Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir Paperback - 2012

Details

• Title Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir
• Author Ellen Forney
• Binding Paperback
• Pages 256
• Volumes 1
• Language ENG
• Publisher Avery Publishing Group, New York, NY
• Date 2012-11-06
• Illustrated Yes
• Features Bibliography, Illustrated
• ISBN 9781592407323 / 1592407323
• Weight 1.15 lbs (0.52 kg)
• Dimensions 9 x 6 x 0.88 in (22.86 x 15.24 x 2.24 cm)
• Ages 18 to UP years
• Grade levels 13 - UP
• Library of Congress subjects Graphic novels, Manic-depressive illness
• Library of Congress Catalog Number 2012014588
• Dewey Decimal Code B

"Ellen Forney's memoir of her bipolar diagnosis and long pharmacopic trek toward balance is painfully honest and joyously exuberant. Her drawings evoke the neuron-crackling high of mania and the schematic bleakness of depression with deft immediacy. Forney is at the height of her powers as she explores the tenuous line between mood disorders and creativity itself."
—Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic



“Dense with intellectual and emotional power, Forney's book is a treasure—as a memoir, as an artwork, and as a beautifully conceived and executed commentary on both mental experience and the creative life. With wit, humor, a wicked sense of the absurd, and eloquent insight into the beauty that shines through the mercurial life of the mind, this graphic memoir explores its subject with a particular precision and power. Forney should be read.”
—Marya Hornbacher, author of Madness: A Bipolar Life



"Ellen's work has always been hilarious and sharp, but Marbles has an emotional resonance that shows new depth as an artist and a writer. This is an extremely personal, brave, and rewarding book."
—Dan Savage, editor of It Gets Better and author of The Kid



"I have always admired Ellen Forney's humor and honesty, but Marbles is a major leap forward. It's a hilarious memoir about mental illness, yes, but it's also an incisive study of what it means to be human and how we ache to become better humans. Amazing stuff."
—Sherman Alexie, bestselling author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian



“Witty and insightful…The long journey of medication and therapy is kept from gloom by Forney’s lively, likable cartooning … Readers struggling with their own mania or depression will find Forney good company, and others searching for insight into the minds of troubled artists will find Forney an engaging storyteller.”
—Starred Publishers Weekly



“Not only does her conversational intimacy draw readers in, but her drawings perfectly capture the exhilarating frenzy of mania and the dark void of depression….Forney’s story should resonate with those grappling with similar issues, while her artistry should appeal to a wide readership.”
—Starred Kirkus Reviews



"Marbles isn't just a great story; it's proof that artists don't have to be tortured to be brilliant."
—Entertainment Weekly, Grade "A" Review



“Is it weird to call a memoir about bipolar disorder entertaining? Well, this one is, thanks to the ease with which Forney translates her vivacious, fearless personality to the page…. Forney has a virtuosic understanding of what words and images can do in congress, playing them off one another in ways that allow her pages to be more than the sum of their parts.”
—Myla Goldberg, NPR.org

“Marbles is more than a survivor’s story…It is a book about Forney’s struggle to come to terms with herself, which is similar to the struggle everyone must undergo.”
—Los Angeles Times