| Electroboy
tells all (9.04) |
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My
friend gave me a copy of Electroboy, Andy Behrman's barely believable
account of his life of mania in the early 1990s. The writing was
so compelling that I'd sneak off at work and go and read snippets
of it when no one was looking. Behrman's descriptions of mania are sublime; you want the bleakest of dark humour? It is here. You want an insider's view of the topsy-turvy New York art market of the period? Look no further. You want to know what the Mark Kostabi art scam was really about? The answers are in this book. But Electroboy is more than that. It's also a moving exploration of bipolar life, the chaos that the disease can wreak and the terrible no-choice decisions Behrman had to make in order to survive. It's incredible that he came through, and his awe-inspiring writing is a testament to his strength and general amazingness. Electroboy is about to be made into a film starring Spiderman himself, Tobey Maguire. Andy Behrman very kindly agreed to tell all. I love the way that Electroboy doesn't end with you being miraculously cured. I think it's a wonderfully subversive challenge to the Before/After cliché. Could you say a few words about your day-to-day life as a person living with mental illness? At the end of Electroboy I'm still not functioning at 100% and the reader is left in suspense as to whether or not I will ever fully recover. But the reality is that one never fully recovers from mental illness and it's a day to day challenge to maintain an even-keel and stability. I continue to have slight ups and downs and I work closely with my psychopharmacologist to maintain this even keel. But every day there is the fear that the darkness of the illness is going to return. I have a couple of friends who have bipolar tendencies but aren't aware of it. When faced with someone you love planning a succession of crazy manic schemes, what's the best way for a good friend to behave? I don't necessarily think there's an etiquette. One has to attack the problem head on and be completely upfront with what the behaviour that he or she is witnessing in his or her family member or friend. Beating around the bush just doesn't work. One has to come out and confront the behaviour because it is so dangerous. You've lived through some experiences that rate as many peoples' worst case scenario. I was wondering: do you feel like some kind of invincible superhuman because you've survived? No, I don't feel invincible because there are times in my life that I've just barely survived. I just feel lucky. After she read Electroboy, my girlfriend had a dream in which you were played by John Cusack, and your cellmate at the halfway house was played by Luis Guzmán. Then I read that Tobey Maguire was going to make a film of the book, and maybe star in it too. Most people play the game of wondering who would play them in the film of their life but for you it's a reality. How does it feel? For some odd reason, I always imagined that Tobey Maguire would play the role of Electroboy if a film were to be made. Yet it still feels odd that an actor that I've seen in so many films will play "me." Sometimes my story just doesn't seem that worthy of a major star like Tobey Maguire playing me. What are you up to now? I'm working on a sequel to Electroboy, which picks up from the last page of the book and brings the reader up-to-date and at the same time travelling around the country on behalf of Bristol-Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical company, speaking about mental health. Is there anything else you'd like to say? Just that there are so many people around the world who are still undiagnosed and suffering from bipolar disorder and hopefully doctors will get a better handle on the illness in the next decade and be able to diagnose and treat more people with this illness. http://www.electroboy.com/ Buy 'Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania' |
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