More or Less Maddy
A Novel
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Jan 14, 2025
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- $14.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The powerhouse New York Times bestselling author and Harvard-trained neuroscientist returns with a breathless, exhilarating, and heartbreaking novel about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder and the ripple effects her mental health has on her family and her pursuit of a career in stand-up comedy.
Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out freshman at NYU. Between heaps of homework, finals, and navigating life in the city, it’s normal to be feeling the pressure. It doesn’t help that she’s always felt like the odd one out in her “perfect” Connecticut family: her blonde, toned, and tanned mother; her flawless, high-achieving, engaged sister, Emily; and her always popular, athletic, easygoing brother, Jack. Yet lately, Maddy’s highs seem dizzyingly high, and the lows seem terrifyingly low. Suddenly, the things that used to make her happy are becoming harder and harder to grasp.
When a spontaneous visit to a comedy club opens her eyes to a new hobby just as her mental health begins to spiral and an incident at a family Thanksgiving dinner leads to a terrifying breaking point—and to a new diagnosis—Maddy’s life starts to look quite different. As she struggles to accept her bipolar disorder and attempts to navigate her burgeoning stand-up career, she’ll have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the stirring latest from neuroscientist and novelist Genova (Still Alice), an NYU student's life is changed by the onset of bipolar disorder. Twenty-year-old Maddy Banks, an aspiring songwriter and stand-up comic, is accustomed to life's ups and downs, but at the start of her sophomore year, she feels "the opposite of okay." During her first manic episode, she engages in risky sexual behavior, racks up $20,000 in debt, and believes she's writing songs for Taylor Swift and a comedy special for Netflix. After threatening her mother with a knife, she's briefly hospitalized and reluctantly moves back home to Connecticut, where she attempts to find stability. Eventually, she returns to the city, where she performs at comedy clubs and stops taking her meds. After another manic episode and hospitalization, Maddy must decide if she's ready to follow her doctor's orders and figure out what is "normal" happiness and sadness versus the onset of mania and depression, and what she can do to embrace her disorder without letting it define her. Maddy is a well-drawn character, offering readers a sympathetic look at what it's like to live with a bipolar diagnosis, and Genova's signature empathy and insights are on full display. It's a remarkable achievement.
