Book Review: Stop This Game by Jaka Tomc
Stop This Game is an honest, heartfelt and brutal book about living with bipolar disorder.
Jaka Tomc is a Solvenian author and poet. I first heard about him on Twitter, years ago, and I’ve read a few of his books before. What I never knew was that he has struggled with bipolar disorder for nearly fifteen years.
This book lays it all bare. From the early days of his symptoms, to his first hospitalizations, to living through the many, many, manic episodes and to trying to just… figure out life.
It’s a raw and very real book. It doesn’t hold anything back, doesn’t try to look at bipolar disorder through an objective lens or with an eye for medical detail. It just explains. Elaborates. Tell us, the reader, what it’s all like and how it all feels, from the heart.
It’s not always a very good book, even though the story is fascinating. Much of it is written in a sort of rambling monologue, simply delivering information upon information upon information, with one scenario following the other then the other after that again. At times I wanted to stop and say, Hey, slow down will you? This is impossible to follow!
Then I realized, this is probably exactly what it’s like? This is probably what it feels like to have one of those manic episodes, exactly like it’s described in the book.
I thought I knew what bipolar disorder was, before reading this book. I still think I have a pretty good grasp, but there are a lot of things that were described in this book that have helped me understand how and why manic people act the way they do. How they think, and how they reason. I feel like, after reading this book, I recognize things in friends that I’ve never even thought about before. Things they’ve never told me. It’s eye opening, for sure.
At times, it’s a difficult book to read. It’s raw and real, you know what I mean? Jaka Tomc isn’t just an author, he’s a real person and he’s out there, living with this. But at least he’s talking about it, he’s putting himself out there, and I’m sure he feels better for it. At least, I hope it helps. I could probably do with being a bit more open myself, and this book puts things in perspective. All honor to Tomc.
Have you read something that moved you lately? Let me know in the comments!
Oh, and as always, I’d love it if you checked out my books!
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