A bluntly honest account of Liz’s life with Bipolar.
Told in a whistle-stop tour, Liz shares her experiences of Bipolar in this memoir. With open and honest accounts of her life that are almost anecdotal throughout, the reader is able to very quickly understand Liz’s life experiences. I prefer this type of autobiographical writing, as you grow to understand the author more quickly and spend less time lingering on perhaps superficial detail. With the aim of increasing awareness and expanding the discussion around mental health, Life As A Rollercoaster ends with reflections from each of Liz’s family members.
My own knowledge of Bipolar is limited and I found this to be a fascinating insight into both having it and living alongside it. I really enjoyed the additional perspective of Liz’s loved ones at the end of the book and appreciate that by Liz writing this memoir, they are also having a part of their life shared. It was interesting to read about the events from a number of different perspectives and I appreciate this team effort approach. I think having a witness or onlooker perspective adds an extra dimension to this book that makes it all the more engaging.
I found Life As A Rollercoaster an enlightening read and hope that it reaches a wider audience to help expand the discussion on mental health.
Having found her voice, Liz shares her real-life story in a refreshingly open style born out of a burning desire to help people to cope in our ever-challenging world. From being bullied at an early age, her parents’ divorce, coping with exams, jealousy, dealing with abusive relationships both mentally and physically through to becoming admitted to a psychiatric unit in her early
thirties and being given a Bipolar diagnosis. Liz remains remarkably positive even though she has been through extremely challenging times with her psychotic episodes and endeavours now to educate people to have the courage to speak out and share their experiences.
Her family, partner, and ex-manager have also contributed their insights into Liz’s journey and how the diagnosis of Bipolar
affected them in a different way. This truly is an inspirational story full of lows and highs and demonstrates that no matter what you face in life you can and will get through it.
