Scattershot (book)

Infobox Book |
name = Scattershot: My Bipolar Family
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = David Lovelace
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Non-Fiction, Memoir
publisher = Dutton Adult
release_date = 4 September 2008
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = 304 pp (Hardback edition)
isbn = ISBN 0525950788 (10) & ISBN 9780525950783 (13)
oclc = 220420253
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Scattershot: My Bipolar Family" is a 2008 memoir, written by American writer, carpenter, and former Montague Bookmill proprietor David Lovelace, published by Dutton Adult. Lovelace's memoir chronicles the challenges of growing up in a family in which four out of five members suffer from bipolar disorder, including Lovelace himself. Only his sister, who is a professional therapist, was spared the ravages of bipolar disorder, while both his parents, his brother, and himself, have suffered to differing degrees over the years.cite news |title=Memoir tracks the travails of author’s bipolar family |author=Alex Miller |date=2008-09-04 |work=Vail Daily |url=http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20080904/AE/809049941/1064 |accessdate=2008-09-05] [cite news |title=Soundcheck: A Place You Can't Find |author=Ella Longpre |date=2008-08-21 |work=Valley Advocate |url=http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=8179 |accessdate=2008-09-05 ] cite news |title=Page to Screen: A Sick Mind and a Fantasy Trilogy |author=Rachel Deahl |date=2008-08-06 |work=Publishers Weekly |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6585191.html |accessdate=2008-09-05]

Lovelace has written poetry, some of which has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Patterson Review's Allen Ginsberg Award. He currently resides in western Massachusetts with his wife and children. [cite web |title=Official website for David Lovelace's "Scattershot" |url=http://www.davidlovelace.info/ ]

Description

A native of Massachusetts, Lovelace's relationship with bipolar disorder began at an early age, when his mother, an artist, suffered from severe bouts of depression, and later when his father, a Professor of Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, exhibited increasingly eccentric behavior. He and his brother followed suit with their own symptoms as they grew up, developing similar mood and psychological disorders, a common problem for the family—excepting Lovelace's sister, who has always had her mental health—which they privately termed the "whim-whams". [http://psychjourney.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=370482] [http://www.audioport.org/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=21054&nav=&]

The memoir uses ample humor to chronicle Lovelace's childhood and his early adulthood growing up in and around Hamilton, Massachusetts with bipolar disorder; it shines a light on the positive aspects of bipolar disorder, such as the remarkable creative gifts it can bestow upon the afflicted, while being, unfortunately, totally devastating on other occasions. [cite book |title=Scattershot: My Bipolar Family |author=David Lovelace |date=2008-09-04 |publisher=Dutton Adult |isbn=978-0525950783 ]

Reception

"Scattershot" is described by Alex Miller in the "Vail Daily" as "disturbing in places", yet "funny in others". In comparison to other memoirs, he states that "it’s very evenly portrayed, without any finger-pointing". Whitney Spotts of the "Lansing State Journal" states that "the author manages to convey the dark corners of bi-polar disorder from a tender, understanding place." [cite news |title=Down time: Books-'Scattershot' |author=Whitney Spotts |date=2008-09-10 |work=Lansing State Journal |url=http://hub.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080910/NOISE05/809100318/1104/HUB |accessdate=2008-09-11]

"Publishers Weekly" praised "Lovelace's poetic prose [as] both matter-of-fact and haunted, capturing the unpredictable rhythms of mental illness" and believed " [r] eaders will get a real sense of the interior world of a single patient, and a family, on the verge of a mental breakdown." [cite news |title=Nonfiction review: Scattershot: My Bipolar Family |date=2008-09-08 |work=Publishers Weekly |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6593450.html |accessdate=2008-09-11 ] Eric Liebetrau, in the "Charleston City Paper", writes that "Lovelace's prose mimics his fragile mental condition, accelerating to a breathless poetry during his manic phases and slowing to a near-catatonic whisper during the depressive phases." [cite news |title=Me and My Madness: David Lovelace didn't pick his disease but writes about it well |author=Eric Liebetrau |date=2008-09-17 |work=Charleston City Paper |url=http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A51796 |accessdate=2008-09-17] ["SCATTERSHOT: My Bipolar Family: A Memoir." Kirkus Reviews 76, no. 13 (July 2008): 690-690., Abstract: The article reviews the book "Scattershot: My Bipolar Family: A Memoir," by David Lovelace.]

According to the book's publisher, there may be interest in a movie adaptation; the section of the [http://booksellers.dk.com/static/pdf/duttongotham-fall08.pdf Dutton Gotham Books Fall 2008 Catalog] on the book states: "Leonardo DiCaprio and Bill Monahan, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Departed, are both attached to this property in Hollywood, and a deal with a major studio is expected shortly." Additionally, at least one review claimed "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is interested in having Lovelace on the show to discuss his memoir; this has not yet been verified.

ources

External links

* [http://www.davidlovelace.info/ Official website for David Lovelace's "Scattershot"]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94282263 NPR interview]
* [http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2008/09/21/growing_up_bipolar/ Boston Globe Magazine interview] . 9/21/2008.
* [http://booksellers.dk.com/static/pdf/duttongotham-fall08.pdf Dutton Gotham Books Fall 2008 Catalog] (page six)