Muy bien tratado el trastorno maníaco-depresivo . La autora sabe de lo que habla y entiende a la perfección los sentimientos . ( )

Should be mandatory reading for all teenagers... so everyone would understand: it's only an illness, a normal illness that can be treated. ( )

"He was humming along to the radio, making coffee, kicking Harry's washing out of the way. Everything seemed so normal - he seemed so normal. If anyone came in right now they wouldn't suspect anything was wrong. Yet his mind seemed to be fragmenting, like a mirror spiderwebbing with cracks. He felt as if he were at some kind of junction; what he did now could have huge repercussions - should he try to hold on or just let himself fall apart?"

Having been blown away by Tabitha Suzuma's sensitively-handled novel Forbidden - about a brother and sister who fall in love - I did what any self-respecting book fiend would do: I hopped straight on the internet to find out what else she'd written. Imagine my delight when I stumbled across A Note of Madness and its sequel, A Voice in the Distance, about a promising young pianist and his battle with bipolar disorder. Not only is mental health one of my pet subjects, for obvious reasons, but the premise also reminded me of K.M. Peyton's Pennington novels, about a young rebel who happens to be a superb pianist, which I fell in love with in my early teens.

So, nostalgia aside, back to this novel. Flynn Laukonen and his friends Harry and Jennah have grown up together and are now all students at the Royal College of Music in London. As one of only two brilliant pianists at the College, it is Flynn who is really admired as one of its rising stars. Unfortunately, the pressure on him to perform, coupled with his ongoing rivalry with fellow pianist Andre, triggers a break in his mental health, and as he cycles between manic periods of high creativity, boundless energy and deep understanding of music, and crashing lows when he barely gets out of bed except to go to the bathroom, Harry takes the brave step of calling in Flynn's doctor brother Rami to help.

I thought this was a very truthful novel in terms of the experience of bipolar disorder; great swathes could have come straight from my own experiences. The overzealous good humour, compulsive drive to create and the appreciation of sensory pleasures, the reckless disregard for property and societal expectations, the crushing periods of existential despair and seething hate, the sudden disappearance of cognitive ability and the loss of concentration - I've been there, and it felt so... not reassuring, exactly... maybe comforting?... to have someone write about these feelings and crises so beautifully. It's always interesting to read mental health-themed novels, especially by people outside of that sphere of experience (I assume), to see if they've done it justice, as it were. Tabitha Suzuma gets plenty of author brownie points from me for getting it right. She also gets bonus points for not taking the novel quite where I expected it to go; she sidesteps the more tense but also highly melodramatic climax I'd been anticipating, which was simultaneously slightly disappointing but also more realistic, so I was happy on balance.

Admittedly, her story doesn't touch on many of the more mundane aspects of life with a mental disorder, particularly with regards to treatment. By writing Flynn's brother as a doctor, Suzuma keeps her plot tight and opens the door for an examination of the different aspects of their relationship as Flynn's mental health deteriorates, but she also gives herself a convenient escape from some of the more traumatic consequences of a diagnosis like bipolar. For example, Flynn's late-teen age group gives his friends the maturity to give him support instead of ridicule, something I found at university but not at school; a younger character might not have been so lucky. Likewise, Rami's occupation and his ability to pull strings at the local hospital means no presenting to A and E when things get dire, no lengthy waits for appointments, no trekking painfully slowly from GP to Pathfinder nurse to consultant and back again in the quest for help. When things get out of hand Rami's always there, so Harry, Jennah and even Flynn's parents never really have to deal with him in crisis. Still, this would have made for a rather dull novel, and what's more important is how skilfully Suzuma portrays these characters and this illness for a young adult audience as part of a compelling story. For me, she did a brilliant job, which definitely gets her off the hook for overlooking a few of the more boring details.

Bottom line: This is an excellent read for anyone with an interest in mental health, for teens looking for an accurate depiction of bipolar symptoms and its effects on mood, college work and general living, and for readers who fancy an unusual British contemporary YA to fly through this summer. There's some music talk, a dose of humour, strong friendships, a little romance and a pinch of family drama, something for everyone really. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel very soon! ( )

Flynn, Harry are Jennah are in their first year at the Royal College of Music, from different parts they have been friends for about seven years. Flynn, originally from Finland, is a high flying student of the piano, his tutor has high hopes for him, but Flynn has a problem. He fluctuates between periods of hyperactivity and depression, and frequently doubts his abilities. Harry, with whom Flynn shares a flat, and Jennah do their best to encourage and help Flynn, but things start getting beyond their control with Flynn's worry over a forthcoming concert. When Flynn attempts a dangerous act of desperation it is time for Harry to seek help from elsewhere for his friend.

Added to Flynn's worries over his music he has to contend with his feelings of a lack of self-esteem and lack of confidence, made even more apparent when he compares himself to Harry and his natural confidence with other people. All this leads to misunderstandings between Flynn and Jennah, compounding Flynn's problems.

A Note of Madness is a compelling story, wrought with anguish but tempered by the the loyal friendship shown by Harry and Jennah. Suffering with similar, although not quite the same, problems as Flynn, I found some parts especially difficult to read, but at the same time strangely reassuring; which perhaps gives some indication as to the extent Tabitha Suzuma succeeds in capturing Flynn's plight. I found this a compulsive, very moving and ultimately positive story. ( )