Review by Booklist Review
Needing health insurance to pay for her treatment for bipolar disorder, aspiring cartoonist Lindsay reluctantly takes a corporate job in advertising rather than pursuing her artistic endeavors. Ironically, she finds herself promoted to the Pfizer account, tracking ads for antidepressant drugs. Gradually, the symptoms of her disease mania, anxiety, insomnia begin to manifest themselves, and she abruptly quits her job, leading her parents to have her institutionalized. Following a grueling, frustrating stint in the hospital, she's released to live with her parents and eventually takes another position in the corporate world, but with the determination to create a book about her experiences. In yet another irony, she comes to realize that her illness led her to the creative life that she'd sought. Lindsay's brash, broadly cartoony drawing style might seem inappropriate for the severity of the disease, but it reflects her exaggerated emotions, imparting a visceral intensity to her mania. Lindsay's courageous work is a fitting companion piece to Ellen Forney's account of her bipolar disorder, Marbles (2012).--Gordon Flagg Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In simple, sketchy linework, Lindsay's snappy graphic memoir depicts the manic days in 2011 when she was hospitalized against her will after quitting her job, causing a scene in a restaurant, and shouting at police. An angry black cloud often surrounds her bug-eyed self-caricature, an expression of her fury at how bipolar disorder has encircled her life with "red tape." She would prefer to live as a vagabond artist, but the requirement of reliable health insurance forces her into a soul-sucking advertising gig instead. "Everyone else my age," she cries to her psychiatrist, "They're all bartending and backpacking Europe and dicking around... when do I get to find myself?" The cartoonish, exaggerated character design, reminiscent of the work of Roberta Gregory, is easy-reading and echoes the extremity of Lindsay's moods. Like Ellen Forney's memoir about bipolar disorder, Marbles, Lindsay struggles to understand the relationship between her creativity and her mental illness. Is suddenly quitting her corporate gig a brave pursuit of her artistic passion or merely a symptom of mania? As she passed weeks in the hospital, Lindsay drew her experiences-driven and determined even in the swirling cloud of her illness to create, resulting in this illuminated account of self-discovery. Agent: Ross Harris, Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
[DEBUT] In early 2011, while working as an account executive in New York City, Lindsay (newspaper strip Rachel Lives Here Now) received a promotion that placed her on a team responsible for branding and advertising the antidepressant Pristiq. Having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 19, the author found herself on familiar ground. Although she dreamed of life as an artist, she felt stuck in a corporate job just so she could afford her medications and doctor appointments. Her struggle to rectify this conflict in her day-to-day reality led to a manic episode that left her parents with no choice but to have her hospitalized. Creating this memoir was part of Lindsay's healing process, as she recounts her experience with unflinching honesty and brutal self-awareness. Deceptively simple art rendered in stark black and white presents a cartoon style rich in texture, white space, and exaggeration, letting the images tell the emotional side of the story. VERDICT A great choice for fans of graphic memoirs or those interested in a deeper understanding of mental illness.-E.W. Genovese, Andrew Bayne Memorial Lib., Pittsburgh © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A graphic memoir about mental illness, medication, health insurance, and all the interactions among them.Portrayals of mental illness are most often created after the fact, from a perspective of comparative stability. What's so striking about Lindsay's debut is the way it captures the frenzy of her bipolar disorder and puts readers within the eye of the hurricane, identifying with her so completely that it becomes impossible to accept easy, black-and-white answers about the nature of her illness and the effectiveness of her treatment. The author had been diagnosed as bipolar before she took a career turn that apparently triggered a series of events that led to her hospitalization, spurred by her parents and doctor, very much against her will and better judgment. (Or was it possible for her to have any better judgment in the throes of her mania?) With her artistic temperamentas a musician as well as a visual artistand independent streak, she perhaps wasn't emotionally suited for a corporate life in advertising, though its benefits would cover her treatment. She definitely was not suited for having to handle a campaign for antidepressants, which oversimplified and idealized both the illness and the treatment and made her feel like she was selling a lie, if not living one. So she quit her job and started raving about plans that struck others as unrealistic, acting out in ways that called attention to herself and landed her in the hospital. She argued that it was a big misunderstanding, but her parents and doctor insisted it was for her own good. The entire experiencewhat led to her hospitalization, what she experienced during her time there, and how she has fared since leavingis rendered in all its frazzled intensity and intimacy in a work that proved cathartic for the author and will be disturbing, yet important, for readers.This unsettlingly powerful graphic narrative shows how Lindsay has made peace with her parents and the medical establishmentand also found creative fulfillment far from corporate America. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
