The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures and Pieces
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-05-19 00:51:33
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Courtney Cook
- ISBN：1951142594
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
What does it feel like to fall in love too hard and too fast， to hate yourself in equal and opposite measure？ To live in such fear of rejection that you drive friends and lovers away？ Welcome to my world。 I’m Courtney， and I have borderline personality disorder （BPD）， along with over four million other people in the United States。 Though I’ve shown every classic symptom of the disorder since childhood， I wasn’t properly diagnosed until nearly a decade later， because the prevailing theory is that most people simply “grow out of it。” Not me。
In my illustrated memoir， The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures and Pieces， I share what it’s been like to live and love with this disorder。 Not just the hospitalizations， treatments， and residential therapy， but the moments I found comfort in cereal， the color pink， or mini corndogs; the days I couldn’t style my hair because I thought the blow-dryer was going to hurt me; the peace I found when someone I love held me。 This is a book about vulnerability， honesty， acceptance， and how to speak openly—not only with doctors， co-patients， friends， family， or partners， but also with ourselves。
In my illustrated memoir， The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures and Pieces， I share what it’s been like to live and love with this disorder。 Not just the hospitalizations， treatments， and residential therapy， but the moments I found comfort in cereal， the color pink， or mini corndogs; the days I couldn’t style my hair because I thought the blow-dryer was going to hurt me; the peace I found when someone I love held me。 This is a book about vulnerability， honesty， acceptance， and how to speak openly—not only with doctors， co-patients， friends， family， or partners， but also with ourselves。
Reviews
Jennifer
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The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in PIctures & Pieces is a graphic memoir of the author's life with borderline personality disorder。 A combination of an overview of the disorder， details of the author's memories and experiences， and lighthearted moments in between， this book uses illustrations throughout each chapter to provide the reader with a unique look into the numerous aspects of the disorder。I was drawn to this book based on the topic of borderline personality disorder alone a The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in PIctures & Pieces is a graphic memoir of the author's life with borderline personality disorder。 A combination of an overview of the disorder， details of the author's memories and experiences， and lighthearted moments in between， this book uses illustrations throughout each chapter to provide the reader with a unique look into the numerous aspects of the disorder。I was drawn to this book based on the topic of borderline personality disorder alone and was surprised and impressed at this specific take on a memoir， especially one based on a mental illness。 The author did a fantastic job detailing an often misunderstood disorder and is very brave in the amount of information that she shared; this is so important in increasing understanding and eliminating stigma surrounding mental illness。 Thoughtfully illustrated throughout the book， the art added an extra element to the story， especially when the subject matter became heavy。 And in my opinion， the highlight of this book is the chapter on the author's google search of the disorder and how it led to her writing this book。 This book is great approach to a difficult topic and is a book that I would recommend。Thanks to Netgalley and Tin House for this ARC; this is my honest and voluntary review。 。。。more
Nadia
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I have to state that I admire Courtney for being brave enough to write this book。 It was an emotional， heartbreaking and very personal take on borderline personality disorder。 I hope others take from this that labeling people as ‘crazy’ is just wrong and hurtful。 That being said I had at times a hard time following the direction of the stories。 One minute it was about her dad and then it switched to another story of traveling which was confusing for me。 I was surprised that the ending felt unfin I have to state that I admire Courtney for being brave enough to write this book。 It was an emotional， heartbreaking and very personal take on borderline personality disorder。 I hope others take from this that labeling people as ‘crazy’ is just wrong and hurtful。 That being said I had at times a hard time following the direction of the stories。 One minute it was about her dad and then it switched to another story of traveling which was confusing for me。 I was surprised that the ending felt unfinished。 I wanted more of how she was doing today versus 10 years ago。 Overall， this was a good story of a young lady living with borderline personality disorder。 I highly recommend it。 I wish her the best。 I received this Arc from the publisher and Netgalley for my honest review and opinion。 。。。more
Geoff
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A moving and creative graphic and prose memoir from a young artist who struggles with depression， anxiety， and borderline personality disorder。 This book does a great job humanizing the diagnosis and heling people understand what borderline feels from the inside。 The mix op of art， comics， lists， and short prose pieces keeps the topic from being too oppressive。 I really learned a lot from this book。
Kelly Long
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review。This is a heavy topic made into an easy to understand， and relate to， book。 The light and airy illustrations add a lot but doesn't discount the seriousness of living with BPD。 I think I would've liked this more if I had read it as a teenager。 Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review。This is a heavy topic made into an easy to understand， and relate to， book。 The light and airy illustrations add a lot but doesn't discount the seriousness of living with BPD。 I think I would've liked this more if I had read it as a teenager。 。。。more
Alexis Stankewitz
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RTC closer to publication date。
Cat
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I immediately read from start to finish。 Cook's personality is bright and poppy， friendly and relatable， and somehow this book maintains a level of kindness and vulnerability even when talking about the scary parts of living with Borderline personality disorder， from self-harm to crippling anxiety and depression， obsessive behavior， and more。 Although there are 4 million people in the US that are diagnosed， Borderline personality disorder is still so stigmatized， even as people are starting to r I immediately read from start to finish。 Cook's personality is bright and poppy， friendly and relatable， and somehow this book maintains a level of kindness and vulnerability even when talking about the scary parts of living with Borderline personality disorder， from self-harm to crippling anxiety and depression， obsessive behavior， and more。 Although there are 4 million people in the US that are diagnosed， Borderline personality disorder is still so stigmatized， even as people are starting to recognize and normalize mental illness at large。 The Way She Feels is the representation of BPD--from confusing and distressing， to joyful and funny--that is needed right now。ARC from Tin House， review submitted via Edelweiss+ 。。。more
Ashley Holstrom
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The Way She Feels is a really moving memoir in comics， essays， and lists about a life with borderline personality disorder。 Courtney Cook writes about how no one writes about BPD （there are， like， four books out there on the topic）， and her work makes the disorder a little less scary， taboo， and misunderstood。 She writes candidly about her experiences with self-harm， dermatillomania （obsessive skin-picking）， and numerous hospitalizations in an astounding way that feels like reading a friend’s di The Way She Feels is a really moving memoir in comics， essays， and lists about a life with borderline personality disorder。 Courtney Cook writes about how no one writes about BPD （there are， like， four books out there on the topic）， and her work makes the disorder a little less scary， taboo， and misunderstood。 She writes candidly about her experiences with self-harm， dermatillomania （obsessive skin-picking）， and numerous hospitalizations in an astounding way that feels like reading a friend’s diary。 In fact， it often feels like she was one of my friends in high school。 The book is raw， but also full of humor， heart， and oh so many bright colors。From 9 Emotionally Devastating Mental Illness Graphic Memoirs at Book Riot。 。。。more
Jessica Ranard
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I would give The Way She Feels a solid 3。9。 This book feels exactly like it looks - like you are eating bowl of Fruit Loops with a little bit of Lexapro involved and somehow everything looks & feels hot pink。 Part fragments part drawings part lists， The Way She Feels reads kind of like a pop punk zine about mental illness combined with Ned Vizzinni's It's Kind of A Funny Story。 Anyways。 The Way She Feels is an graphic memoir （a memoir that has graphics， though I think memoir is a definite reach） I would give The Way She Feels a solid 3。9。 This book feels exactly like it looks - like you are eating bowl of Fruit Loops with a little bit of Lexapro involved and somehow everything looks & feels hot pink。 Part fragments part drawings part lists， The Way She Feels reads kind of like a pop punk zine about mental illness combined with Ned Vizzinni's It's Kind of A Funny Story。 Anyways。 The Way She Feels is an graphic memoir （a memoir that has graphics， though I think memoir is a definite reach） about what it means to be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder， and what that diagnoses looks like。 My favorite parts - all of the lists of course， a fragment about all the reasons she is crying， and a collection of apologies she has recently given （"I'm sorry I told you you looked like Bob Saget when you got a weird haircut" and "Im sorry I used Alan Rickman dying as an excuse to cheat on you"）。 A breath of manically fun fresh air。 。。。more
Karla Strand
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