Rx: A Graphic Memoir

In simple, sketchy linework, Lindsay’s snappy graphic memoir depicts the manic days in 2011 when she was hospitalized against her will after quitting her job, causing a scene in a restaurant, and shouting at police. An angry black cloud often surrounds her bug-eyed self-caricature, an expression of her fury at how bipolar disorder has encircled her life with “red tape.” She would prefer to live as a vagabond artist, but the requirement of reliable health insurance forces her into a soul-sucking advertising gig instead. “Everyone else my age,” she cries to her psychiatrist, “They’re all bartending and backpacking Europe and dicking around... when do I get to find myself?” The cartoonish, exaggerated character design, reminiscent of the work of Roberta Gregory, is easy-reading and echoes the extremity of Lindsay’s moods. Like Ellen Forney’s memoir about bipolar disorder, Marbles, Lindsay struggles to understand the relationship between her creativity and her mental illness. Is suddenly quitting her corporate gig a brave pursuit of her artistic passion or merely a symptom of mania? As she passed weeks in the hospital, Lindsay drew her experiences—driven and determined even in the swirling cloud of her illness to create, resulting in this illuminated account of self-discovery. Agent: Ross Harris, Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency (Sept.)