Library Catalog

The Parakeet /

Espé

The Parakeet / Espé. - 1 online resource (156 p.) : 148 color illustrations

Frontmatter -- Teeth -- The Shirt with the Belts -- Grandpa -- Baby Blues -- The Es-tinguisher -- Mama’s Tried Everything -- Girlfriends -- Electroshocks -- School Friends -- Chestnuts -- Jean Grey -- The Social Security Inspector -- The Circus -- Wallpaper -- Cushions -- Spring Break -- The Visit -- Daddy -- At Breakfast -- The Parakeet

restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Bastien is eight years old, and his mother is ill. She often has what his father and grandparents call “episodes.” She screams and fights, scratches and spits, and has to be carted away to specialized clinics for frequent treatments. Bastien doesn’t like it when she goes, because when she comes home, she isn’t the same. She has no feelings, no desires, and not much interest in him. According to the doctors, Bastien’s mother suffers from “bipolar disorder with schizophrenic tendencies,” but he prefers to imagine her as a comic-book heroine, like Jean Grey, who may become Dark Phoenix and explode in a superhuman fury at any moment.Based on the creator’s own childhood experiences, The Parakeet is the story of a boy whose only refuge from life’s harsh realities lies in his imagination. In his eyes, we see the confusion and heartache he feels as he watches his mother’s illness worsen and the treatments fail. Through his eyes, we see how mental illness can both tear families apart and reaffirm the bonds of love. Poignant yet playful, The Parakeet follows Bastien’s struggle to accept the mother he has while wishing for the mother he needs.


Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.


In English.

9780271090078

10.1515/9780271090078 doi


COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Nonfiction / Biography & Memoir.

ECT. anxiety. bipolar depression. childhoodtrauma. coping. drawing comics. effect on children. electroshock therapy. mental illness. post-partum depression. rebirth. schizophrenia. strait jacket. suicide.