McDermott applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, Gorilla and the Bird: A Memoir of Madness and a Mother's Love, and reported the following:I like this test. And, yes, I think it’s fairly representative of what readers can expect from Gorilla and the Bird. It’s kind of a funny scene – and it has one of my favorite descriptors of a character in the book: “He looked like he was no stranger to a Mountain Dew for breakfast.” This is at a psych clinic in Kansas shortly after I’ve been released from the locked psychiatric ward. Admittedly, the passage may come off as a bit judgmental, but I try not to hide my flaws and being too judgmental is definitely one of them. The person I’m really judging in the scene though is myself. I had yet to accept my diagnosis of bipolar disorder and, at that time, it didn’t feel bad to be struck with a severe mental illness, it felt like a moral failing – like I was damaged goods, a person to be avoided. Today I’m proud of being mentally ill and I’m proud about how open I am with my condition. Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but it will remain a source of shame until people are able to openly and without fear of ostracism reveal that they have a DSM-V diagnosis.Visit Zack McDermott's website.
--Marshal Zeringue
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