The fall and rise of Victor J Kennedy

The fall and rise of Victor J Kennedy
by Michael_Scale

Barnes & Noble Reader Rating: 5 stars

A hypomanic episode? Awesome. Where do I sign up? Say it in the right voice and it almost sounds cool, like something you’d feel as a result of a bungee jump or an afternoon white-water rafting with Australians high on energy drinks. It turns out it’s not like that at all.

In Victor’s case his episode was brought about by a fanatical desire to be the best student on his university course, combined with him fully embracing London’s nightlife and the pharmaceutical excess that this can bring. Work hard, play hard, it’s cliche; that’s often held up as a positive thing. This book details its very real dangers.

The book charts Victor’s blissfully unaware descent towards his mental nadir – a fully blown hypomanic episode – and shows how he deals with the frightening diagnosis, and being sectioned under the mental health act and perhaps most importantly how he begins to get his life and his mind back together.

This is an incredibly brave book. I think it’s a rare thing for anybody to be able to bare their lowest point for all to read. As with anything so personal I think this book raises important questions as to how we, the readers, would handle the same situation.

I think the book also alludes to the importance that your environment and the people you surround yourself with can have on your mental health and for that alone, it’s definitely worth a read.

There is a 60 second video book trailer available to watch at hypomanic.co.uk
Or watch a YouTube version of the Hypomanic video book trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkQbVibNH0o
To follow me on Twitter: @victorjkennedy