{"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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eZack McDermott\u003c\/b\u003e has worked as a public defender for The Legal Aid Society of New York. His work has appeared in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThis American Life\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMorning Edition\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eGawker\u003c\/i\u003e, among other places. He lives in New York and LA.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Back Bay Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50662159679762,"sku":"9780316315128","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5fc52600-d98c-47ca-a182-56ad816f75a4.jpg?v=1733514385","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/gorilla-and-the-bird-a-memoir-of-madness-and-a-mothers-love-9780316315128","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}