Zig-Zag Boy

A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood

By: Tanya Frank

Narrated by: Tanya Frank

One night in 2009, Tanya Frank finds her nineteen-year-old son, Zach—gentle and full of promise—in the grip of what the psychiatrists would label a psychotic break. Suddenly and inexplicably, Tanya is thrown into a parallel universe: Zach's world, where the phones are bugged, his friends have joined the Mafia, and helicopters are spying on his family.

In the years following Zach's shifting psychiatric diagnoses, Tanya goes to war for her son, desperate to find the right answer, the right drug, the right doctor to bring him back to reality. Meanwhile, the boy she raised—the chatty, precocious dog-lover, the teenager who spent summers surfing with his big brother, the UCLA student—suffers the effects of multiple hospitalizations, powerful drugs that blunt his emotions, therapies that don't work, and torturous nights on the streets. Holding on to startling moments of hope and seeking solace in nature and community, Tanya learns how to abandon her fears for the future and accept the mysteries of her son's altered states.

With tenderness, lyricism, and generous candor, this compelling story conveys the power of a mother's love. Zig-Zag Boy is both a moving lamentation for things lost and a brave testament to the people we become in difficult circumstances.

©2023 Tanya Frank (P)2023 Tantor

Beautiful and captivating story of a mothers love and learning

A friend recommended this read (well, listen).

As the mother of a non verbal toddler, while not the same in any way, I felt this story deeply. The love, worry and rollercoaster we all go through as parents is always there. I cried a lot listening to this.


Thank you for sharing your story of Zach with us.

A courageous journey of parenting

I appreciate the authors willingness and courage to share a deeply personal experience with others outside her support group. Tan captured the lonely, frightening, isolating journey parenting a child struggling with mental illness. There is no road map for the myriad of challenges a parent must navigate. Tan’s fraught journey included additional hurdles, besides the usual(doctors, psychiatric hospitals, diagnoses, medications): finding an anchor and stability of a home base for herself and family.

Wonderful, Courageous, Compassionate

Thank you so much for sharing and standing against stigma. So similar to my child's and my story.

Lessons in love and acceptance

From the very first moment that Tanya Frank’s son gave an indication that he was having frightening thoughts of people listening to him through landline wires, the journey begins. The journey into the confusing and inhospitable landscape of visits to medical professionals, the myriad of diagnoses, the smorgasbord of prescriptions. While the author and her family are dealing with this crisis, she finds solace in nature and in the people she finds along the way who are going through their own journeys with their own family members. Having my own family member who was diagnosed with possible schizophrenia, I felt a kinship with this author. She is brave and honest. Traits to be commended considering what she, her beautiful son, Zach, and the rest of her family have dealt with and are still dealing with. I loved the chapter about the sea lions and the author’s work as a docent at the nature preserve in Northern California. You can tell that nature is her respite. Her refuge. I would highly recommend this book. She tells her story beautifully. Having the author read it was a lovely bonus.