So good. One of the best graphic-format memoirs I’ve read, and one of the best books on mental illness. Forney makes brilliant use of comix to capture the poles of manic depression and explore "Club Van Gogh"--the high incidence of bipolar disorder in artists, the hell of a choice one has to make as a mentally ill artist between what feels like "keeping one’s edge", the overflow of ideas and creative energy and productivity during mania if one remains unmedicated, and of functioning more responsibly, medicated, where managing to bring even one full idea to the surface is a struggle like dredging a lake with a spoon. And her coining of "cra-dar" (rhymes with ’gaydar’)--a mentally ill person’s real or imagined ability to recognize other mentally ill people--cracked me up (no pun intended).

posted Apr 8, 2013 at 4:37PM

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