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allyourstars's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
The portrayal of mental illness (specifically bipolar disorder) in this book was very frustrating and made me angry. It's unfortunate, because the book is generally well-written and I've liked some of this author's other work. As far as I could tell, one MC's physical disabilities seemed to be well-researched and treated with care and compassion in the text - though I say this as someone with no personal experience. I do, however, have experience with bipolar disorder. I'm not sure if my thoughts on this would be considered spoilers, so you can find them behind the spoiler tag just in case.
It was hurtful to (once again) have the person with bipolar disorder be the bad guy. He was unstable, violent, and extremely emotionally volatile. His bipolar disorder is the thing that ruined the second MC's life and hurt him physically and psychologically. I felt like the author googled "bipolar disorder" and came up with a script from a bad thriller and used that as their source because it's a character I've seen over and over and over again in media. I was also completely unprepared for bipolar disorder to be the reason for his behavior. In fact, early on in the book, his mental illness is just referred to as "BPD" - another indicator that the author didn't do enough research. BPD is the abbreviation for borderline personality disorder, not bipolar disorder. So when it was revealed to actually be bipolar disorder, I was completely taken off guard. The character's behavior isn't reflective of BPD either (as far as I've ever seen), but it hit closer to home for me with it being bipolar disorder.
Portrayals like this one of people with bipolar disorder are part of the reason why few people in my life know about my diagnosis. Unless someone has known me for a long time, I won't tell them because they will assume that I'm like this character (or that I will have a "breakdown" and become like him). I've had relationships fall apart because people treated me differently after finding out. Obviously there are people with bipolar disorder who have erratic and violent behavior, as there are in any group. But that number is very low, and we're more likely to have violence committed against us than to every commit a violent act ourselves. I would be less inclined to rage and rant about this particular portrayal if there was more good representation of bipolar disorder out there, but there isn't, which makes this portrayal all the more harmful.
If you'd like to read a better portrayal of severe bipolar disorder that gives you the perspective of someone with the disorder, I'd recommend Kiss Me Again by Garrett Leigh or A Wealth of Unsaid Words by R. Cooper. A Lethal Love by Max Walker also does a pretty good job, if I remember correctly.
Portrayals like this one of people with bipolar disorder are part of the reason why few people in my life know about my diagnosis. Unless someone has known me for a long time, I won't tell them because they will assume that I'm like this character (or that I will have a "breakdown" and become like him). I've had relationships fall apart because people treated me differently after finding out. Obviously there are people with bipolar disorder who have erratic and violent behavior, as there are in any group. But that number is very low, and we're more likely to have violence committed against us than to every commit a violent act ourselves. I would be less inclined to rage and rant about this particular portrayal if there was more good representation of bipolar disorder out there, but there isn't, which makes this portrayal all the more harmful.
If you'd like to read a better portrayal of severe bipolar disorder that gives you the perspective of someone with the disorder, I'd recommend Kiss Me Again by Garrett Leigh or A Wealth of Unsaid Words by R. Cooper. A Lethal Love by Max Walker also does a pretty good job, if I remember correctly.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
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