{"product_id":"gorilla-and-the-bird-a-memoir-of-madness-and-a-mothers-love-9780316315128","title":"Gorilla and the Bird: A Memoir of Madness and a Mother's Love","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Glorious...one of the best memoirs I've read in years...a tragicomic gem about family, class, race, justice, and the spectacular weirdness of Wichita.  McDermott] can move from barely controlled hilarity to the brink of rage to aching tenderness in a single breath.\" -- Marya Hornbacher, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Zack McDermott, a 26-year-old Brooklyn public defender, woke up one morning convinced he was being filmed, Truman Show-style, as part of an audition for a TV pilot. Every passerby was an actor; every car would magically stop for him; everything he saw was a cue from \"The Producer\" to help inspire the performance of a lifetime. After a manic spree around Manhattan, Zack, who is bipolar, was arrested on a subway platform and admitted to Bellevue Hospital. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e So begins the story of Zack's freefall into psychosis and his desperate, poignant, often hilarious struggle to claw his way back to sanity. It's a journey that will take him from New York City back to his Kansas roots and to the one person who might be able to save him, his tough, big-hearted Midwestern mother, nicknamed the Bird, whose fierce and steadfast love is the light in Zack's dark world. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Before his odyssey is over, Zack will be tackled by guards in mental wards, run naked through cornfields, receive secret messages from the TV, befriend a former Navy Seal and his talking stuffed monkey, and see the Virgin Mary in the whorls of his own back hair. But with the Bird's help, he just might have a shot at pulling through, starting over, and maybe even meeting a partner who can love him back, bipolar and all. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Introducing an electrifying new voice, \u003ci\u003eGorilla and the Bird\u003c\/i\u003e is a raw and unforgettable account of a young man's unraveling and the relationship that saves him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Back Bay Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/18\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780316315128\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.55lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.20h x 5.40w x 0.90d","brand":"Zack McDermott","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36636212986012,"sku":"9780316315128","price":18.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_94234776-ae20-41ff-a38e-fc1fd4b4caad.jpg?v=1603841272","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/gorilla-and-the-bird-a-memoir-of-madness-and-a-mothers-love-9780316315128","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}