Writing
and mental illness make excellent bedfellows, for better or worse. The Rapids – creative and courageous –
is an extraordinary personal memoir peppered with film and literary criticism,
as well as family history. With reflections on artists such as Carrie Fisher,
Kanye West, Robert Lowell, Delmore Schwartz, Paul Thomas Anderson and Spalding
Gray, Twyford-Moore also looks at the condition in our digital world, where
someone’s manic episode can unfold live in real time, watched by millions.
His own
story, told unflinchingly, is shocking and sometimes blackly comic. It gives
the book an edge that is not always comfortable but full of insight and empathy.
Smart, lively and well-researched, The
Rapids manages to be both a wild ride and introspective at once, exploring
a condition that touches thousands of people, directly or indirectly.
