling in NYC, where they remain permament residents to this day (mirroring Falk's own result with the children he helped). They, too, experienced much loss and hardship, losing family members and home, their once normal life forever gone.
That interesting life is of a photojournalist who covers the Bosnia-Herzegovina-Serbia-Croatia civil war, where he spends the next several years surviving by dodging bullets, and also selling his photos to wire services, and recording news stories for NBC Radio.
He replays the war as he saw it, nearly dies a handful of times, and ultimately escapes the country with two war orphans in tow, for whom he obtains political asylum in the U.S. They gain residency, complete their educations, and lead their own interesting lives.
The most compelling aspect of this book is the author's insider details. His experiences navigating through war-torn countryside, interviewing fighters, observing battles. One of the most intense and involving episodes comes when he is invited into the lair of Bosnian snipers who fight to repel the Serbian aggressors in their city. Their stories of loss of family members due to artillery fire and snipers, followed by rededicating their lives to attacking the attackers, left me with the most indelible impression overall in the book.
Fascinating story, well worth the read. The Zoloft aspect, while integral to the author's attainment of normalcy, can be viewed without distraction in this otherwise up-close and personal view of this very sad war.
On a personal note, I was befriended by a Bosnian Muslim family in New York in the mid-1990s. They'd escaped the war to Italy, eventually obtaining refugee status in the States and settling in NYC, where they remain permament residents to this day (mirroring Falk's own result with the children he helped). They, too, experienced much loss and hardship, losing family members and home, their once normal life forever gone.
October 25, 2011
Well, it took a shamelessly long time but I finally did read this. I was a little hesitant as I thought it would wind up being one long commercial for Zoloft, but that wasn't the case at all. The book does, definitely show the effectiveness of antidepressants, but there is much more to it than that. The author undergoes some amazing changes while in Bosnia, learning about himself and finding in himself the importance of helping others, of being true to oneself, of love and family and freedom and friendships. The picture he paints of Bosnia is an interesting one -- the war is so obvious and plays such a huge role in the lives of everyone around and, of course, gives for a powerful setting, but it almost seems to fall into the background of what is going on with him personally and his relationships with other people. The chaos of war is still present, of course, and makes for a very interesting contrast to the calm he manages to acquire with medication. This was a soul-searching book, much better than I thought it would be. I'm still processing it all; perhaps I'll have more to say on it later
August 25, 2017
Gripping from the first sentence.
I loved this book. It was so raw and honest with a voice that reminded me a shade of a modern day Holden Caulfield. I went to high school with John and never knew he was suffering so much. He faked his way through so well. So much courage. Until I found out of his passing last week we had lost touch and I had no idea he had gone on to become such a gifted writer who touched the lives of so many. His demons not only made him stronger, but they made him courageous. Rest In Peace, John. You were a gem though much of your life you thought you were just coal. What a fantastic book. Just sad I had to read it posthumously.
I loved this book. It was so raw and honest with a voice that reminded me a shade of a modern day Holden Caulfield. I went to high school with John and never knew he was suffering so much. He faked his way through so well. So much courage. Until I found out of his passing last week we had lost touch and I had no idea he had gone on to become such a gifted writer who touched the lives of so many. His demons not only made him stronger, but they made him courageous. Rest In Peace, John. You were a gem though much of your life you thought you were just coal. What a fantastic book. Just sad I had to read it posthumously.
May 17, 2008
I enjoyed John Falk's memoir about depression and working as a war stringer in Bosnia. One quirk of the book, though, is that I found the bits about working in Bosnia more educational and compelling than the bits about depression (and also, that the two themes weren't necessarily joined by anything more than the fact that they occurred simultaneously in the author's life). Almost like two books sandwiched together, in that way. Fudge ripple: depression, war zone, depression.
January 31, 2011
He felt that he needed to stay in Afghanistan to help the people. With the help of Zoloft her overcame depression.
November 25, 2012
Poor writing, and I felt no empathy for any of the characters. Keep your day job, Falk.
December 4, 2014
loved this
October 21, 2016
Just felt like I found a new best friend while reading this book and it was very sad when I was finished.
Want to read
February 5, 2019Another book that jumped off the library shelf into my hands.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews