Hi I’d like a recommendation where the protagonist has bipolar/a psychotic disorder. Preferably a book that deals more with the manic aspect than the depression. Something similar to Memoirs of my Nervous Illness. I don’t care when they were published, but the older the better. Memoirs are welcomed, but no thrillers please.
by PINK1_ClusterinG30
21 Comments
I’ve read Dostoevsky, Gogol, The Bell Jar, and most of the popular books that deal with this topic.
The Silent Patient is perhaps slightly outside this criteria, but it was the first novel that came to mind.
The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes- Suzanne Collins
Definitely read the original Hunger Games trilogy to get a better understanding of this one.
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (check the trigger warnings)
The blind owl by Sadegh Hedayat
House of Leaves
The Picture of Dorian Grey
The Eyes Are The Best Part
The Influencing Machine by Mike Jay
Non-fiction but it reads like a novel sort of
Also published under the title The Air Loom Gang
The Yellow Wallpaper
_Wide Sargasso Sea_ by Jean Rhys.
Definitely Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky
*The Edible Woman* and *Surfacing* by Margaret Atwood
Autobiography of a Schizophrenic Girl by Marguerite Sechehaye
Challenger deep by Neil schusterman man is amazing
Hidden Valley Road is true story of family where 6/12 kids developed schizophrenia.
The Best Minds is Jeff Hobb’s memoir of his childhood best friend’s “descent into madness.”
If you like fantasy, The Poppy War trilogy. It’s not depicting bipolar disorder but more like what you said in the title, “a descent into madness”.
Crime and Punishment.
The river of doubt by Millard. Teddy Roosevelt’s son has issues with depression which are mentioned in the book. Plus all the characters descent into despair.
**The Day the Voices Stopped** by Ken Steele
I just finished Sure I’ll Join your Cult by Maria Bamford. She has suffered from OCD and bipolar disorder since her teen years are relates her experiences with humor and warmth. Also the audiobook (which she narrates) is just a hoot!
The Eden Express by Mark Vonnegut
Mark Vonnegut set out in search of Eden with his VW bug, his girlfriend, his dog, and his ideals. But genetic predisposition and “a whole lot of **** going down” made Mark Vonnegut crazy in a culture that told him “mental illness is a myth” and “schizophrenia is a sane response to an insane society.” Here he tells his story with the eyes that see from the inside out: a moving remembrance of an era and a revealing look at mental illness . . . and getting well again.
The Bell Jar