Electroboy is the autobiography of Andy Behrman, a young New Yorker living with mental illness. Andy speeds through life on incredible highs--going to parties, doing drugs and flying around the world--followed by miserable lows, periods of depression full of suicidal thoughts and paranoid delusions. After seeing countless therapists and trying every available medication, Andy hits rock bottom and turns to his last resort: electroshock therapy.
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Misdiagnosed for years, Andy is eventually told that he has bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. The book starts out with a brief telling of Andy's childhood and upbringing in New Jersey, where signs of his illness are allready evident. As a boy, Andy is obsessed with counting and cleaning things, he buries things in the yard--books, food, garbage, he has grandiose thoughts about being the smartest kid in school, he puts lightbulbs in the dishwasher and cleans his record collection with turpentine.
After graduating from college Andy moves to New York City, which is where his true mania begins. He sleeps little, binges on alcohol, drugs, spending and sex. On a whim he'll fly to Europe or Japan, just because he can, just because he has to keep moving. Eventually, after several breakdowns and some time in jail, Andy decides that he'll do whatever it takes to slow down. Even if that means trying electroshock therapy.
The review of this Book prepared by Matthew Christensen
