Juliet the Maniac by Juliet Escoria (debut)
Publisher: Melville House
Release Date: May 7, 2017
Length: 336 pages
Amazon

{A Bit of Backstory}

Single Sentence Summary

The brave, heartbreaking story of young Juliet’s rapid fall into mental illness and her journey toward finding a way to carry on without completely losing herself.

From the Publisher

“Ambitious, talented 14-year-old honors student Juliet is poised for success at her Southern California high school. However, she soon finds herself on an increasingly frightening spiral of drug use, self-harm, and mental illness that lands her in a remote therapeutic boarding school, where she must ultimately find the inner strength, and determination, to survive.”

The Draw

• A coming-of-age story with personal connections.
• A story of mental illness and self-destruction.
• Written from the perspective of the “bad” friend.

{My Thoughts}

In the summer of 1998, 14-year old Juliet seemed to have everything going for her. She was bright, had plenty of frineds, loving parents, and was about to start high school. She’d been cutting herself for a while, but never deep and only where no one would see. As Juliet moved through her freshman year stranger and stranger things began to happen to her: she heard noises, saw dark shapes around her, couldn’t eat or sleep, feared she was being watched, couldn’t always make sense of written words, and sometimes heard the voice of god.

“I no longer slept. It was so loud all the time. Each day I was assaulted by ringings and whispers, my heart pounding out the center of the chaos like a metronome, the order of the day splintering, popping apart, the ropes that once tethered me to the rest of the world had snapped and I had floated too far away to find my way back.”

Juliet the Maniac has been described as an “autobiographical novel,” and that unusual moniker definitely fits. Throughout Juliet’s story are letters, notes, and medical reports all with the author’s own name on them. Her novel reads more like a memoir than fiction, but either way it’s riveting. I could feel nothing but empathy for this struggling young girl who was terrified by what was happening to her, but also so intelligent that she actually researched mental illness and diagnosed herself. She then reached out to her parents in a letter finally telling them everything she’d been feeling. Juliet’s descent continues after suicide attempts land her in a remote boarding school designed for teens suffering from mental illness.

The author, Juliet Escoria, clearly inhabits her character and made me feel so much: sadness for Juliet and her parents, thankful that my own children escaped mental illness, terror at feeling so out of control, disappointment at many of Juliet’s choices, and pride with many others. Parts of Juliet the Manic may be difficult for some to read, but the story is wonderful and especially if you’re a fan of memoirs or coming-of-age stories, this is a book you need to read! Grade: A-

If you liked this book you might also enjoy:

• My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward by Mark Lukach – Memoir from a man whose wife had her first psychotic break shortly after they were married. (my review)
• Dear Fang, With Love by Rufi Thorpe – A father and his newly diagnosed bipolar daughter try to find a new normal in their lives. (my review)

Note: I received a copy of this book from Melville House (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review. Thank you.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Associate links included within this post.