The End of Normal: A Wife's Anguish, A Widow's New Life

I like memoirs in general & this was a good quick read. She explains all the stages of her life with Mark Madoff. Sad at the end but I liked how she was so honest with his family in the end. There is the subject matter of suicide for those that don't know the story that could be hard to read for some. But I applaud her openness & how the family dynamics changed after Bernie Madoff was found guilty of his crimes.

The former Stephanie Madoff (she changed her last name to Mack) writes poignantly in The End of Normal about the details of how Bernie Madoff not only ruined the financial lives of so many but also shattered his family's life. Tainted by the accusations that Andy and Mark, Madoff's sons, were part of the swindle, the two were shunned and judged by society - as was Stephanie.Now Stephanie tells her side of the story - and it is a book which I picked up with reluctance and couldn't put down. Why reluctance? Because our family, while luckier than many, had a portion of our investments lost to Madoff. Just thinking about anything "Madoff related" made me feel angry.But I'm glad I overcame my reluctance and gave this book a chance .Stephanie's writing allowed me to see another perspective. Imagine marrying a Madoff son and not having an inkling that the father was masterminding a scheme of such monstrous proportions. After all, Madoff fooled so many,including some very prominent people. As Stephanie describes it, he also kept his sons...and her...in the dark. Imagine...how ironic and eventually how sad...actually sharing the same birthday with Bernie Madoff...as Stephanie does. Imagine living with a shattered shell of a man, Mark Madoff, the husband Stepanie once knew as happy and vibrant. Stephanie Madoff Mack brings it all to life for readers and I could see how her seemingly dream life dissolved in an instant.Based on at least one comment on a review of this book, there are those willing to condemn anyone connected to a Madoff, including his daughters-in-law. But why? Bottom line- I did find Stephanie's account to be credible. After all, her own stepfather lost money to Madoff and Stephanie's husband was...well, for anyone who hasn't read the headlines about that, I urge you to read the book for that shocker. A heavy price to pay for being connected to the Madoff family for both Stephanie and Mark. Pain rippling out to engulf not only perfect strangers but family and friends.Even before Madoff's crimes became public, Stephanie found him distant. Hiis superficial charm fooled many into giving him theirlife savings. Is it impossible to beieve he couldn't also have fooled some of his own relatives? His own sons? His daughter- in- law?The book isn't without flaws and there are parts that lag a bit. Readers may not want to read about the minutiae of Stephanie and Mark's love life - from their early dates to marriage. Stephanie judges many she knows for faults both minor and major. I'm not sure why some of that information was included. It made me see her as overly critical.But the book still deserves to be read and the photo sections are both touching and heart wrenching, showing Stephanie and hr husband in happier times and then revealing the sadness and shock in Mark's eyes after the scandal broke.As noted before, I wanted to ignore this book myself but read it to get Stephanie's perspective. I'm glad I did. It is the tale of awoman who unwittingly walked into a tragedy waiting to happen and who loved a man who happened to be Bernie Madoff's son and even had two children with him. This book offers readers a glimpse into the life now led by Stephanie Madoff Mack.

The Madoffs were never the picture perfect family. When Stephanie first started going out with Mark Madoff, son of celebrated investor Bernie Madoff, she had to navigate a minefield of complex family situations - her eccentric in-laws, two stepchildren and a demanding ex-wife behind the scenes, as well as a boyfriend who was a decade older and already soured on marriage. With a few self-centred tantrums to her own credit, Stephanie eventually won the day, marrying Mark and starting a family of her own. And then the real story starts. While she was heavily pregnant with her second child, Mark and his brother Andy learned that the father they idolized was actually the biggest con artist in history, and his facade was about to tumble down. When Bernie asked his sons for $140 million to cover his crime, they did not hesitate - they went straight to the police. Despite their actions, Mark and Andy were publicly branded as criminals along with their father, and Mark was emotionally destroyed.Even today, people still speculate that the Madoff sons conspired with their father, and this book successfully refutes that notion - portraying a sensitive and loving man who was proud of doing his job well, but at the end of the day just wanted to come home to his family. Stephanie describes his spiralling descent into self-destruction with painful honesty - like everyone else, Stephanie clearly made mistakes and didn't give Mark the help he needed. But what could anyone do?Reading this in 2015, I'm stunned at how recently all this happened. It was only in 2008, that the Madoffs were still the "perfect" smiling family, the successful investor and his loyal wife, his two sons proving their own ability in the family business. I've heard it said that Bernie Madoff used his son as a "human shield" to cover his own crimes and I think that must be true.Stephanie's acidic honesty adds credibility to her portrayal of Mark as another innocent victim, although this same honesty doesn't make her a likeable personality. While her husband is alone and in pain on the anniversary of his father's arrest, he kept texting her until she was infuriated that he was spoiling her special time with their daughter. She starts petty vindictive fights with her sister-in-law and resents the presence of Mark's ex-wife. While she initially acted very graciously to her mother in law Ruth after Bernie's arrest, once Mark died, Stephanie was ringing his ex-wife demanding to know if Ruth is there, as if this is a betrayal of Stephanie. She recounts conversations and arguments honestly enough that you can hear the exhaustion in the other person's voice and you can imagine the heavy dread they must have felt every time Stephanie called. Throughout her husband's family crisis, her focus is entirely on herself and there is little compassion or insight for other people's perspective. For me, this made it a more interesting book because I think this does happen to some degree when families under extreme stress focus on petty issues - and unless someone steps away and says "Let's agree what is important here," the pressure can become too much.It is a tragedy that an intelligent and honorable man didn't have an opportunity to clear his name or to reach out to the other victims of his father's crime. Frustratingly, there must have been a way to turn this into a positive, but with everyone in survival mode, nobody saw the man crying out for help. While we might not be able to relate to how Madoff's crime destroyed his family, we can relate to how petty family politics can drive people apart in times of crisis.

I read this in one sitting; simply couldn't put it down. It's not just about the unthinkable acts of man who ruined so may lives through unadulterated greed. It's also an heartfelt love story, and a reminder that what goes on in the inner sanctum of family is rarely what is presented on the outside. This book was especially jolting because I happened to be in New York, in front of Mark Madoff's apartment within an hour of his tragic suicide. The street was filled with news vans and police, and at the time, I didn't have any idea of what had happened. ( I actually thought it was filming on a live movie set) It was later in the evening when I switched on the news that the whole horrible scenario played out.The book is so well written, and tells the story that the media didn't. It's an honest account of the life, and the family of the clever but ruthless Bernie Madoff from a completely different perspective. His actions had the ripple effect of ruining the lives of thousands of his investors, and that's the part we know. But it made me believe wholeheartedly in the innocence of Bernie Madoff's sons and made me cry for the sorrow he put his whole family through.

The review above is a very good summary of this book, and draws very similar conclusions to my own about the rationale of the actions and motives of all the players in the Madoff Family Saga. Certainly they were a disparate collection of souls with not too many attractive traits.The outcome of the mega fraud carried out over many years by Bernard, with or without the knowledge or family abetment has yet to be determined, brought down untold grief, and devastation on many, many families who were financially ruined by this blatant Ponzi rip-off. This accepted, it is difficult when reading Stephanie Madoff Mack's account not to feel a sense of profound sadness at the consequences of this awful episode on her and her children - one would not wish this purgatorial tsunami on anybody especially a widow and her young family.

The book has been well written, I’d assume by a ghost writer but Stephanie Mack is a self centred narcissist, how can anyone in their right mind forbid a mother from her sons memorial. Stephanie Mack doesn’t take into account how terribly desperate Mark was when he took his life, she’s pretty vile, I wouldn’t buy a new copy of this book as financially I wouldn’t want her to gain from my purchase. She is evil.

The book was very interesting, reading like a novel.

I read this book in two sittings...it’s extremely well written.What it left me with was this; when money, privilege, greed and prestige are the building blocks of relationships, you will be left with nothing. This family put so much stock into their lifestyles and careers that without them, they felt they had nothing. It’s such a sad story all around.I can say that Daniel seems to be the most sane one of the bunch and family members should be rushing to him for solutions. He just wants everyone to get along. I felt for Ruth in all of this in some ways...It’s all just such a mess.Forgiveness is the only way forward and I don’t see that happening any time soon. There’s still so much anger.