Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir

Ellen Forney's "Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me", is a brave, funny and self-revealing work exploring how an artist can make peace with bipolar disorder without losing the creative spark. It has been called a graphic novel, and it even was selected for a list of "top graphic novels" compiled by Time Magazine, but its form is actually that of a memoir rather than a novel.Forney, a graphic artist working out of Seattle, opens her work with a tattoo technician inking her back. The big design, of Forney's making, embodies energy, transformation, joy, a whale, plumes of water, smoke, a skeleton, the spiritual connection with water, and other emanations of a manic epiphany she had experienced about one year earlier. The tattoo artist is taken aback when Forney--exultant at finishing the long session, and shirtless--swings around and lunges to kiss him, "tongue & all!"The next chapter relates Forney's first visit to a psychiatrist, shortly after the tattoo, who proposes a diagnosis of bipolar I disorder, DSM 296.4 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, published by the American Psychiatric Association), known in the past as "manic depression." With this exact sounding diagnosis (reminiscent of the Dewey Decimal System for library books), she contemplates a revised life, alternately as the alienation of a lunatic or the glory of artistic initiation into "Club Van Gogh." Her imaginary membership card in Club Van Gogh offered a "sense of heaviness...alleviated by a backhanded sense of cred" (caption: "ECCENTRIC! PASSIONATE! TORTURED! SCARY! DEADLY! FIRE! ICE! UNMOORED! UNBRIDLED! UNPREDICTABLE! DANGEROUS!").Forney lists almost innumerable distinguished creative persons with diagnosed or "probable" manic-depressive illness or major depression. Here are some of her examples: Artists: Gaugin, Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Munch, O'Keefe, Rossetti, Pollack, Rothko. Poets: Blake, Byron, Coleridge, Dickens, T.S. Eliot, Poe, Sylvia Plath, Ezra Pound, Anne Sexton, Dylan Thomas, Whitman. Writers: Samuel Johnson, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Ibsen, Henry James, William James, Tolstoy, Tennessee Williams, Virginia Woolf and Mark Twain. Among manic depressives, the rates of attempted and successful suicide are appallingly high (see p. 44). Although Forney emphasizes artists, a number of great leaders have shown signs of serious mood disorder, including Lincoln and Churchill (Churchill called his depression "the Black Dog"). I also think of the great social scientist Max Weber, alternating between superhuman research and writing spurts and vegetative paralysis.Bipolar disorder is notoriously difficult to treat. Lithium [lithium carbonate, a salt], the oldest scientifically accepted pharmaceutical treatment, doesn't work for everyone, can cause lethargy, nasty acne and weight gain, and it carries a danger of acute liver damage that must be monitored by regular blood serum testing. Ms. Forney tried lithium, along with almost a pharmacy of alternative and adjutant medications, including Lamictal, Tegretol, Depakote, Nuerontin, Zyprexa and Klonopin.Ms. Forney's self-described bisexuality entails, in this rendition, numerous romps with her girlfriends, both straight and gay, as she acts out themes for her comic books, celebrates her thirtieth birthday and seduces a female yoga novice.An intriguing aspect of this memoir is the depiction of the psychiatrist-patient relationship. For a long time, Forney hides from her doctor her cannabis habit, which for her is more important than alcohol. She cherishes this connection with her beloved "stoner mother." When she finally reveals this use to her doctor, she feels guilty for having kept the secret but also unburdened.As Forney credibly shows, much great art is not merely a metaphor of extreme psychic states but often a direct expression of them. I was startled by Edward Munch's vivid diary entry of the experience that evoked his masterwork, "The Scream" (see p. 121 for the remarkable words).Forney's exercise regimen, including swimming, seems to give short-term relief at least. Yoga, recommended by her psychiatrist, offers some respite from anxiety and also insight. But the author brings out the trickiness, subtlety and seeming impermanence--and at the same time, apparent necessity--of the pharmaceutical treatment combination. She credits her psychiatrist with high intelligence, cunning and patience. She also finds support from her friends and parents, particularly her (lesbian) mother.If this book were a drama, it has elements of comedy, but the comic resolution is incomplete. The heroine comes away with new self-knowledge, achieved through quite a lot of suffering--understanding of herself and perhaps about many other artists past and present with whom she shares aspects of this malady. She has discovered that, at least for her, the lows but also the extreme highs of her disorder do not bring artistic productivity. By keeping her mood swings within a narrower ambit, she can continue her craft more regularly and fruitfully. But any such success is tactical, not strategic--more of a war of attrition than a clear-cut victory. The goal--hard fought for and elusive, but sometimes gratifyingly achieved--is balance. Her closing image is a self-portrait, with fluffy bathrobe, bedtime hair, toothbrush in hand and half-smile, and the caption, "I'm OK."In the graphic novel format, Forney has found an ideal form for telling her story. Samples of her drawings, undertaken during major depressive or manic episodes-- shared with the reader to convey her long dog-sled rides of sadness and Olympic ski take-off ramps of joy--express convincingly her underlying emotions.This highly original memoir moved me. The author enjoys indubitable gifts as a comic artist; she write unabashed; she wins over the reader, who roots for her unreservedly, despite all revealed breaches of decorum. This book would be of compelling interest to anyone diagnosed with bipolar disorder or major depression (and family/friends) but also to almost any person interested in human psychology or artistic creativity. After reading it, I found myself going back to savor some exceptional sections again. I'm giving this book five stars, because it fully realizes the potential of its form.(Originally posted at MindBodyForce.com by Andrew Szabo.)Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and MeMarbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir

I must say, that most of my recent "reads" have all been Kindle-Freebies, but when I saw the review on this title in Publishers Weekly, the topic hit so close to home that I clicked through to BUY IT immediately.I literally devoured it in less than 24 hours - the story of her years working through all the ups/downs of bi polar disorder were such a direct correlation of what my husband had to endure, that were it not for her humorous graphic relief in the telling of her own story, I think it would have reduced me to a puddle of tears, remembering all that we went through in the "finding the right meds" process.Thank you Ellen for your open and candid sharing of your journey - as the wife of a bi polar, it really helped me to hear (and literally SEE) the things that my husband has shared with me over the years. So many parallels....I've never read a graphic-style-novel (at least not since my last comic book as a kid) and that is one of the main reasons I wanted to own this one - not only is it a testament to your journey, but a totally unique piece of art as well.Enjoyed it immensely...

There have been so many terrific graphic novels this year; among the ones I've read are Alison Bechdel's challenging Are You My Mother, Leela Corman's lovely Unterzakhn, Derf Backderf's horrifying My Friend Dahmer, Julia Wertz's hilarious and touching The infinite Wait, as well as the gorgeous concluding volume of Carol Tyler's You'll Never Know trilogy. Add to this stellar company Ellen Forney's autobiographical Marbles, a brave, searingly honest, often harrowing look at her diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder shortly before her 30th birthday, and her long struggle to get it under control. Bipolar is a mental disorder that is difficult to treat (there are as yet no universally effective treatments), and Forney takes us step by excruciating step on her four year road of alternating manic highs and crushing lows to a final sense of equilibrium. She also explores the relationship between mental illness and creativity, with some surprising discoveries. Marbles is highly absorbing and entertaining, and often very funny - Forney shows off her considerable cartooning chops in particular when delineating her manic episodes. It's all very informative and painfully immediate to boot. I learned a lot reading this and I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable layman with regards to mental illnesses. I personally know two people who I'd like to give this book to - one who has been recently diagnosed and another who I strongly suspect should be diagnosed. Forney's frank storytelling and superb cartooning skills make this one a Don't Miss. Five stars.

Is there anything redemptive about mental illness? In this memoir of an artist's struggle with bipolar disorder--a memoir both comical and profound--Ellen Forney persuasively argues yes. She is brutally honest and vulnerable about her pain, but she also explores the surprising gifts to be found within the pain. Some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers have struggled with various forms of mental illness--Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, Sylvia Plath, and more. And, in some mysterious way, this also contributed to their creative genius. Forney asks the paradoxical question: "Is mental illness a curse, or is it actually a gift?" Perhaps, like so many things in this life, it is both! This book is a delightful example of how to find light in even the darkest of places.