NONFICTION

(Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation About Mental Health

240p. filmog. further reading. websites. Algonquin. Oct. 2018. pap. $16.95. ISBN 9781616207816.
COPY ISBN
OrangeReviewStarGr 7 Up—Opening up about mental health is difficult but necessary, asserts the editor of this thought-provoking anthology. Libba Bray personifies her obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety, while Stephanie Kuehn describes life with misophonia. Adam Silvera dispels the myth that successful or cheerful individuals don't experience depression; Emery Lord seethes at the ignorant remarks about suicide she overhears at a Vincent van Gogh exhibit. Contributors also examine gender, sexuality, and ethnicity, as in Hannah Bae's exploration of her Korean family's reluctance to seek help for her mother's schizophrenia. The rare lackluster entry never detracts from the whole. As in Jensen's Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World, illustrations and a peppy design enhance this scrapbooklike volume.
VERDICT Misconceptions about mental health still abound, making this honest yet hopeful title a vital selection for libraries.

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