Mental Health Monday–Jessica Bell Talks About Mental Health and The Book

I’m thrilled to have Author Jessica Bell here today. She discusses her new book, The Book, and its links to mental health.

Take it away, Jessica!

When I was a child, my mother, Erika Bach, and my father, Anthony Bell, wrote in an illustrated journal by Michael Green called A Hobbit’s Travels: being the hitherto unpublished Travel Sketches of Sam Gamgee. This journal is the inspiration for The Book.

Since reading this journal, and realizing how different my parents sounded in the entries compared to how I know them in real life, I often thought about writing a book which explored how differently parents and children perceive and respond to identical situations. Now, I know this concept isn’t ‘new’. But I certainly felt I had a unique bent to add to it. I hoped by using journal entries and therapy transcripts, in conjunction with a 1^st person point of view of a five-year-old girl, it would make the story a little more intimate, make readers feel like they are peeking into the lives of real people. This way, it’s like you are reading memoir rather than fiction.

Set in the late 1970s, early 1980s, Bonnie, the five-year-old protagonist, was born prematurely. I hint, through the journal entries of her mother, Penny, and the transcripts of Bonnie and Dr. Wright, her therapist, that due to her premature birth, she has trouble learning and significant behavioral problems. However, I try to juxtapose this through Bonnie’s point of view. The reader is able to see how differently she perceives things in contrast to the adults in her life. 

Bonnie is very smart. And she understands so much more than she chooses to let the adults see. So, at what point does one draw the line when it comes to defining poor mental health? Can anyone really see what is going on in a child’s mind? What right does one have to assume a prematurely born child is going to have difficulty learning or mental instabilities? What signs does one have to show to prove they are having difficulties at all? The Book raises these sorts of questions, hopefully offering readers a lot of food for thought.

It took me fourteen years before I could spell father properly. No matter how many times I was told, I still spelled father as farther and friend as freind and finally as finnaly. To this day I still have to look up the different conjugations of lie. For some reason they just don’t stick.

What’s that say about me? Could that mean I am dyslexic? Have a learning disability? Perhaps I’m just being selective with what I feel is important to store in my long-term memory. I’m sure there are lots of reasons one could come up with. But when it comes to mental health, I don’t believe there are any definitive answers. This is one of the themes I explore in The Book.

What ‘signs’ do you think define stable mental health? And is there really such a thing?

You bring up a lot of excellent points, here, Jessica. I really think you’ve captured how complicated human beings are and how people (children and adults alike) cope with challenges.

* * * * * * * * * *

Here’s my review of The Book:

I’m a paranormal girl by heart, so I haven’t read a lot of contemporary or literary fiction. Despite this, I’ve followed Jessica Bell’s work with interest. She creates such vivid, REAL characters and stories that a reader gets pulled in, no matter what. AND her stories linger long after the last page.

It was the trailer for The Book that really made me head to Amazon to download an ecopy. And I didn’t regret it.

Watch this and see if you can resist it. Bet ya can’t. 😉

The Book is a compilation of journal entries, therapy sessions, and the POV of a young child. It’s gripping, strikingly emotional, brutally honest, and breathtakingly genuine. I read it in one sitting and am still thinking about it. Its multilayered construction begs for multiple readings, pondering, and mulling over.

I’ve only ever read a handful of books like that. Well done, Jessica! I look forward to reading more of your work.

The Book on Goodreads

The Book on Amazon.com

Jessica Bell–The Alliterative Allomorph

**********

Just wanted to leave youse guys with a little Shifting Pride info. Reading To Penguins is reviewing Shifting Pride TOMORROW. 🙂