It's a Kind of a Funny Story

"This is the most difficult of the books I picked. It covers something the other books don’t cover which is relapse. The feeling of recovery when you haven’t. He starts taking his tablets and he feels great. He thinks he is cured. I’m fine, he thinks, I’ll stop taking the tablets. I remember after my breakdown. I remember the euphoria—thinking I was invincible—this was the end of everything bad in my life and I’d never be ill again, and this was a whole new start. And, of course, that wasn’t the case. I love the way that is handled in this book. Even though he clearly isn’t well he feels he shouldn’t be in a psychiatric ward. And psychiatric wards are full of people who don’t think they should be there. This is partly denial and shame and I love the way the book deals with this. But I struggled choosing this book because Ned, in the end, took his own life. His suicide inevitably tinges everything with sadness. There is a motif of recovery and relapse in the book that is significant beyond the fiction. For most people who suffer from mental health issues it is a condition that is going to have to be coped with long term whether it be with medication, behavioural change, therapy, or a combination of all. And some people may need medication all their lives and that is ok."