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Juliet the Maniac
A shockingly dark, funny, and heartbreaking portrait of a young teenager's clash with mental illness and her battle toward understanding and recovery
Ambitious, talented 14-year-old honors student Juliet is poised for success at her Southern California high school. However, she soon finds herself on an increasingly frightening spiral of drug use, self-harm, and mental illness that lands her in a remote therapeutic boarding school, where she must ultimately find the inner strength, and determination, to survive.
Ambitious, talented 14-year-old honors student Juliet is poised for success at her Southern California high school. However, she soon finds herself on an increasingly frightening spiral of drug use, self-harm, and mental illness that lands her in a remote therapeutic boarding school, where she must ultimately find the inner strength, and determination, to survive.
336 pages, Paperback
First published May 7, 2019
135 people are currently reading
8738 people want to read
About the author
Juliet Escoria
14 books275 followersJULIET ESCORIA is the author of the novel JULIET THE MANIAC, forthcoming from Melville House in May 2019. She also wrote the poetry collection WITCH HUNT (Lazy Fascist Press 2016) and the story collection BLACK CLOUD (CCM/Emily Books 2014), which were both listed in various best of the year roundups. Her writing can be found in places like Lenny, Catapult, VICE, Prelude, Dazed, and Hobart and has already been translated into many languages. She lives in West Virginia with her husband, the writer Scott McClanahan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 333 reviews
February 12, 2019
___________________________________
"It is hard to tease out the beginning. When I was living it, my disintegration seemed sudden, like I had once been whole but then my reality swiftly slipped apart into sand. Not even sand, but slime, something desperate and oozing and sick. But looking back - I was a slow burn that eventually imploded."
Juliet Escoria has moments of literary brilliance, I mean just read that opening quote.
This book, however, fell really flat for me.
It's a fiction book that reads like an autobiography, complete with the main character having the same first and last name of the author. I can only assume this story is rooted in fact.
I'm not a fan of memoirs. I'm not a fan of straightforward first person stories being told in a chronological order.
Juliet IS this story.
The entire book rests on Juliet's character. And as a character she is
monotone, unremarkable and easily forgettable. She's written in a manner that left me emotionless where I should have felt anything but.
There are a lot of great books out there that deal with mental illness in teenagers in a raw and unflinching way, this book, however, is not one of them.
___________________________________
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
"It is hard to tease out the beginning. When I was living it, my disintegration seemed sudden, like I had once been whole but then my reality swiftly slipped apart into sand. Not even sand, but slime, something desperate and oozing and sick. But looking back - I was a slow burn that eventually imploded."
Juliet Escoria has moments of literary brilliance, I mean just read that opening quote.
This book, however, fell really flat for me.
It's a fiction book that reads like an autobiography, complete with the main character having the same first and last name of the author. I can only assume this story is rooted in fact.
I'm not a fan of memoirs. I'm not a fan of straightforward first person stories being told in a chronological order.
Juliet IS this story.
The entire book rests on Juliet's character. And as a character she is
monotone, unremarkable and easily forgettable. She's written in a manner that left me emotionless where I should have felt anything but.
There are a lot of great books out there that deal with mental illness in teenagers in a raw and unflinching way, this book, however, is not one of them.
___________________________________
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 24, 2019
A really great novel. It’s about a teenage girl who loses her mind and goes looking for it in an institution. Reading this reminded me how great art can be when it’s wounded and weird and funny and strange where the heart is. Takes place in the 90s, back blurb compares it to the Bell Jar and Girl, Interrupted. I thought it was its own beast. I thought it was wild and fun, and devastating, and cool.
August 29, 2018
Uh huh. Get ready.
August 28, 2019
Let me begin with the fact the this book is absolutely terrifying. Not in the thriller way, but in the but-for-the-grace-of-god-there-go-I (or worse, my kids) way. Most terrifying of all, though this is classified as fiction, it feels undoubtedly autobiographical.
Juliet is well adjusted, smart "normal" teenager until she's not. When she's not, she's a bipolar, homicidal, suicidal, hallucinating, self-harming, drug taking, sexually active 16-year-old. She spirals so deeply and so quickly that she committed to an alternative treatment center.
Sensitive readers beware, Escoria does not shy away from a single detail, profanity or violent act. It's brutal. It's sad. And it's frustrating.
It is also bitingly funny in moments, heart-wrenching always and smartly written. Escoria tells this harrowing story in extremely short chapters (sometimes only a few lines); this is a stroke of emotional genius, allowing me to catch my breath often. She also includes chapters told from "some time" in the future - cluing us in that Juliet does indeed survive (that's not a spoiler.)
Not easy, but excellent.
Juliet is well adjusted, smart "normal" teenager until she's not. When she's not, she's a bipolar, homicidal, suicidal, hallucinating, self-harming, drug taking, sexually active 16-year-old. She spirals so deeply and so quickly that she committed to an alternative treatment center.
Sensitive readers beware, Escoria does not shy away from a single detail, profanity or violent act. It's brutal. It's sad. And it's frustrating.
It is also bitingly funny in moments, heart-wrenching always and smartly written. Escoria tells this harrowing story in extremely short chapters (sometimes only a few lines); this is a stroke of emotional genius, allowing me to catch my breath often. She also includes chapters told from "some time" in the future - cluing us in that Juliet does indeed survive (that's not a spoiler.)
Not easy, but excellent.
June 1, 2019
I've been struggling for a few days over how to review Juliet the Maniac. From reading other reviews on here it seems a lot of people went into this with totally the wrong expectations (either being misled by the cute coloured cover or the apparent YA categorisation on Netgalley) but that isn't what I'm struggling with - it was in fact exactly what I thought it would be, albeit even better.
This is some stellar auto fiction which (seemingly, it's hard to be sure) draws closely on the author's own experiences with her mental health as a teenager. We meet Juliet when she is 14 and starting a new school, and from here things quickly spiral - increased anxiety, self-harm, drug abuse, suicide attempts - while Juliet maintains a collected and coherent voice the entire time throughout the narrative. The effect of this is that we can never quite tell when things are going to get better or worse for her, probably much like Juliet herself cannot.
When reading this the only book I could think to compare it to was The Trick is to Keep Breathing, although in hindsight they are really quite different books - however they are similarly great books allowing access into the inner mind of a young woman suffering from mental health issues in an incredibly realistic manner.
This is some stellar auto fiction which (seemingly, it's hard to be sure) draws closely on the author's own experiences with her mental health as a teenager. We meet Juliet when she is 14 and starting a new school, and from here things quickly spiral - increased anxiety, self-harm, drug abuse, suicide attempts - while Juliet maintains a collected and coherent voice the entire time throughout the narrative. The effect of this is that we can never quite tell when things are going to get better or worse for her, probably much like Juliet herself cannot.
When reading this the only book I could think to compare it to was The Trick is to Keep Breathing, although in hindsight they are really quite different books - however they are similarly great books allowing access into the inner mind of a young woman suffering from mental health issues in an incredibly realistic manner.
January 4, 2019
“Not once did anyone ever talk about what it was like when the trauma was yourself.”
This stark, unsentimental novel puts readers inside the head of Juliet, a teenager in the late 1990s battling bipolar disorder, drug addiction, and suicidal ideation.
The first-person narrative is cleverly supplemented with reports from therapists and psychiatrists on Juliet’s diagnosis, behavior and condition to juxtapose her internal perspective with the external.
While it’s a raw and candid account of an adolescent in the throes of mental illness, there lacked a sense of freshness or novelty about this often written about subject. Most compelling to me was not the redundant progression of Juliet’s life (get high, self-harm, repeat), but the more introspective insights on the horrors of mental illness: that claustrophobia of being unable to escape your own mind.
I wouldn’t consider this Young Adult fiction, however I can see it appealing to teenage readers probably more than adults.
*Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review*
This stark, unsentimental novel puts readers inside the head of Juliet, a teenager in the late 1990s battling bipolar disorder, drug addiction, and suicidal ideation.
The first-person narrative is cleverly supplemented with reports from therapists and psychiatrists on Juliet’s diagnosis, behavior and condition to juxtapose her internal perspective with the external.
While it’s a raw and candid account of an adolescent in the throes of mental illness, there lacked a sense of freshness or novelty about this often written about subject. Most compelling to me was not the redundant progression of Juliet’s life (get high, self-harm, repeat), but the more introspective insights on the horrors of mental illness: that claustrophobia of being unable to escape your own mind.
I wouldn’t consider this Young Adult fiction, however I can see it appealing to teenage readers probably more than adults.
*Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review*
May 28, 2019
Infectiously readable and excellently executed, Juliet the Maniac is a brilliant cross between memoir and fiction. Escoria packs a million little punches, reminding the reader just how much truth is written into these page, sharing some of the most personal moments of her teenage years via scans of the letters she wrote, her initial hospital bracelet, and patient evaluation statuses.
Cracking the book open, I was worried that I'd focus too heavily on the blending of fact vs fiction, wondering which parts were pure memory and which were mostly made up to pull the story along and fill in gaps or dull spots, but honestly, I was so completely absorbed in the story of Juliet that it barely crossed my mind. If you really get down to it, mental illness aside, much of what our teenage Juliet goes through - the self esteem issues, drug use and sexual experimentation - is something many of us can relate to and reflect on. What was our teenage years if not a melting pot of hormones going haywire, the feeling that we're losing our minds and going crazy, questioning who we are and how we fit in, hating how we look and sound, reinventing ourselves a thousand times over until we're reasonable comfortable in our skin?
It's pretty and devastating and manic and though there's a ton more to unpack here, through Juliet the Maniac, Escoria gives us a tender and safe way to explore all of that through the lens of troubled and drug addicted young girl who wishes for nothing more than to be normal.
Cracking the book open, I was worried that I'd focus too heavily on the blending of fact vs fiction, wondering which parts were pure memory and which were mostly made up to pull the story along and fill in gaps or dull spots, but honestly, I was so completely absorbed in the story of Juliet that it barely crossed my mind. If you really get down to it, mental illness aside, much of what our teenage Juliet goes through - the self esteem issues, drug use and sexual experimentation - is something many of us can relate to and reflect on. What was our teenage years if not a melting pot of hormones going haywire, the feeling that we're losing our minds and going crazy, questioning who we are and how we fit in, hating how we look and sound, reinventing ourselves a thousand times over until we're reasonable comfortable in our skin?
It's pretty and devastating and manic and though there's a ton more to unpack here, through Juliet the Maniac, Escoria gives us a tender and safe way to explore all of that through the lens of troubled and drug addicted young girl who wishes for nothing more than to be normal.
May 20, 2019
I couldn't possibly do this book justice by reviewing it. It was SO incredible and so accurate in all of her descriptions from the way that she felt to psychiatric hospitalization to the effects that the different drugs have. I found pieces of myself in Juliet's story, frequently snapping pictures of certain pages or jotting lines down in my notebook. Honestly, I'll have to buy a copy so that I can highlight the crap out of it (I don't think the library would appreciate that much). Beautifully done.
July 10, 2019
this one hit really close to home and i had to read it in spaced-apart bits. the hardest parts were the photocopied notes and letters and diary entries. heartbreaking book; it'll wake you up, but it'll hurt.
May 4, 2019
4 Haunting Stars!
“ …I truly felt like I had a broken brain. Except it wasn’t even my brain. It was a brain of a homicidal maniac. She was trying to kill me…”
A story told by a 14-year-old Juliet, is a story of drug addition, mental illness, and teenage rebellion. This is an unapologetic, raw, and ruthlessly honest account of a young girl’s struggle to fight the demons of mental illness. It was a heart-wrenching, dark, and horrifying read for me, but I admired Juliet’s ability to distance herself from some truly disturbing and painful events in her journey to recovery.
The writing was superb and it really allowed me to get inside of Juliet’s mind and experience with her the darkness and pain of her illness and addiction. Even though Juliet’s thoughts and actions were often unemotional and disturbing, I was still able to feel the inner turmoil her body and mind were going through.
Thank you NetGalley, Melville House Publishing, and the author, Juliet Escoria, for giving me an opportunity to read this haunting and heart-wrenching book in exchange for my honest opinion.
“ …I truly felt like I had a broken brain. Except it wasn’t even my brain. It was a brain of a homicidal maniac. She was trying to kill me…”
A story told by a 14-year-old Juliet, is a story of drug addition, mental illness, and teenage rebellion. This is an unapologetic, raw, and ruthlessly honest account of a young girl’s struggle to fight the demons of mental illness. It was a heart-wrenching, dark, and horrifying read for me, but I admired Juliet’s ability to distance herself from some truly disturbing and painful events in her journey to recovery.
The writing was superb and it really allowed me to get inside of Juliet’s mind and experience with her the darkness and pain of her illness and addiction. Even though Juliet’s thoughts and actions were often unemotional and disturbing, I was still able to feel the inner turmoil her body and mind were going through.
Thank you NetGalley, Melville House Publishing, and the author, Juliet Escoria, for giving me an opportunity to read this haunting and heart-wrenching book in exchange for my honest opinion.
December 18, 2020
Una delle migliori letture del 2020: parla di disturbi mentali (bipolarismo) senza “romanzare” o banalizzare alcunché.
Ho amato profondamente la protagonista, Juliet, che altri non è che l’autrice di questo romanzo autobiografico di (de)formazione.
Ho amato profondamente la protagonista, Juliet, che altri non è che l’autrice di questo romanzo autobiografico di (de)formazione.
May 13, 2019
DNF - i tried to like this, i wanted to like this, and at first i did. But after part one it got very boring and redundant. It was the same thing over and over and felt more like an edgier YA book with lots of drug use and sex. It just didn’t seem to be going anywhere. I get that it was more so an autobiographical novel and i feel bad giving someone else’s trauma 1 Star but the way it was delivered In diary form just really didn’t keep me invested, i hope anyone who is excited for this book loves it and gets more out of it than me.
January 14, 2020
This book is not YA and I stress this point. It's adult fiction about a teenager. I was relieved when I saw no one had shelved it as Young Adult and I hope it stays that way. It sends a bad message about a lot of things and the sexual content is vulgar and graphic.
I don't usually attach *trigger warnings*, but this book doesn't even need a list because I'm sure there is something in the story to unsettle most everyone. I got off easy because I didn't come across any serious animal abuse which is basically my only strongly sensitive area. However, I did a lot of skim reading in the middle of the story because all of the scenes were of repeated, similar delinquencies; with only the locations changed, so I cannot guarantee there isn't any animal abuse, but I didn't read any. Most, if not all, of the sensitive content was only there for cheap shock value.
The main point that brings this book down to one star for me is it is irresponsible, if not outright dangerous. The author is waging a personal war against drug treatments for depression and other mental health issues while normalizing use of illegal substances and underage drinking. This is also one of the reasons I was relieved no one was promoting it as YA. Plus, teenagers were not routinely given SRIs in that time period, anyway. The author even went as far as to plunk down a copy paste of PDR pages about medication side-effects with a link to a website about others. Please never stop any medication prescribed by your doctor or mental health professional without consulting them first! Please promise me this. If you want to utilize other non-drug treatments talk to your MD or mental health worker first, and never stop cold turkey. And also, in my opinion, the diagnosis the author assigned as the MC's condition is way off base according to her symptoms.
If the above is not reason enough for you, for my one star rating, there were also a multitude of anachronisms, like using the term "ghosted" when this story takes place in the late 1990s and saying Calvin Klein jeans were the fashion are examples. There were too many continuity blips, inconsistencies, and scenes that didn't align with the plot settings. Her descriptions of mental health facilities in the late 1990s, early 2000s were either straight out of Victorian novels, or from movie reels about mental institutions from the '40s and '50s with barred "grease smeared" windows, padded rooms, cots with thin pads instead of mattresses, and gloppy food like Army k-rations. Her parents were rich and didn't take notice that all the patients were unshowered and dirty with hair hanging in greasy strings. Really? It was also eye-rolling that she was in this state after only three days at the hospital.
Other things that made no sense were: LGBTQ, goth, geeky, and introverted students at an alternative school for kids, who were bullied in public school, were delinquents. Why would students who wanted to go to school in a safe environment so they could learn in peace skip classes and be out partaking in risky and illegal activities? She is confusing this with alternative schools for at-risk students. I also think "safe zone" schools are a relatively new thing, not twenty years old. Her parents were very involved in her treatment and extremely vigilant to the point where they all slept camping style in the living room, but she was allowed at fifteen years old to be unaccounted for, out running around from the time school let out until the wee hours of the morning, and when they did enact a curfew it was ten pm on school nights. She hung out with the "poor kids" because they were the ones who had the "good drugs" like cocaine, and they were also just happily sharing it with rich kids with no money exchanged. Hmm... I really don't think the poor kids could afford cocaine in the 1990s. They also didn't show the bodies of the Columbine victims lying on the floor in classrooms on the news and I highly doubt teens in a treatment facility would be allowed to watch the news.
I'm not even going to get into all the things that were wrong with the ranch "treatment school" she was sent to, which was also at times referred to as a reform school, and a rehab. The two big things that stuck out for me with this setting were romantic relationships between students (clients?) were allowed, even written about in their therapy records. This isn't allowed for adults in treatment, let alone teens. They also had night shift supervisors who were only two years out from heroine addiction. Really? This was supposed to be the, "...best place money could buy." Oh, and it was a school, but there were no classes. I am going to stop here because I could write a book about what is wrong with this book.
This story is supposed to be semi-autobiographical. I wonder why she didn't write a memoir instead? The book is nothing but an assemblage of the most outrageous institutional scenarios cherry picked from Victorian times through to the 1960s regardless of it being set in the late 1990s. Eighty percent of the story is written for sensational shock value only. At least show secondary characters who did well with drug treatment, talk therapy, and medically supervised reduction in medication dependance. The - hiding my pills and spitting them out in a sock while learning to snowboard - saved my life message in this book, standing by itself, with no alternate success stories is irresponsible. If you are going to do that then write a memoir even if it will not be as shocking and page turning, and theoretically sell less copies.
I was approved for an eARC, via Edelweiss, in return for an honest review.
I don't usually attach *trigger warnings*, but this book doesn't even need a list because I'm sure there is something in the story to unsettle most everyone. I got off easy because I didn't come across any serious animal abuse which is basically my only strongly sensitive area. However, I did a lot of skim reading in the middle of the story because all of the scenes were of repeated, similar delinquencies; with only the locations changed, so I cannot guarantee there isn't any animal abuse, but I didn't read any. Most, if not all, of the sensitive content was only there for cheap shock value.
The main point that brings this book down to one star for me is it is irresponsible, if not outright dangerous. The author is waging a personal war against drug treatments for depression and other mental health issues while normalizing use of illegal substances and underage drinking. This is also one of the reasons I was relieved no one was promoting it as YA. Plus, teenagers were not routinely given SRIs in that time period, anyway. The author even went as far as to plunk down a copy paste of PDR pages about medication side-effects with a link to a website about others. Please never stop any medication prescribed by your doctor or mental health professional without consulting them first! Please promise me this. If you want to utilize other non-drug treatments talk to your MD or mental health worker first, and never stop cold turkey. And also, in my opinion, the diagnosis the author assigned as the MC's condition is way off base according to her symptoms.
If the above is not reason enough for you, for my one star rating, there were also a multitude of anachronisms, like using the term "ghosted" when this story takes place in the late 1990s and saying Calvin Klein jeans were the fashion are examples. There were too many continuity blips, inconsistencies, and scenes that didn't align with the plot settings. Her descriptions of mental health facilities in the late 1990s, early 2000s were either straight out of Victorian novels, or from movie reels about mental institutions from the '40s and '50s with barred "grease smeared" windows, padded rooms, cots with thin pads instead of mattresses, and gloppy food like Army k-rations. Her parents were rich and didn't take notice that all the patients were unshowered and dirty with hair hanging in greasy strings. Really? It was also eye-rolling that she was in this state after only three days at the hospital.
Other things that made no sense were: LGBTQ, goth, geeky, and introverted students at an alternative school for kids, who were bullied in public school, were delinquents. Why would students who wanted to go to school in a safe environment so they could learn in peace skip classes and be out partaking in risky and illegal activities? She is confusing this with alternative schools for at-risk students. I also think "safe zone" schools are a relatively new thing, not twenty years old. Her parents were very involved in her treatment and extremely vigilant to the point where they all slept camping style in the living room, but she was allowed at fifteen years old to be unaccounted for, out running around from the time school let out until the wee hours of the morning, and when they did enact a curfew it was ten pm on school nights. She hung out with the "poor kids" because they were the ones who had the "good drugs" like cocaine, and they were also just happily sharing it with rich kids with no money exchanged. Hmm... I really don't think the poor kids could afford cocaine in the 1990s. They also didn't show the bodies of the Columbine victims lying on the floor in classrooms on the news and I highly doubt teens in a treatment facility would be allowed to watch the news.
I'm not even going to get into all the things that were wrong with the ranch "treatment school" she was sent to, which was also at times referred to as a reform school, and a rehab. The two big things that stuck out for me with this setting were romantic relationships between students (clients?) were allowed, even written about in their therapy records. This isn't allowed for adults in treatment, let alone teens. They also had night shift supervisors who were only two years out from heroine addiction. Really? This was supposed to be the, "...best place money could buy." Oh, and it was a school, but there were no classes. I am going to stop here because I could write a book about what is wrong with this book.
This story is supposed to be semi-autobiographical. I wonder why she didn't write a memoir instead? The book is nothing but an assemblage of the most outrageous institutional scenarios cherry picked from Victorian times through to the 1960s regardless of it being set in the late 1990s. Eighty percent of the story is written for sensational shock value only. At least show secondary characters who did well with drug treatment, talk therapy, and medically supervised reduction in medication dependance. The - hiding my pills and spitting them out in a sock while learning to snowboard - saved my life message in this book, standing by itself, with no alternate success stories is irresponsible. If you are going to do that then write a memoir even if it will not be as shocking and page turning, and theoretically sell less copies.
I was approved for an eARC, via Edelweiss, in return for an honest review.
January 18, 2019
Brutal. This book reads far more like fiction than it does a memoir, and I mean that in the best way possible since I tore through it, completely unable to put it down. I haven't come across a book that describes what it's like having bipolar disorder as well as this one does, and there were so many moments where I couldn't breathe because a particular example or story of Juliet's sounded so much like one of my own personal experiences before I was on some damn good medication. Juliet's wild emotions and thought processes as she progresses from newly diagnosed troubled teen to the very end where she goes on kind of like a vision quest with the rest of her RTS classmates are clear, brutal, and raw. Escoria's candid writing style is effective, and sometimes it's reminiscent of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar without being an outright copy or even an attempted copy of Plath's writing.
All of this being said, I can understand how this book would be triggering for anyone struggling with mental illness of any kind. Even though Juliet gets to a place of healing at the end of the book, her whole journey could possibly trigger someone, so if that's something you're concerned about as a reader who might be personally affected...then there's your warning.
What a painfully powerful book. I only hope to see more of Escoria's writing, and I especially hope to see a follow up to Juliet the Maniac that shows us what happened next. Highly recommend.
Edit, 1/18/2019: I went back and looked and saw that this is a NOVEL, which makes sense since I said in the beginning that it reads like a novel. It's an autobiographical novel but officially labelled as a novel, so there you go.
All of this being said, I can understand how this book would be triggering for anyone struggling with mental illness of any kind. Even though Juliet gets to a place of healing at the end of the book, her whole journey could possibly trigger someone, so if that's something you're concerned about as a reader who might be personally affected...then there's your warning.
What a painfully powerful book. I only hope to see more of Escoria's writing, and I especially hope to see a follow up to Juliet the Maniac that shows us what happened next. Highly recommend.
Edit, 1/18/2019: I went back and looked and saw that this is a NOVEL, which makes sense since I said in the beginning that it reads like a novel. It's an autobiographical novel but officially labelled as a novel, so there you go.
June 18, 2019
This book made me uncomfortable in the best way possible. I usually find it challenging, at this point in my life, to read books from the teen daughter's perspective. This book was so well-done my skin was crawling and I had to take breaks to get my breath. What I often find challenging is understanding the cross-section of teenage behavior and mental illness. Escoria did a brilliant job by clouding the issue of agency. The confusion of the narrator, Juliet, was wrought so well that I had to imagine how frightening it must have been for her character to be at that stage of development.
People are using the words brutal, and raw a lot in their reviews . . . there is the brashness of youth unfettered in here. The characters are allowed to speak freely. However, there is a tenderness shown to the narrator that I found quite touching. The softness is subtle, and all the more powerful as a result.
Escoria's poetic talent is in full display with the excellent chapter titles. They are great. I loved the inclusion of photos, artifacts, and reflective voice from the present. Can't say enough about the structure.
People are using the words brutal, and raw a lot in their reviews . . . there is the brashness of youth unfettered in here. The characters are allowed to speak freely. However, there is a tenderness shown to the narrator that I found quite touching. The softness is subtle, and all the more powerful as a result.
Escoria's poetic talent is in full display with the excellent chapter titles. They are great. I loved the inclusion of photos, artifacts, and reflective voice from the present. Can't say enough about the structure.
September 29, 2019
Very cool book about mental illness! Really enjoyed the structure of short vignettes
November 8, 2020
Sì può raccontare la malattia mentale in modo crudo e senza filtri ma soprattutto senza dover ricorrere a vaneggiamenti patinati (qualcun* ha detto Moshfegh, forse)?
Il libro di Juliet Escoria si manda giù in enormi boccate, senza prendere fiato perché in corsa, come in un romanzo on the road, in bilico tra la narrazione sincera della malattia mentale (è un'opera di autofiction dove viene narrato il disturbo bipolare di Juliet) e la cangiante vita adolescenziale.
Il libro di Juliet Escoria si manda giù in enormi boccate, senza prendere fiato perché in corsa, come in un romanzo on the road, in bilico tra la narrazione sincera della malattia mentale (è un'opera di autofiction dove viene narrato il disturbo bipolare di Juliet) e la cangiante vita adolescenziale.
November 15, 2020
Un po' fiction un po' autobiografia, questo romanzo mi ha letteralmente conquistata sia per le tematiche, in primis gli squilibri mentali, ma anche l'amicizia, la famiglia, come risollevarsi ancora e ancora da situazioni difficili grazie alla freschezza e alla enorme forza che è presente negli adolescenti e che a volte volge in fragilità, ma sempre sorretta dalla speranza, sia per lo stile dell'autrice. I capitoli sono brevi, spesso brevissimi, incisivi e netti: poche frasi, poche parole che riescono a inquadrare perfettamente la situazione, la messa a fuoco è senza pecche tanto che leggere questo libro mi ha ricordato molto le sensazioni che si hanno leggendo la poesia ermetica. Ho letto alcune opinioni di altri lettori che lamentavano il poco approfondimento psicologico a favore di una narrazione di puri eventi, non la penso affatto così dato che, proprio per come vengono narrati i fatti, per le parole scelte e a volte per i silenzi voluti, l'analisi psicologica risulta profonda, uno scavo nella mente complessa e tormentata della protagonista e degli altri personaggi.
Questa prosa è lampo e tuono, il temporale è ciò che avviene nel lettore.
Una pecca però l'ho trovata, anche molto fastidiosa, da parte del traduttore di usare alcuni verbi al passato remoto nella loro forma più arcaica e in disuso, mi domando perché.
Questa prosa è lampo e tuono, il temporale è ciò che avviene nel lettore.
Una pecca però l'ho trovata, anche molto fastidiosa, da parte del traduttore di usare alcuni verbi al passato remoto nella loro forma più arcaica e in disuso, mi domando perché.
May 1, 2022
“Dequiciada” és un llibre dur com ho són tots els llibres en què l’autor es despulla davant del lector per explicar el trànsit pel món de les addiccions (aquí, un descens als inferns que comença a l’adolescència abans de la diagnosi d’un trastorn de bipolaritat). Els capítols en els quals l’autora parla, des del present, a la seva jo de quinze anys, apunten que s’hagi pogut sortir del laberint d’impulsos autodestructius, intents de suïcidi fallits, recaigudes i derrotes per trobar el camí que l’allunyin d’uns sentiments de buidor i odi en vers d’ella mateixa i que li permetin una certa estabilitat. “Desquiciada” m’ha fet pensar, en certs moments amb “Zoo Station: The Story of Christiane F” o a “Fix und fertig” de Wolfgang Gabel, històries punyents plenes d’experiències que provoquen esgarrifances en adolescents extremadament joves i molt vulnerables. La vida en perill d’una noia de quinze anys a la Califòrnia del 2002 no està tan allunyada de la d’una de dotze al Berlin dels anys setanta. “Desquiciada” és un llibre honest, directe, sense melodrama, amatent a indagar les causes que portaven l’autora a ferir-se i a ferir al seu entorn proper. Juliet és dura amb ella mateixa, analitza cada record, els hàbits adquirits, les mentides, els enganys, les esperances, l’odi, la frustració i anhels d’una nena perduda que no sap per què és així ni si podrà (o voldrà) sortir de la roda que l’aboca cada cop més a baix, a la solitud i a la foscor. “Desquiciada” és el diari d’una supervivent, però també narra el viatge de coneixença i, acceptació i voluntat de canvi d’una persona amb greus problemes immersa en una societat que sembla que només toleri els models de conducta, creixement i disposició creats dins de la “normalitat” i les “regles” i que, sovint no sap donar l’ajuda adequada als desordres de personalitat i condemna als que els pateixen a entrar i sortir d’un seguit d’institucions més o menys preparades per atendre’ls i que els encasella en medicacions (que sovint engreixen les seves addiccions) per tenir-los sedats sense cercar el motiu profund del seu dolor i l’alleujament de les seves afliccions.
Gran encert de les editores d’Horror Vacui aquesta traducció que ens apropa un gran llibre (dels que deixen pòsit i remouen sentiments) i que ens permet descobrir a una autora competent, sincera i atrevida.
Gran encert de les editores d’Horror Vacui aquesta traducció que ens apropa un gran llibre (dels que deixen pòsit i remouen sentiments) i que ens permet descobrir a una autora competent, sincera i atrevida.
May 30, 2019
Dark and beautiful and so well-written. An extremely empathetic story for anyone who's ever dealt with mental illness. Every raw thought and emotion is both so eloquent and believable as the voice of the teenaged narrator. This book kept me up at night.
April 28, 2021
23.04.2021
Büyümek çok sancılıdır. Çocukluk eğer pespempe bir rüya ise ergenlik bir o kadar dipsiz kuyu.
Manyak Juliet 'te yazar bizatihi kendisinin o dipsiz kuyusundan sesleniyor bizlere. Kendine hem çok acıması yok hem de kahkahalar atıyor.
Derdi olana nasıl deva olurum der ya insan bence, bazen sadece buradayım demek, hiç bir şey söylemeden, sormadan, koşulsuz dinlemek yardımcı olabilir diye düşünüyorum.
Peki bu kitap neden okunmalı, hepimizin düşebileceği o dipsiz kuyunun kenarından geçmek ile içine düşmek arasındaki sınırları, aradaki farkın sonuçlarını en yalın haliyle okuyabilmek için bu kitap okunmalı diyorum.
Keyifli okumalar 🌼
#readingismycardio #aslihanneokudu #okudumbitti #2021okumalarım #okuryorumu #kitaptavsiyesi #neokudum #konukitap #konuroman #manyakjuliet #julietescoria #çevirikitaplar #yazarlarkitaplar
Büyümek çok sancılıdır. Çocukluk eğer pespempe bir rüya ise ergenlik bir o kadar dipsiz kuyu.
Manyak Juliet 'te yazar bizatihi kendisinin o dipsiz kuyusundan sesleniyor bizlere. Kendine hem çok acıması yok hem de kahkahalar atıyor.
Derdi olana nasıl deva olurum der ya insan bence, bazen sadece buradayım demek, hiç bir şey söylemeden, sormadan, koşulsuz dinlemek yardımcı olabilir diye düşünüyorum.
Peki bu kitap neden okunmalı, hepimizin düşebileceği o dipsiz kuyunun kenarından geçmek ile içine düşmek arasındaki sınırları, aradaki farkın sonuçlarını en yalın haliyle okuyabilmek için bu kitap okunmalı diyorum.
Keyifli okumalar 🌼
#readingismycardio #aslihanneokudu #okudumbitti #2021okumalarım #okuryorumu #kitaptavsiyesi #neokudum #konukitap #konuroman #manyakjuliet #julietescoria #çevirikitaplar #yazarlarkitaplar
March 30, 2022
From what I posted on Instagram:
I. loved. this. I read it in almost one sitting; I wanted to keep reading but fell asleep four hours in, after it literally plopped on my doorstep and I ran out to grab it. I’d ordered it with the new one-day shipping on Prime, which I felt sort of guilty about, but I somehow knew I would love it and wanted to read it immediately. There were SO MANY beautiful lines, but I managed to just underline this one -- "We ran around in the sand, splashing in the shallow part of the waves, the crescent moon glinting off the water like money." -- once I thought of it. It was stellar writing that wasn’t overly aware of its stellar-ness. It’s also inspired me to embrace (writing) autofiction more than I have been. Read this book!
I. loved. this. I read it in almost one sitting; I wanted to keep reading but fell asleep four hours in, after it literally plopped on my doorstep and I ran out to grab it. I’d ordered it with the new one-day shipping on Prime, which I felt sort of guilty about, but I somehow knew I would love it and wanted to read it immediately. There were SO MANY beautiful lines, but I managed to just underline this one -- "We ran around in the sand, splashing in the shallow part of the waves, the crescent moon glinting off the water like money." -- once I thought of it. It was stellar writing that wasn’t overly aware of its stellar-ness. It’s also inspired me to embrace (writing) autofiction more than I have been. Read this book!
April 13, 2022
Es una novela durísima, impecablemente escrita y traducida. El único problema, algunos capítulos se me repiten. De todas formas, brutal
March 16, 2019
I hate that I have a weakness for a shade of pink book covers.
It’s very disturbing. Sure, the character is experiencing mental health issues and it's not something light to discuss, it was brave for the author to tell Juliet’s story, how she was able to write what was happening to the character’s mind, and I don’t expect perfection or a good plot because the mind or POV of the character itself is a huge web string of emotions.
I can't relate to Juliet but I understand her issues and worries - I tried to. It was difficult for me to read her thoughts knowing she's a vulnerable teenager and at the same time trying to contemplate her existence. I just want to give her a hug and comfort her.
I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest book review.
It’s very disturbing. Sure, the character is experiencing mental health issues and it's not something light to discuss, it was brave for the author to tell Juliet’s story, how she was able to write what was happening to the character’s mind, and I don’t expect perfection or a good plot because the mind or POV of the character itself is a huge web string of emotions.
I can't relate to Juliet but I understand her issues and worries - I tried to. It was difficult for me to read her thoughts knowing she's a vulnerable teenager and at the same time trying to contemplate her existence. I just want to give her a hug and comfort her.
November 26, 2019
Juliet Escoria is the current wife of Scott McClanahan, whose novel The Sarah Book I reviewed last. I received both books through my subscription to The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. The Sarah Book had been languishing on my pile of unread TNB books so when I received Juliet the Maniac recently I decided to read the two books back to back. I admit to a bit of voyeurism in wanting to see how these two writers came to be married. Ha! I learned not a thing about that.
Juliet's book is a fictionalized account of her own teenage years. A genre called autofiction has been around since a French author, Serge Dubrovsky, coined the term in reference to his novel, Fils. (ref: Wikipedia.) In her interview on Otherppl, Juliet says that after years of trying to write her story in memoir form, she was finally able to do so in an autofiction format. She does it quite well.
When Juliet was 14 years old, during a period of stress as an honors student aiming for a prestigious college where she intended to study literature, she began to experience hallucinations, panic attacks and insomnia. Then came self-harm and ultimately a suicide attempt. She was diagnosed as bipolar and put on a cocktail of psychiatric drugs.
Possibly because she was only 14 and it was the 1990s, she also began drinking and consuming street drugs. The upshot of all that, after a second suicide attempt, was her parents enrolling her in a "therapeutic boarding school" in a remote area of Northern California.
Juliet came from a middle class Southern California family, not deprived in any way, with loving parents. These parents were so committed to saving her life that they committed her.
For some reason I am drawn to such stories: The Bell Jar, Girl Interrupted, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, are a few I have read. Actually I know the reason. I had a bit of a breakdown during my sophomore year in college. I begged my parents to get me to a psychiatrist but my father, for no reason he ever explained, refused. All he would say was that it was dangerous to fool around with someone's mind. That was in the mid-60s.
Somehow I recovered enough to work out my problems as a young college woman on my own, although not in any ways that made my parents happy. All in all though, I feel I've had something like a guardian angel watching over me and here I am.
Juliet's "therapeutic boarding school" used a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy, psych meds and restraint on its patients along with regular schooling and some other weird and questionable techniques. But she managed to "graduate" and return home, then go on to college. She writes about the whole experience with an exquisite realism touched with humor and no self pity. Her intelligence and bravery come shining through her prose.
According to her Otherppl interview, she is able to function in life on a finely-tuned prescription of medications though the fine tuning has put her through its own kind of hell. She now teaches, she has published a collection of poetry, Witch Hunt, and a story collection, Black Cloud. It appears to be a happy occurrence that she and Scott McClanahan found each other.
Her book, Juliet the Maniac, is amazing in my opinion. I hope that the young women who need such books to know they are not alone, find hers.
Juliet's book is a fictionalized account of her own teenage years. A genre called autofiction has been around since a French author, Serge Dubrovsky, coined the term in reference to his novel, Fils. (ref: Wikipedia.) In her interview on Otherppl, Juliet says that after years of trying to write her story in memoir form, she was finally able to do so in an autofiction format. She does it quite well.
When Juliet was 14 years old, during a period of stress as an honors student aiming for a prestigious college where she intended to study literature, she began to experience hallucinations, panic attacks and insomnia. Then came self-harm and ultimately a suicide attempt. She was diagnosed as bipolar and put on a cocktail of psychiatric drugs.
Possibly because she was only 14 and it was the 1990s, she also began drinking and consuming street drugs. The upshot of all that, after a second suicide attempt, was her parents enrolling her in a "therapeutic boarding school" in a remote area of Northern California.
Juliet came from a middle class Southern California family, not deprived in any way, with loving parents. These parents were so committed to saving her life that they committed her.
For some reason I am drawn to such stories: The Bell Jar, Girl Interrupted, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, are a few I have read. Actually I know the reason. I had a bit of a breakdown during my sophomore year in college. I begged my parents to get me to a psychiatrist but my father, for no reason he ever explained, refused. All he would say was that it was dangerous to fool around with someone's mind. That was in the mid-60s.
Somehow I recovered enough to work out my problems as a young college woman on my own, although not in any ways that made my parents happy. All in all though, I feel I've had something like a guardian angel watching over me and here I am.
Juliet's "therapeutic boarding school" used a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy, psych meds and restraint on its patients along with regular schooling and some other weird and questionable techniques. But she managed to "graduate" and return home, then go on to college. She writes about the whole experience with an exquisite realism touched with humor and no self pity. Her intelligence and bravery come shining through her prose.
According to her Otherppl interview, she is able to function in life on a finely-tuned prescription of medications though the fine tuning has put her through its own kind of hell. She now teaches, she has published a collection of poetry, Witch Hunt, and a story collection, Black Cloud. It appears to be a happy occurrence that she and Scott McClanahan found each other.
Her book, Juliet the Maniac, is amazing in my opinion. I hope that the young women who need such books to know they are not alone, find hers.
Read
August 6, 2025rahatsız edici bir metin. kurmaca olarak değerlendirilmemesi lazım ama tamamen otobiyografik mi, anlatılan her şey gerçek mi? içten içe olmamasını diledim.
kısa öyküler, mektuplar, günce tarzı anlatılar ve bazen bir satırlık iç dökümlerle ilerliyor. Ama bu biçimsel dağınıklık, içerikteki yoğunluğu ve tutarlılığı asla zedelemiyor. aksine, anlatılan juliet'in dünyasının dağınıklığına çok uygun bir biçim bu.
kitabın ana karakteri (veya anlatıcı figürü) olan juliet, kendini ne kurbanlaştırıyor ne de romantize ediyor. yaşadığı acıların, yanlış kararların ya da içsel çöküşlerin farkında; ama onları açıklamak ya da haklı çıkarmak gibi bir amacı yok. bu yönüyle kitabın, çağdaş edebiyatın travmayla yüzleşme biçimlerine önemli bir katkı sunduğunu düşünüyorum. özellikle kadın anlatılarına baktığımızda, bu metin ne “güçlü kadın” söylemine yaslanıyor ne de “trajik kadın” kalıbına sıkışıyor. okuduğumuz karakter, sadece var olma mücadelesi veriyor.
kısa öyküler, mektuplar, günce tarzı anlatılar ve bazen bir satırlık iç dökümlerle ilerliyor. Ama bu biçimsel dağınıklık, içerikteki yoğunluğu ve tutarlılığı asla zedelemiyor. aksine, anlatılan juliet'in dünyasının dağınıklığına çok uygun bir biçim bu.
kitabın ana karakteri (veya anlatıcı figürü) olan juliet, kendini ne kurbanlaştırıyor ne de romantize ediyor. yaşadığı acıların, yanlış kararların ya da içsel çöküşlerin farkında; ama onları açıklamak ya da haklı çıkarmak gibi bir amacı yok. bu yönüyle kitabın, çağdaş edebiyatın travmayla yüzleşme biçimlerine önemli bir katkı sunduğunu düşünüyorum. özellikle kadın anlatılarına baktığımızda, bu metin ne “güçlü kadın” söylemine yaslanıyor ne de “trajik kadın” kalıbına sıkışıyor. okuduğumuz karakter, sadece var olma mücadelesi veriyor.
July 30, 2019
Confession: I think most books are boring. Like, I slog through them--blah blah blah--and mostly I'm just excited to get to the end. JULIET THE MANIAC is the opposite. I had fun reading every page of this book. Juliet cuts the bullshit. She's an amazing storyteller without being overly fancy or lofty or dramatic. The novel has drawings and letters and feels like a genuine diary of a dark past without being sentimental or nostalgic. Read, read, read this. 1000/1000 stars.
December 6, 2020
4.5 stars
‘Bowing my head, I gave up my spirit. It was finished.’
‘Bowing my head, I gave up my spirit. It was finished.’
October 3, 2021
Teenage angst del bo, a la Califòrnia dels 90, per la parella d’Scott McClanahan, autor del brutal The Sarah Book.
November 7, 2020
Una nuova uscita molto interessante, sia per il tema trattato sia per come viene trattato.
Raccontare di un disturbo mentale non è semplice. Spesso si rischia di entrare in una retorica inutile che trasmette messaggi inesatti. Non è questo il caso.
Juliet Escoria, complice il suo vissuto reale, sa perfettamente come trasmettere a chi non sa cosa significhi soffrire di un disturbo bipolare, e lo fa in maniera asciutta e precisa.
Un'autrice trentenne, ormai adulta e con una certa stabilità mentale, torna indietro nel tempo fino a guardare in faccia un'adolescente spaventata e confusa. Tesse le fila di un passato doloroso e, attraverso un linguaggio al contempo crudo e lirico, fa rivivere la voce tremante di una gioventù problematica.
Raccontare di un disturbo mentale non è semplice. Spesso si rischia di entrare in una retorica inutile che trasmette messaggi inesatti. Non è questo il caso.
Juliet Escoria, complice il suo vissuto reale, sa perfettamente come trasmettere a chi non sa cosa significhi soffrire di un disturbo bipolare, e lo fa in maniera asciutta e precisa.
Un'autrice trentenne, ormai adulta e con una certa stabilità mentale, torna indietro nel tempo fino a guardare in faccia un'adolescente spaventata e confusa. Tesse le fila di un passato doloroso e, attraverso un linguaggio al contempo crudo e lirico, fa rivivere la voce tremante di una gioventù problematica.
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