by Kevin Smith
First published 2005
Karla was a bright nineteen-year-old college student who loved her life until everything changed. She stops caring about the activities that once brought her joy. Within weeks, she retreats to her bed and stays there, hidden under the covers for days at a time. Her family watches in shock as their daughter disappears before their eyes. Over the next seven years, Karla receives a bipolar diagnosis that explains her behavior but doesn't make living with it easier. She cycles between deep depression and manic episodes while her family struggles to understand and help her. Each family member tells part of this story, revealing how mental illness affects everyone in different ways. Through the confusion and heartbreak, they discover what love means when someone you care about is suffering. Karla fights to find acceptance and peace with her condition as her family learns to cope with a reality none of them expected.
Genres: literary-fiction, mental-illness, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
224 pages · Paperback · Iuniverse Inc
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness, suicide