Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life

by Ellen Forney

Overview

In the follow up to her acclaimed Marbles, Forney writes and draws a guide for people with mood disorders.

Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life is the eagerly awaited sequel/companion book to Forney’s 2012 best-selling graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me. Whereas Marbles was a memoir about her bipolar disorder, Rock Steady turns the focus outward, offering a self-help guide of tips, tricks and tools by someone who has been through it all and come through stronger for it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683961017
Publisher:	Fantagraphics Books
Publication date:	05/15/2018
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	414,239
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Ellen Forney lives in Seattle, WA, with her partner. She was the 2012 recipient of The Stranger Genius Award for Literature as well as the winner of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis 2013 Gradiva Award.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/30/2018
Forney follows up her graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me, with a practical guide to understanding, navigating, and managing bipolar disorder (and mood disorders in general). Forney, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the late ’90s and documents the many years it took to find stability, sets forth her personal experiences, coping strategies, and extensive research on a variety of topics including therapy, medication management, coping tools, warning signs, and stigma. She stresses that mood disorders require regular self-assessment, care, support, and treatment maintenance, and her approach makes this task list feel less daunting. Forney effortlessly conveys her message in clear, succinct writing combined with energetic but simple visuals to illustrate difficult concepts. What results is a balanced, uncluttered resource, infused with empathy, humor, and encouragement. This guide is mental health literacy at its best, making it a must-read for those with mood disorders and their loved ones, health professionals, and anyone looking to gain a greater understanding of an often misunderstood but common condition. Agent: Holly Bemiss, Susan Rabiner Literary Agency. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Rock Steady is truly a must-read for anyone who struggles with a mental disorder or someone who finds comfort in daily structure. Forney addresses readers with the tone of a caring friend, and her approach will likely make her fans eager for more grounding advice."

Booklist

"Rock Steady is a heartfelt guide to staying calm and centered in moments of emotional crisis."

The Seattle Review of Books

"Rock Steady is a unique work: a cartoon handbook on surviving the ups and downs of bipolar disorder by someone who’s been there and wants to empower and assist others by sharing what she’s learned. And it’s pretty damn brilliant."

Four Color Apocalypse

"Forney’s writing is unpretentious, occasionally goofy and manifestly replete with love for her fellow humans. Her art is full of love, too; her rich, swooping line seems to cradle the reader's eye. … This nuts-and-bolts coping book manages to transcend its category and become something even non-depressed readers will enjoy."

NPR Books

"Ellen Forney is an inspiration to me as an artist and as a human being! Let her drawings springboard you into self-acceptance!"

Lady Dynamite - Maria Bamford

"A broadly accessible work, Rock Steady advances understanding and acceptance of mood disorders and does as much as can be done to defang a terrifying beast. ... Forney, who’s lived through all this, explains it with the patience of a wise older sister."

Forbes

"In her new comic, Forney provides endearing and useful guidance for managing mood disorders, including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. … Rock Steady sets readers on a path to balance and stability and uplifts those who are already doing the work."

Comicsverse

"This graphic memoir is part memoir, part self-help for anyone who struggles with mood issues—or really, anyone looking to practice a little more self-care."

Book Riot

09/01/2018
Cartoonist Forney follows up her highly regarded Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me. She effectively weaves in personal experiences with research and accessible resources. The clear and often tongue-in-cheek black-and-white artwork notes exactly when an example is real and when it's made up for wit's sake. Forney addresses everything from handling the diagnosis to self-care tips and tricks to prescription regimes, and each chapter includes a page of smile-inducing "merit badges" readers can "earn" for learning to cope with, for instance, insomnia. The appended resources and the bibliography are useful and thorough but never overwhelming. A trusted source of peer support for others with bipolar disorder, Forney is a leader in self-education for those dealing with this condition, as well as their friends and family. VERDICT Readers interested in dependable information on bipolar disorder will appreciate this title. A possible option for book discussion groups.—Francisca Goldsmith, Library Ronin, Worcester, MA

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