The Unquiet: A Close-Up Review

"Sixteen-year-old Rinn Jacobs has secrets: One, she’s bipolar. Two, she killed her grandmother.

After a suicide attempt, and now her parents' separation, Rinn and her mom move from California to the rural Ohio town where her mother grew up. Back on her medications and hoping to stay well, Rinn settles into her new home, undaunted by the fact that the previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom. At school, her classmates believe the school pool is haunted by Annaliese, a girl who drowned there. But when a reckless séance goes awry, and terrible things start happening to her new friends—yet not to her—Rinn is determined to find out why she can’t be "touched" by Annaliese...or if Annaliese even exists.

With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?

Annaliese? Or herself?" (from Goodreads) 

The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee

Characters:

Rinn: For the most part I really liked Rinn. She's a complex character with deep-seated guilt pushed down inside her (some of which she's aware of, like feeling guilty about her grandmother's death). It seems to have come to the point where she doesn't trust herself, and yet she lashes out at other people for not trusting her. She's also got a snarky attitude and a bit of a chip on her shoulder, but she's quite frank and open about who she is.

Nate: Nate's a considerate, good-natured, easygoing, "average" kind of guy. He doesn't have much of a temper and not much fazes him. I thought he was really good for Rinn because she's a little impulsive and unstable at times (especially when she's not on her meds) and she needs someone in her life who's really steady and provides a calming presence. They bicker sometimes, but their romance was cute and I actually could have used a bit more of it — the mystery and ghostly incidents definitely take precedence here. I wish we had more cute scenes with them enjoying themselves, but there are always bad things happening so we don't see a lot of that. Often one or both of them is cranky!

Annaliese: I feel like we could have been given stronger motivations for Annaliese. Spoilers: it seemed a bit farfetched that everything she did was all part of a revenge scheme over this grudge that she had, dating back to her high school days. I suspected there might be some kind of connection there with the parents, though, so I appreciated that the author tried to tie that in, and that there was at least some explanation given.
 
The adults:

In many YA books the adults are just thrust to the side as the storyline centers on the teens, but in The Unquiet the adults end up playing a fairly significant role, especially in the second half. Although some of the parents in here don't seem to notice what's going on with their kids — Meg's tinnitus and Lacy's headaches are prime examples — and wait way too long to take them into the doctor! (Not that it would actually help, but still.)

Frank: we don't get to see much of him, but it's obvious that Rinn genuinely likes and cares about her stepfather, and she's upset that he seems mad at her and apparently can't stand to be in the same house as her (because he blames her for his mom's death, or at least that's what Rinn believes). I like that even though he's no blood relation to her, she cares so much about her stepdad's opinion of her. Usually in step-parent–child relationships we're shown a lot of antagonism from the child toward the step-parent (they resent them for trying to take over the role of mom/dad in their life) but I'm not sure if Frank and Rinn ever had that source of tension in their relationship. Rather, she feels remorseful, as she at least partially blames herself, and she thinks that he blames her as well. Frank is like a dad to her and she wants him to love and trust her again.

Premise:

I very much appreciate that The Unquiet features a protagonist who's already perfectly well aware of how her bipolar disorder affects her and is on medication for it. It's not about her discovering that she has bipolar disorder and getting used to that idea and how to treat it, as is so common in YA "issue books." Instead, The Unquiet deals with someone who has had lots of bad things happen in the past because of her bipolar, and she knows how she acts when she's not on her meds. I liked seeing the insight Rinn has into her disorder.

Jeannine Garsee cleverly ties in Rinn's mental health issues with the paranormal storyline, and we get to see her both on and off her meds. She stops taking them at one point to test a theory about what's going on with the ghost, which both allows us to see how Rinn behaves when not on her meds, but at the same time furthers the paranormal plot. Spoilers: people on medication for mental health problems aren't affected by the ghost; the medications serve as a sort of barrier. This is a bit of a stretch, yes, but you have to take some things in this book with a grain of salt anyway.

I liked the way the mental health issues were tackled. The Unquiet touches upon not only bipolar disorder but also (to a much lesser degree) suicide and bullying, and it was neat to see these issues being addressed in a paranormal novel. The paranormal elements probably end up taking up more "screen time" but the author manages to provide a fairly good balance of both. Bipolar disorder is certainly a significant part of Rinn's life, and as far as I can tell the bipolar aspects are presented quite accurately. Rinn's description of how she acts when not on medication, and what we see from her when she (for a short time) stops taking her meds, is in line with the sort of "acting out" behaviours that people with bipolar may demonstrate. It is a little difficult to tell, though, what is due to Anneliese and what is the effect of Rinn's bipolar (which may be intentional).

The bullying and related high school teen behaviour is also believably portrayed. Jeannine Garsee captures well just how spiteful and cruel teens can act to each other, and how shortsighted and impulsive they can be.

Plot:

It's a little confusing to follow because of the ghostly happenings, as well as that at one point Rinn stops taking her meds, which makes her less reliable as a narrator. As I read, it felt like the plot was meandering and not very coherent, because all of these seemingly unrelated incidents were occurring (that turn out to be related after all).

Compared to the well-done characterization, the paranormal plot is a weaker aspect of The Unquiet. Jeannine Garsee follows a traditional representation of ghosts, which is executed well but doesn't explore anything too different from what's been done before. We don't ever really get a full, satisfying explanation of all the mysterious events. The ghost seems to have a lot of powers without restrictions: she can move around, possess people, make them see hallucinations... and I prefer it when there are specified limits on a fantastical being's powers. Otherwise, too much power is given to the paranormal elements to just explain away all the unusual occurrences.

The climactic scene was not particularly impressive. I really dislike it when the magic that is being used to vanquish evil is vaguely described, and that was the case here. Honestly, I couldn't even tell you what happened exactly because it's so confusing. Spoilers: Rinn throws her arms around the ghost and squeezes her and they're fusing together, and then it's like the ghost devours herself?

The book ended on a perfect note, though — just creepy and unsettling enough to make you think it's not quite a happy ending.

Final verdict: 3.5 shooting stars. It's a pretty dark read, and I really liked the concept of combining a paranormal plot with a character who has mental health issues. A stronger climactic scene and better explanations would definitely have improved my rating.

Disclaimer: I received a copy for review from the author.

Pushing the Limits: A Close-Up Review

"No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again." (from Goodreads)

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Characters:

Echo: she's obviously gone through a lot of trauma. It's been suppressed, but under the surface it's tearing her up inside. Since she doesn't know what happened, she's been blaming some people — and there are a couple of people to blame. Namely, her mom and dad, neither of whom really handled the situation well.

Noah: I wasn't crazy about Noah (for reasons which will be mentioned below). However, he has a lot of good qualities — despite his "stereotypical tough guy" facade, he actually really cares about his brothers and his friends. It's sad what he had to go through, but it's great to see how much family means to him. It's also rewarding to watch him opening up to Echo and letting himself love her, since he usually suppresses his emotions and/or covers them up with sex. I liked that he was willing to reach out to Echo and get to know her. He doesn't care very much about what other people think (for instance, what his friends think about him dating Echo), which is also admirable.

His voice occasionally lapses into the overly poetic, but for the most part he sounds fairly authentic for a teen guy (complete with swearing and a general ineloquence about expressing himself).

Echo & Noah: The romance worked on some levels for me, but not entirely. It's a slow-burn romance at first, and the sexual tension is done really well. In some ways their relationship is a lot like Alex's and Brittany's from Perfect Chemistry. However, the romance itself lost some of its appeal for me once they started dating, mainly because of Noah's Neanderthal-like "manly instincts." He's got a bit of a possessive streak, always thinking of Echo as "his girl" or "his siren," etc. Also, this is a personal preference, but I really didn't like the way he called her "baby." (I'm sorry, some people may find it sweet or affectionate or whatever, but it just makes me cringe and think feminist thoughts.)

In a way Noah and Echo balance each other out pretty well. For Echo, Noah is someone who can protect her, and also someone she feels she can count on. He's a bit rough around the edges, and he challenges her and sparks something inside her that guys like Luke never did. And she can stick up for herself with him. However, I think sometimes he pushes her a bit too hard, and doesn't realize how much his words can hurt her.

The friends: Grace bugged me — she cared way too much about status and reputation and wasn't really a friend at all to Echo. Both Grace and Natalie could have used some more dimension, but Lila I liked. She sticks with Echo through thick and thin, and I have to admire her for that. She's really focused on Echo's wellbeing, and she doesn't ever try to make it all about herself. Furthermore, she understands how much support Echo needs and how fragile Echo is. In essence, she's a great best friend.

I thought Noah's friends Isaiah and Beth were more distinctive characters than Natalie and Grace. Isaiah's a really good friend to have in a pinch, and even though Beth comes across as thorny and prickly at first, she's got a soft side (even if she doesn't want to admit it).

Echo's parents:

I didn't like her dad very much. Well, I really didn't like him at the beginning, and by the end I was feeling slightly more charitable towards him. He made some major mistakes, but he seemed to care about Echo and her wellbeing. He's not the greatest dad, but not the worst one either. (His wife Ashley, on the other hand, I didn't like from the start and it stayed that way.)

As for Echo's mom, I think she really has a lot to answer for. I feel like even though the mom has some excuse for her behaviour, what she did later when she met with Echo was not at all what a loving mother should have done. She should have taken more responsibility for her actions, especially considering that she had made what appears to be a selfish choice and it had serious repercussions for Echo. I ended up feeling quite mad at the mom; I don't know how someone could do that to their child. (Major spoilers, highlight to read: I know she was in a deep depression when this happened and she didn't really have control of her actions at that point but A) she shouldn't have gone off the meds and B) when she met up with Echo in the cemetery, she should have said something different. Instead she kept all her emotions at distance, didn't want to talk about what happened, and it wasn't what Echo needed at all for closure. You'd think the mom would have been devastated by what she'd done to her daughter, but instead she just wanted to blame it all on her mental illness and shrug it off. Perhaps her decision to go off the meds was influenced by her bipolar disorder, but you'd think if she'd been on them for a significant period of time, her symptoms would have been mostly under control. I think the only reason she stopped taking her medication is because she wanted her creativity back, and it sounds like this was not the first time she'd gone off them, so I suspect she knew full well what she was getting herself into.)

Premise:

Pushing the Limits provides an excellent portrayal of the difficulty of living with a bipolar parent. Echo feels so torn about her mother. In one way, she loves her and she has good memories of her mom (some of her best memories are of when her mom was in her manic phase), but then she's also scared of her mom, and confused about why her mom would try to hurt her. And that, too, she attributes to her mom's bipolar disorder. Plus, because she looks a lot like her mom and they share an artistic streak, she's worried that's going to translate into her being bipolar too.

I wish Echo could have been told more about her mom's bipolar, and we could have gotten a better glimpse into what her mom was going through, and why she acted the way she did. We don't really get Echo's mom's side of it — namely, because the mom isn't willing to tell it, which is one thing that really frustrated me about her character. Still, I think someone should have sat down with Echo and talked to her more about bipolar disorder. 

And then of course there's the matter of Echo's scars, and everyone judging her. I thought there might actually be more specifically about the scars than there was — she never actually describes them or stares at them herself, although perhaps she's gotten used to them.

The therapist, Mrs. Collins, is very non-thereotically-oriented. She asks a lot of questions, but doesn't really come off as any specific type of approach (like client-centered or CBT, etc.). Mostly she just wants to know how things are going with Echo and Noah. We also see a bit of hypnotism in here too, which is interesting. I'm kind of conflicted about them attempting to pull Echo's memories out. While I understand that Echo wants to know what happened, hypnotic retrieval of memories is really something you should approach with caution. Admittedly, the therapist does this for the most part; she tries to perform the hypnosis in a safe space and she's there with Echo while she's being confronted with all these memories. I have to wonder if maybe it would be better if Echo didn't remember anything at all, but obviously this suppression of memories (causing what feels like a "black hole" in her mind) isn't working for her. She's clearly got some post-traumatic stress disorder — not surprisingly, after what she endured.  

Plot:

This book is compelling in a surprising way. The romance is an essential element, but there are also a lot of "issues" that are handled well for the most part. The mystery of what happened to Echo that night she can't remember gives the story some direction, and keeps you wanting to read.

That said, there is a part in the book where the general plot lags, and there's not much going on besides the romance. There's also quite a bit of repetition in the kinds of conversations that Echo and Noah have — usually it's either "I need to find out what happened" or "I love my brothers" or "Let's make out." Since the book is fairly long, I think some of these conversations could have been condensed or eclipsed into each other.

I felt good about how things were resolved in the Noah-and-his-brothers storyline. He makes an important decision that allows him to do what he wants in the future. (Spoilers: I'm glad that he realized his brothers were better off with the foster parents. While I admired his tenacity in wanting to keep his promise of having his brothers live with him, ultimately he made the mature decision. His life is his own, he can go on to college, and he won't feel tied down to his brothers. I think he could have grown to resent them if he'd tried to get his brothers back, because they'd be preventing him from doing what he really wanted to with his life.)
 

Both Echo and Noah end up in a pretty good place, and I was pleased about that because they have both been through a lot and deserve some breaks for once. However, I thought it was just a little too much of a happy ending — almost everything gets resolved nicely, and it's rather drawn out. Spoilers: Echo's relationship with Ashley starts to get repaired, she's on much better terms with her dad, she and Noah both get scholarships to the same college, he can see his brothers whenever he wants, and they're going on a trip to Colorado. Basically, there are several conversations with some kinda cheesy emotional bonding going on. Also, it's a shame that we don't get a bit of closure with Mrs. Collins — it's like she drops out at the end.

Final verdict: 3.5 shooting stars. I thought it was overly stretched out, without enough substance (there was a heavy focus on the romance) and too much repetition in the conversations. But, on the whole I enjoyed reading it and found the psychology quite interesting.

Note: There is some mature language/content in this book.

Disclaimer: I received this as an e-book through Netgalley.

This book counts towards my goals for the Debut Author reading challenge and the Just Contemporary reading challenge.

 

Crazy: A Psychtember Review

Patient: Crazy by Amy Reed

Presentation (from Goodreads):   "He’s falling in love—and she’s falling over the edge of sanity. From the author of Beautiful and Clean, a heartwrenching exploration of a romance marred by mental illness.Connor knows that Izzy will never fall in love with him the way he’s fallen for her. But somehow he’s been let into her crazy, exhilarating world and become her closest confidante. But the closer they get, the more Connor realizes that Izzy’s highs are too high and her lows are too low. And the frenetic energy that makes her shine is starting to push her into a much darker place.

     As Izzy’s behavior gets increasingly erratic and self-destructive, Connor gets increasingly desperate to stop her from plummeting. He knows he can’t save her from her pain...but what if no one else can?"

 

Assessment:

Axis 1. Characters

I didn't particularly like either Connor or Isabel, especially for the first half. Isabel was very annoying in some ways — she's quite self-centered and melodramatic. I suspect that these are aspects of her personality regardless, but that her bipolar disorder intensifies them. She's also creative, and there appears to be some connection between creativity and manic episodes. I thought the difference between "normal" creativity and manic-inspired creativity was actually illustrated quite well here in comparing Connor and Isabel. Connor can be poetic and a bit dramatic when he wants to be, but he doesn't succumb to it the way Isabel does. She throws herself into these fantasies and her imagination just goes wild with it. Still, it's tough to know how much of Isabel's character is just pure Isabel and how much is an effect of the bipolar, especially as she is struggling with the disorder for so much of the book.

Ultimately, Isabel is both self-destructive and destructive of her relationships with others. This is probably mostly due to her disorder, but she actually says at one point that she can blame it on the bipolar, but it's partly herself as well. Indeed, there's at least one cognitive hurdle Isabel needs to get over — that of feeling not good enough for everyone's love and attention, and thinking that she needs to be punished. We don't really see how this attitude has developed, although we're given some indicators in her home life. Her family has ignored her and focused instead on her drug-using brother, and so Isabel has looked for attention in the wrong places (like with Trevor).

I was surprised Connor puts up with Isabel's behaviour for so long, that he keeps trying to help her and be her friend. I didn't really see what he sees in Isabel; maybe back in camp when they first met she acted differently because the bipolar disorder hadn't been triggered yet? Obviously he's not perfect, though, and he does get mad at her quite a bit — not that I blame him, because she says some really out-of-line stuff. It's like she feels she has the right to take things out on anybody.

Also, I didn't find Connor that authentic as a teen guy. He's unusually thoughtful and sensitive (which is pointed out a few times), and while I got used to his voice I never ended up liking him much.

Axis 2. Premise/plot

I wasn't that into it for the first half, but then later as Isabel's bipolar started to worsen, things got more emotionally intense and I became more interested. Crazy is a fantastic portrayal of someone's downward spiral into serious bipolar disorder. Isabel begins oscillating, first just a little, and then more and more as her highs and lows start getting really high and really low.

After the climactic scene there's a fair bit of denouement where not that much actually happens, but it was neat that the author offers a glimpse of the beginning of recovery for her, and we see her start to gain a perspective of "normality".

Axis 3. Writing Style

The writing was quite good, especially once things got going. Isabel's sections come off as overly dramatic, yes, but that's because Isabel is overly dramatic, so the writing is merely reflecting her personality/mood. In fact, this quality of the writing is particularly well-illustrated in one of her e-mails, which is just one long run-on sentence, like there are all these words bubbling over that she has to get out. This "stream-of-consciousness" kind of style works well to portray what's going through her head, and also functions as a written version of the pressure of speech symptom some individuals with bipolar experience.

Axis 4. Psychological Accuracy

"Fast Facts" about bipolar disorder: Did You Know?

• Bipolar disorder is recurrent — over 90% of people who experience one manic episode will have another in the future.

• Bipolar symptoms can be mimicked by medical conditions like thyroid problems, neurological diseases, and vitamin deficiencies.

• Antidepressants can trigger manic episodes in people predisposed to bipolar disorder.

• For a long time, nobody knew why lithium worked as a medication for bipolar disorder. We still don't know for sure, but recent research is suggesting that it could be due to a link with circadian rhythms.

Crazy does an exceptional job of showing what a person with bipolar disorder is going through mentally and emotionally. In fact, I don't think I've read a better portrayal of the perspective of someone who has bipolar disorder.

Mania is often associated (by the general public) with being really happy, but with Isabel, this isn't often the case. She's happy for very brief moments at the beginning of a manic episode, but this quickly turns to anger/bitterness — but still with all the energy a manic episode brings. Then this progresses downhill into depression. It's good to see the portrayal in Crazy doesn't fall prey to stereotype, as I suspect what happens with Isabel is a much more likely scenario for many individuals with bipolar, rather than a black-and-white, "happy" or "unhappy" sort of divide. It's better to think of bipolar as alternating between energy levels. Also, it's possible that Isabel sometimes experiences a mixed state — either mania with some depressive symptoms, or depression with some manic symptoms.

While I wish we'd seen a little more of Isabel's manic episodes, bipolar disorder cannot be neatly separated 50-50 into depression and mania; the frequency of each type of episode depends on the individual. During her manic episodes, though, she definitely "acts out" in ways one might expect (spoilers, highlight to read: for example, having sex with a random guy, burning stuff, and shredding her mom's records). She's also obsessed with sex at some points, and hypersexuality can occur with manic episodes. And we see elements of psychosis in Isabel at times — she hears voices and holds what could be interpreted as a delusion about her "evil twin". Psychosis certainly can be present in some individuals with bipolar, particularly in a manic episode. Overall, I'd diagnose Isabel with Bipolar I disorder, rapid cycling (since the book doesn't take place over a very long period of time, and by the end she's already shown a few episodes of both mania and depression).

I thought it was very realistic that Isabel resists treatment for such a long, long time. She really digs her heels in, turning against everyone who tries to help her, thinking they're the enemy. Indeed, she almost starts acting a little paranoid schizophrenic (perhaps part of this is her psychotic symptoms?). We're not told exactly why she doesn't want to get help, though — whether it's the stigma of having a mental disorder, that she's in denial, that she's naturally stubborn, that it's an effect of the bipolar disorder itself, that she's worried she'll lose part of herself, or a combination of these factors.

As for Connor, he didn't strike me as being really codependent — a term brought up briefly in Crazy — but he certainly lets her take center stage in the relationship. It's all about her, and he doesn't put his foot down very much in terms of making her pay attention to him. It's a one-way relationship — he's trying to save her and she's not giving him anything in return, which she acknowledges at one point.

Validity Score: How psychologically accurate was Crazy?

Patient shares symptoms with: A Note of Madness by Tabitha Suzuma, The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee

Patient's statement:


I am a parasite on this world. I suck the life out of the things I love. I multiply and spread until I've consumed you. And even when you're gone, even after I've licked up every last crumb of you, I'm still hungry. I'm starving, Connor. I'm empty and lonely and lost and I'm starving, and there isn't enough in the whole wide world that could make me feel whole.

Diagnosis: 4 shooting stars.

 

For more information about bipolar disorder, see here.

Note: this book contains some coarse language and mature content.

This book counts toward my goal for the Just Contemporary reading challenge.

My Beautiful Failure: A Psychtember Review

Patient: My Beautiful Failure by Janet Ruth Young

Presentation (from Goodreads): A haunting account of a teen boy who volunteers at a suicide hotline and falls for a troubled caller.Billy is a sophomore in high school, and twice a week, he volunteers at Listeners, a suicide hotline.

     Jenney is an “incoming,” a caller, a girl on the brink.

     As her life spirals out of control, Jenney’s calls become more desperate, more frequent. Billy, struggling with the deteriorating relationship with his depressed father, is the only one who understands. Through her pain, he sees hope. Through her tears, he feels her heart. And through her despair, he finds love. But is that enough?

     Acclaimed author Janet Ruth Young has written a stunning and powerful story with no easy answers; it is about pain and heartbreak, reality and illusion, and finding redemption and the strength to forgive in the darkest of times. 

Assessment:

Axis 1. Characters

Unfortunately, an emotional connection didn't happen for me with the characters in My Beautiful Failure. I just never cared about Billy or Jenney that much; Jenney we don't get to know that well because we only see her in phone conversations, and Billy kind of annoyed me with his know-it-all attitude. He's unusually intellectual (to the point of overthinking things at times) and in touch with his emotions for a teen guy, and frankly if I hadn't known his name and that he was a male narrator, I don't know that I'd have been able to tell right away from the voice. His friend Gordy is also pretty sensitive, and their heart-to-heart talks just didn't seem that believable for a couple of male teens.

We don't really get to know Billy's other friends very well, and his sister, while undeniably quirky, didn't seem to serve much purpose except irritating Billy. I quite liked the conversations with the unusual callers Billy gets (and would have loved more of these!), which show that you can get some pretty strange kinds of calls when working at a suicide hotline.

Axis 2. Premise/plot

My Beautiful Failure focuses on a type of relationship that's unusual, but quite conceivable in a hotline situation — one in which the two people have never met in person, but only communicated over the phone. Both the temptation to break the rules at a hotline, and the perils of doing so, are touched on. I wish the consequences of Billy's actions had been dealt with more; I felt like the ending didn't go into enough depth about this.

Outside of the Billy/Jenney storyline, there's also a subplot surrounding Billy's dad, and the possibility that he may have bipolar disorder. The interesting question of where the line might be drawn between creativity and mental illness (specifically mania) is raised, but unfortunately, this storyline is not resolved to my satisfaction. Instead, it just seems to be dropped when the plot involving Jenney escalates, and I never got the answers I wanted.

The second loose end I found frustrating is related to Jenney's time spent in therapy. The truth of certain details Jenney tells Billy is ambiguous, and remains so even at the end of the novel. I was looking forward to seeing a particular potential danger of therapy (specifically psychoanalysis) being explored, so it was disappointing that the book didn't end up going there. This is spoilery, so highlight to read: I was expecting that the explanation for Jenney's supposed memories of abuse in childhood and the murder of her brother (which seemed rather ludicrous to me, given the situation) would be that the therapist was encouraging Jenney to "remember" trauma that never actually occurred. I was hoping for an exposé of how therapy (especially psychoanalysis) can sometimes be harmful in this way, since this is a topic that hasn't been tackled much as far as I know in YA, but has happened before in real life (we've certainly heard about such cases in the media). However, this possibility is only ever hinted at here, and nothing is resolved with the therapist, Melinda; the storyline is left hanging and I wish there'd been a clearer explanation, particularly since I think it could have been helpful for the reader to better understand Jenney's motivations.

We see how alluring Billy finds the temptation to share information about his life with Jenney, making it a two-way conversation. However, he doesn't know how this could affect her life. Just generally, this story shows really well how you don't actually know that much about someone who calls into a hotline. They could be putting on a front, and while Billy may have thought everything was going so peachy-keen for Jenney that he could unload his troubles on her, if he'd followed the rules he probably would have taken this possibility into consideration.

I didn't feel that satisfied by the ending (spoiler: I wasn't strongly impacted by Jenney's death, perhaps because I didn't get to know Jenney very well). Billy does undergo some thoughtful reflection in the last few chapters, and I think he realizes that part of the interpretation of their relationship on his part was overblown.

Axis 3. Writing Style

The chapters are short, which makes it more readable, since the plot is very slow-moving. Personally, I thought there was too much description and inner musings of Billy's mind; he reflects and philosophizes a lot. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the rising tension and sensationalized quality of Things I Shouldn't Think (formerly The Babysitter Murders) that keeps you reading; it's a slower and more gradual build. I found the writing kind of distancing and clinical, and I just didn't feel very close to any of the characters.

On the positive side, I think Billy's flashbacks/memories were an effective way to show what his dad was like before, and explain why Billy's acting the way he is now with his father — there's an interesting sort of role reversal going on.

Axis 4. Psychological Accuracy

The accuracy of portraying work at a suicide hotline is bang-on. The way the Listeners are supposed to respond is very reminiscent of humanistic therapy, Carl Rogers–style. Personally, I would probably find it annoying (I was far more impressed by CBT than Rogerian therapy in my counselling psychology class) but I can see why it would be used for a hotline. In that situation, there are no trained therapists, so really the volunteers are just there to listen and can't deviate too much from that. They're trying to standardize the experience, and while I can understand why that would frustrate Billy, it makes sense to me. (The importance of controlling variables was drilled into us during my psychology undergrad classes!) Introducing a personal relationship is not the purpose of the hotline, and Billy throws that all away when he starts falling for Jenney. The rules are there for a reason, and breaking them does have repercussions.

I liked that we see Billy actually referring to the Listeners' manual at one point, going through a series of questions there. The fact that the Listeners often tried to praise the callers didn't sit quite right with me, though; I feel like they should have been more neutral. Certainly, in Rogerian (aka. "person-centered") therapy, "unconditional positive regard" towards the client is supposed to be shown, but in some cases the praise Billy gives seems dishonest. For instance, he tells a caller who admits to watching his neighbor dress that "you obviously have a lot of concern for your neighbor's privacy" (and he's not being sarcastic.)

There are a few spots at which disorders are defined, which is helpful. While this might seem a bit dry, I think it's important that accurate definitions be given, and furthermore, it gives the reader a foundation for understanding what's being discussed and what behaviours to look for.

It's suggested at one point that antidepressants can turn major depressive disorder into bipolar disorder, and I'm afraid I have to take issue with this for a couple of reasons. To begin with, the wording used — "anyone taking antidepressants had to be careful of becoming irrationally happy ("hypomania") because it could lead to bipolar disorder and a lifetime of cycling up and down" — isn't the best, since it doesn't make clear that theoretically, an individual would have to have a predisposition for bipolar disorder in order to react that way to an antidepressant. Secondly, and surprisingly, the jury's still out on whether antidepressants actually do trigger manic episodes. Indeed, some of the research doesn't seem to back up this (admittedly logical) supposition.

As mentioned above, a couple of the storylines were not resolved to my satisfaction, making it difficult to assess the characters in terms of clinical psychology. Jenney's mental health is certainly in question — she was obviously undergoing some emotional trauma — but I can't say for sure if she was clinically depressed. We do get a glimpse at what seems to be a pretty textbook case of paranoid schizophrenia, complete with concerns about the CIA listening in... 

Validity Score: How psychologically accurate was My Beautiful Failure?

Axis 5. Miscellaneous

I wasn't as impressed with this book as Things I Shouldn't Think, since that one was quite different from most YA "issue books" in drawing attention to a poorly-understood type of OCD. I just feel like there's a lot more that could have been done with the psychology here that wasn't, and instead it took a different route by focusing on Billy's reflections and reactions.

Patient's statement:

On a scrap of paper I wrote a song title: "Check In Before You Check Out." Then, holy cripes, my phone lit. Line 3 was ringing. Someone needed me. Someone was in trouble, and I was going to save them. Margaret and Richie dropped their listening faces and glanced at me with big, encouraging eyes. For a second I felt overwhelmed. I hesitated. Richie covered his mouthpiece with one hand and motioned at me to pick up.

I grabbed the receiver.

Diagnosis: 3 shooting stars. There are a lot of topics covered here on an abstract, intellectual level, and many questions raised (but not answered!). However, for me the emotional heart of it just wasn't there.

Disclaimer: I received this book for review from the author.

This book counts towards my goal for the 2012 Just Contemporary reading challenge. Also, I interviewed Janet Ruth Young here!

Guest Interview with Jeannine Garsee

Page from One Book At A Time is one of the book bloggers participating in Psychtember, and she's here today to interview Jeannine Garsee about her book The Unquiet!


My name is Page and I blog at One Book At A Time.  I've been blogging about books for over 3 years which is so hard to believe.  I have a bachelor's degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Chemical Addictions.  But, I've always been fascinated with bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive, and many other disorders on Axis II of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

"Sixteen-year-old Rinn Jacobs has secrets: One, she’s bipolar. Two, she killed her grandmother.

After a suicide attempt, and now her parents' separation, Rinn and her mom move from California to the rural Ohio town where her mother grew up. Back on her medications and hoping to stay well, Rinn settles into her new home, undaunted by the fact that the previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom. At school, her classmates believe the school pool is haunted by Annaliese, a girl who drowned there. But when a reckless séance goes awry, and terrible things start happening to her new friends—yet not to her—Rinn is determined to find out why she can’t be "touched" by Annaliese...or if Annaliese even exists.

With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?

Annaliese? Or herself?" (from Goodreads)

1. In your latest release The Unquiet, the main character Rinn suffers from bipolar.  How did you go about writing her psychological condition?  Does any of it comes from personal experience (ie someone you know, etc)?

Because I work as a psychiatric nurse, I care for patients with bipolar disorder on a daily basis, so the majority of my ideas came from this. I did have to do some additional research because my patients are adults, and I wasn't sure if symptoms and treatment would be the same for adolescents. Though I am not bipolar myself, I have had issues with depression in the past, so I do have an understandings of the "ups" and "downs" (on a much less severe basis, of course).

2. Rinn battles with knowing the difference between delusions and reality in the end of the story.  Was it hard to factor in a paranormal element as well as the psychological?

It was actually harder to figure in the psychological aspect. I knew, while I was writing the story, exactly how I wanted Annaliese to affect Rinn and the others. Adding the psychological element proved to be the greater challenge because Rinn needed to be in control (albeit tenuously) --meaning I couldn't let her go completely "off the deep end" -- in order for the ending to play out as it did.

3.  Your two previous books hint that they might have psychological elements as well.  Can you tell us a little bit more about them?  Or is it better left to the reader?

My first novel, BEFORE, AFTER, AND SOMEBODY IN BETWEEN, deals a lot with alcoholism and co-dependency, and the effects of an addicted parent on a child. One of the main themes is "choice"--you may not "choose" to have a parent who is an addict, and you certainly have no choice as to how you are treated by them, but the way you react to your situation is indeed a "choice." This is something that my main character, Martha, has to learn in order to either improve her life, or possibly follow her mother's path to self-destruction.

In SAY THE WORD, Shawna's psychological issues stem from being abandoned by her mother, and the fact that her father is a controlling, verbally abusive jerk. She, too, has to make some hard decisions--some that that will affect her future, but, more importantly, decisions that will affect the lives of the people she loves.

4.  Do you think it's harder to write a character with a psychological disorder (especially accurately)?

Yes. It's difficult because you need to know where to draw the line. I don't want anyone to imagine I am "sensationalizing" mental illness. What I really wanted to do was to stress, again, the important of "choice", i.e. whether or not someone with bipolar disorder chooses to stay on their medications. I wanted Rinn to have a significant mental illness, but I could not make her as ill as the patients I see on a daily basis. These are patients who often never lead normal lives, never hold down jobs, spend the majority of time in hospitals, group homes, nursing homes, etc., and often lose any family support they might have had. I didn't want to see any of this in Rinn's future. I wanted her to be someone with the ability to recognize her illness and not be consumed by it.

5.  I thought you did an excellent job of portraying the high and lows of bipolar disorder in The Unquiet.  I could see similarities between what I have studied and also a friend I knew.  Was any of this mimicked after actual events?

Much of Rinn's behavior was modeled on the bipolar patients I've met: the sexual acting out, which is very common when someone is in a manic phase (especially the scene where she comes on to Nate, which shows a type of behavior she otherwise wouldn't have dreamed of exhibiting). The scene where she tells the police her father owns the stables and that he will sue the police department--very typical of what is known as "grandiose delusions" (Manic adults will often claim to own corporations, to belong to the FBI or CIA, or insist they are millionaires or superstars). The insomnia, the fleeting hallucinations, the paranoia (her fear of food poisoning, or that others at the Homecoming dance are talking negatively about her) are all things I've witnessed firsthand at my job with bipolar patients, even when some of them are taking their medications.

6. I'm a huge paranormal fan and a huge psych fan!  Where did you get the idea to combine the two?

I actually started THE UNQUIET back in 2005, several years before I became a psych nurse. It was to be written for adults, and strictly a paranormal. After publishing my first two YA novels, I decided to turn this one into a YA as well. New at my job, I was fascinated by  patients who insisted they could see and talk to "ghosts" and "spirits"--and yet these hallucinations disappeared once they were stabilized on medications. Though I know it's not true, I couldn't help wondering at times--what if it's true? What if they are speaking to spirits, and the medications block the connection?  Thus, the idea was born--and Rinn came to life.

"Jeannine Garsee has been telling stories since before she could write. "I was addicted to the Sunday funnies," she says, "and my dad worked in a book-binding factory. He'd bring home a slew of paper every week, and I'd draw scenes on every page. Later, when I learned to write, I'd add the captions--and then the captions just grew longer and longer till I didn't have any room left for the pictures." Jeannine, known as "Jen" to her friends, works as a psych nurse in a busy inner-city hospital. Born and raised in Ohio, she lives with her family in a southwest suburb of Cleveland." (from her website)

Thanks very much to both Page and Jeannine for this Psychtember interview!

Psychtember Interview with Janet Ruth Young

I'm pleased to welcome Janet Ruth Young, author of The Opposite of Music, Things I Shouldn't Think (previously titled The Babysitter Murders) and the upcoming My Beautiful Failure, back to the blog for another Psychtember interview! (Janet also participated last year in Psychtember, and you can find that interview here.)

First, a bit about Janet and My Beautiful Failure:

"Janet Ruth Young, who lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, graduated from Salem State College and from the creative writing program at Boston University. She was a co-editor of the literary magazine stet and a founder of Writers' Circle, the writing workshop at the Cambridge Women's Center. Having left her job as a textbook editor to pursue a career as a novelist, Janet has published three novels with Atheneum Books for Young Readers, a division of Simon & Schuster.

The Opposite of Music  (2007), about a teen boy who attempts to save his father from a life-threatening depression, won the PEN New England Discovery Award and was a Book Sense Pick, a Borders Original Voices selection, and an American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults nominee. 

The Babysitter Murders  (2011), about a babysitter who has thoughts of harming the child she cares for, was nominated for a CYBIL and received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. A paperback edition with a new author's note will be released in the fall of 2012.

Janet's much-anticipated third novel, My Beautiful Failure, tells the story of a teenage boy who volunteers at a suicide hotline and falls in love with a troubled caller. Failure will be available in stores on November 13, 2012." (from her website)

"A haunting account of a teen boy who volunteers at a suicide hotline and falls for a troubled caller. Billy is a sophomore in high school, and twice a week, he volunteers at Listeners, a suicide hotline.

     Jenney is an “incoming,” a caller, a girl on the brink.

     As her life spirals out of control, Jenney’s calls become more desperate, more frequent. Billy, struggling with the deteriorating relationship with his depressed father, is the only one who understands. Through her pain, he sees hope. Through her tears, he feels her heart. And through her despair, he finds love. But is that enough?

     Acclaimed author Janet Ruth Young has written a stunning and powerful story with no easy answers; it is about pain and heartbreak, reality and illusion, and finding redemption and the strength to forgive in the darkest of times." (from Goodreads)

And now for the questions...

1.) The relationship that develops between Billy, a volunteer for the Listeners suicide hotline, and Jenney, a caller, is an unusual one, since they communicate only over the phone. In what ways (either positive or negative) do you think their friendship is markedly different from one developed in person? In terms of the effect on both individuals' mental and emotional health, what would you say are some of the benefits of having this limited contact and knowledge of another person, and what are some of the drawbacks?

A Listeners relationship is not a friendship.  It differs in that one person is in it to help and the other is in it to be helped. There is no mutuality.  Although the Listeners aren't trained psychotherapists, their interactions with callers are similar to the clinical relationship a therapist has with a client.  For therapy to work it must have clear boundaries. A therapist should not spend the hour interrupting the client and talking about himself and his own problems. A client should never know as much about the therapist as the therapist knows about her.

Although Billy understands depression and mood disorders from having helped his father through an illness, he isn't clear enough on the difference between a friendship and a clinical/therapeutic relationship to be able to maintain the right boundaries at Listeners.  Without really knowing it, he is looking for a friend, and maybe a romance.  Underneath his motivations of wanting to help other people, he's seeking a cure for his own isolation and discouragement. But the phone calls from Jenney really need to focus on Jenney, not Billy. If the calls were devoted entirely to her needs, the Listeners formula might be successful and this story would not become complicated. (For more about not meeting in person, see question 5.)
 
2.) Your book effectively demonstrates why the rules at suicide hotlines are so important, but also why someone might want to risk breaching them. As a writer, how challenging was it for you to keep Billy a sympathetic character, while still having him make some controversial choices?

I think readers will applaud Billy's desire to do something ambitious and to be of use in the world; they'll probably cheer him on as he joins Listeners. Then I'm hoping they'll cringe as they see him start to bend the rules. My editors at Atheneum helped me to see that readers would empathize more with Billy's missteps if they saw what he had been through with his dad's illness. Accordingly, I added flashbacks to the lowest days of Bill Senior's depression to show that Billy is in the midst of recovering from his own trauma. Most of all, despite the inauspicious circumstances, Billy is a boy in love. For the first time in his life, a smart, accomplished, and funny girl thinks he's wonderful. Sometimes Billy walks out of the Listeners office floating six inches off the ground.  Those parts were fun to write.

3.) Your previous novel Things I Shouldn't Think (originally titled The Babysitter Murders) had a female teen protagonist, whereas My Beautiful Failure has a male teen narrating. How did you find the writing of these perspectives differed? Was one more difficult than the other?

A third book should be in that mix.  My first published novel was The Opposite of Music, which is the story of Bill Senior's depression, told from Billy's point of view, partly in diary entries. So I had already written in his voice before attempting My Beautiful Failure. Although reviews of Opposite were mostly favorable, some critics said Billy didn't sound enough like a teenage boy. I can accept that. In my revisions I kept trying to make him sound younger, less female, and less literary (in other words, less like me), and when I look back at Opposite, I still see a few spots that I should have changed---for instance, by making a sentence shorter or using a simpler metaphor. Having had that preparation, I think I nailed the voice better this time around.

Things I Shouldn't Think is written in third-person omniscient, mostly from the point of view of Dani Solomon, who thinks she may be a potential child murderer, but also from the perspective of a teen boy named Malcolm who is suspicious of Dani and begins stalking her. I deliberately chose a flat, clinical style for that book, to capture the sense that someone is following Dani and that she is constantly being scrutinized---with great curiosity but without insight.  As a result of that choice, some readers decided that I just can't write very well, which I think is funny. Those people will be surprised when they read My Beautiful Failure. Billy's voice has music and poetry in it.

4.) One of the characters in My Beautiful Failure shows signs of bipolar disorder, but is never officially diagnosed with it. Why did you choose to make this ambiguous? What are your thoughts on the gray area between flamboyant creativity and potential mental illness?

Billy continues to be very concerned about Bill Senior, who may not be depressed anymore but now decides he's going to paint forty paintings in forty days and put on an art show. Although Bill Senior is under a doctor's care, and I want readers to know that taking antidepressants can lead to hypomania, I wanted to keep readers on the fence about whether the art show is a good or a bad idea.  All of us come to a point in our lives at which we realize that we haven't fulfilled our potential and we need to step on the gas. Bill Senior does this with his art show and Billy does it with Listeners.  Can a person go too far with this? Yes.  But we all have to do it.  Even if we know on some level that the world doesn't need another novel, cookbook, painting, screenplay, or blues song.  I think all art can be viewed as unnecessary and crazy in the context of the utilitarian world we live in. Yet I have a lot of Bill Senior in me. I didn't publish my first novel until I was 49. Now I'm publishing three books in five years. Does that make me crazy?

5.) One of the conclusions I took from My Beautiful Failure is that we can never really fully understand what someone else is thinking/feeling/experiencing — and especially not when our only contact with them is over the phone. What ramifications do you think this has for the strictly online nature of many friendships (e.g. through Twitter, Facebook, etc.) these days?

That is certainly a valid conclusion, but not one of the main points I'm trying to make.  Yes, we have to be wary of making assumptions about others and of investing too much in people we hardly know. And people who don't meet in person forego some cues such as facial expression and gesture. But I wouldn't want Failure to be a cautionary tale about meeting on the phone, on Twitter, or by any other medium.  Remember that a hundred years ago, lots of people got to know one another by writing letters, and many of them became lifelong friends or married one another.  I don't see electronic written media as being much different from letter writing.  And people who meet, for instance, in a discussion group about a favorite band already have an affinity going for them that might indicate true compatibility.  Another example: You, Danya, seem to understand what I'm saying in my books.  Because my books represent a true and profound part of me, perhaps you know me better than does a cousin whom I've known all my life but who has never read my work.

I'd love to hear what readers think of the Billy/Jenney relationship.  I, for one, believe there was something real there.  And it was extremely important to me that the "something" develop without regard to appearance.  At a time when the world of information keeps beautiful couples such as Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in the center of our field of vision (and my own Things I Shouldn't Think features a beautiful couple, Dani Solomon and Gordon Abt), I wanted affection and regard to spring between two people who've never seen one another.  A true meeting of the minds.  That's what Billy's parents had when they met at Bill Senior's graduate-school art show, and that's what Billy wants and deserves for himself.

Thank you very much for the interview.

And thank you, Janet, for these thoughtful replies to my questions! 
  

Guest Post: Teens, Bipolar, and a Very Different Ghost Story

I'm happy to welcome Jeannine Garsee, author of The Unquiet, to the blog today for a Psychtember guest post!  

First, a little bit about the novel: 

"Sixteen-year-old Rinn Jacobs has secrets: One, she’s bipolar. Two, she killed her grandmother.

After a suicide attempt, and now her parents' separation, Rinn and her mom move from California to the rural Ohio town where her mother grew up. Back on her medications and hoping to stay well, Rinn settles into her new home, undaunted by the fact that the previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom. At school, her classmates believe the school pool is haunted by Annaliese, a girl who drowned there. But when a reckless séance goes awry, and terrible things start happening to her new friends—yet not to her—Rinn is determined to find out why she can’t be "touched" by Annaliese...or if Annaliese even exists.

With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?

Annaliese? Or herself?" (from Goodreads)

TEENS, BIPOLAR, AND A VERY DIFFERENT GHOST STORY

Jeannine Garsee

I notice people often casually toss around psychiatric terms, like “I’m feeling kind of schizophrenic today.” Or, “God, I’m so moody—I must be bipolar.” For years, my own knowledge of mental illness was strictly limited to movies like Sybil and The Three Face of Eve…or the occasional patient I’d have (I’m a RN) that all us of nurses labeled as “totally nuts”—often because they rang their call bell fifty times a shift, demanded steak dinners, or cussed us out for no reason.

           
As far as bipolar goes, I thought it was a pretty cut-and-dried mental disorder. You were either high and happy or very low and depressed, right?

Wrong. Until I started working in a psych unit back in 2008, I had no idea that bipolar disorder was such a serious disability, and that people who go untreated can become as actively psychotic as any schizophrenic.

           

Bipolar disorder is sometimes referred to as a disease of judgment—poor judgment. The belief that there’s nothing wrong with you, that it’s everyone else. The risk-taking behavior. The reluctance to take any mood-stabilizers because it knocks you out or dulls your senses. After all, it’s fun to feel high, and productive, on top of the world—that is, until you lose your friends, your job, and even your family support because, frankly, no one can put up with you anymore. Not only does your “high” behavior pose a danger to your life, but the depression that often follows can sometimes lead to suicide.

           

When I started The Unquiet back in 2005, it was to be strictly a ghost story. But after working on a psychiatric unit, and spending many hours around people who saw things and heard things no one could see or hear, who insisted they were speaking to “spirits” and “demons”—and observing their bizarre reactions to these hallucinations—I decided to up the ante and give my main character a mental illness, leaving the reader to wonder at certain points: is this really happening, or is Rinn, imagining it?  

Rinn is complex character. She’s unique in the sense that she accepts her illness and is motivated to stay well, and still very typical of many others with bipolar disorder. No one “wants” to depend on medication, especially psychotropics, for the rest of their lives. Sadly, there is still a stigma connected to mental illness; often the strange, destructive, and socially unaccepted behaviors are viewed as attempts to garner attention or as a weakness in one’s self-control. The reluctance to take medication may be due to embarrassment (Rinn’s terrified her friends will find out she is on antipsychotics). Psych drugs also have some very unwanted side effects: Some cause weight gain and some decrease your sex drive, while others can affect your body’s metabolism as well as your immune system. Many require regular blood work to monitor the drugs levels and to make sure you’re not susceptible to infections. Who wants to be stuck with needles all the time?

Teens are particularly vulnerable to medication non-compliance. Take the raging hormones of adolescence and the not-quite-mature brain of a teenager, add to his or her never-ending quest for self-identity and acceptance, and you can imagine why they’re reluctant to admit the need to take medications that might label them as “crazy.”

Bipolar disorder is not something you outgrow. It’s not something that can be controlled with willpower, or diet, or merely ignored in the hope it’ll disappear. Rinn learned this the hard way; her refusal to stay on her medications led to the loss of all of her friends. Her behavior was obnoxious, and often illegal. She used drugs and acted out sexually. She broke into a home, and later, into a stable to ride her favorite horse—an incident that could have ended in tragedy. It takes a real tragedy, the death of her grandmother—inadvertently caused by Rinn while in an acutely psychotic state—to make her realize that staying on her medications is the only way to keep her, and everyone around, safe. It’s also this incident that triggers her parents’ separation and her subsequent move to River Hills, Ohio, where her best intentions to stay on her medications is compromised by a ghost named Annaliese.

Because bipolar disorder is now being diagnosed very early in some cases (source: Reuters--http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/01/15/us-usa-child-trial-research-idUSTRE60E0NC20100115), children as young as preschool age are now are able to receive the proper treatment. It’s my hope that young adults will not only pick up The Unquiet to discover an entertaining ghost story, but that some of them—those with bipolar disorder or other mental illnesses—will see a bit of themselves in Rinn…and realize they can control their illness and lead normal, happy lives. 

Copyright 2012 by Jeannine Garsee

"Jeannine Garsee has been telling stories since before she could write. "I was addicted to the Sunday funnies," she says, "and my dad worked in a book-binding factory. He'd bring home a slew of paper every week, and I'd draw scenes on every page. Later, when I learned to write, I'd add the captions--and then the captions just grew longer and longer till I didn't have any room left for the pictures." Jeannine, known as "Jen" to her friends, works as a psych nurse in a busy inner-city hospital. Born and raised in Ohio, she lives with her family in a southwest suburb of Cleveland." (from her website)


Thanks, Jeannine, for dropping by and discussing bipolar disorder and your novel The Unquiet!