Eric Lindstrom

In the vein of It's Kind of a Funny Story and All the Bright Places, comes a captivating, immersive exploration of life with mental illness.For sixteen-year-old Mel Hannigan, bipolar disorder makes life unpredictable. Her latest struggle is balancing her growing feelings in a new relationship with her instinct to keep everyone at arm's length. And when a former friend confronts Mel with the truth about the way their relationship ended, deeply buried secrets threaten to come out and upend her shaky equilibrium. As the walls of Mel's compartmentalized world crumble, she fears the worst--that her friends will abandon her if they learn the truth about what she's been hiding. Can Mel bring herself to risk everything to find out? In A Tragic Kind of Wonderful, Eric Lindstrom, author of the critically acclaimed Not If I See You First, examines the fear that keeps us from exposing our true selves, and the courage it takes to be loved for who we really are.

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful

The heart-rending and inspiring novel from the critically acclaimed author of NOT IF I SEE YOU FIRST.

Cody Nicole

Livia

When I started reading it, I know nothing except that it features a main character with bipolar disorder. I was honestly a bit thrown off at first, but then it started to flow and I enjoyed it a lot.

Mel Hannigan suffers from a pretty severe bipolar disorder, causing her to have manic episodes and unpredictable moods. I don't know whether the representation is accurate or not, but it seems so tragic and raw. Even though I don't suffer from the bipolar disorder, some of her struggles are so honest and I can relate to it. The last quarter of the book is heart-breaking, and seeing Mel deal with it is quite difficult to read.

In the end, I really like how her trauma is dealt with. She decides to make peace with it instead of just pushing it off her mind, and that is a healthier way to deal with it. I also love how supporting David is. 

P.s. I still think Annie is a bitch and Zumi is annoying and way too clueless

Logan Dittbrenner

The main character is a sixteen year old girl named Mel. She struggles with bipolar disorder. Coming from someone who has it as well I thought this book was pretty good. I like how it was demonstrated throughout the story. Only Mel's family knows about her disorder. She doesn't tell her friends because she doesn't want them to think less of her as a person. Also it runs in her family. Her brother died when he was in an episode of mania. Her aunt Joan also has it. I like how both of them have different thinking processes. Everyone who has bipolar disorder is different and Mel's is just one story. I liked her therapist's role because in a lot of YA books they are to be mean. This book had a lot of friendship and family which I liked. Mel did have a love interest but it didn't go the way I thought it would go which was a nice surprise. I really loved the cover of the book. I would give the ending a 5 star rating. The beginning of this book was slow but I still fell in love with it.

Ella Zegarra

creo que es la primera vez que leo una protagonista tiene su periodo durante el libro

An interesting tale of loss, health and happiness, A Tragic Kind of Wonderful was moving. From fluent writing to the stunning portrayal of the characters, the book dealt with sensitive issues of loss and mental health perfectly.

Jelke Lenaerts

I really loved this. It's very different from the description on the back but in such a good way. I learned so much about bipolar disorder. For the rest this mainly focused on friendships and a bit of family. The romance just wasn't really a thing and that was just refreshingly wonderful. 
By the way this title is perfect for this book. It's wonderful but a tragic kind.

Cortnie

4.5/5 stars.

I've been trying to wrap my head around how I wanted to write this review since I finished the book earlier today, and I don't think it's ever going to happen. So this is an apology in advance about how potentially messy and sloppy this review is going to be. I just have a lot of feelings about this book and I feel the need to get them all out and it's best if I just do that in the realest way possible: raw and uncut and with a lot of grammatical errors, more than likely.

So this book touched a deep part of me and I can't remember the last time I identified so well with a piece of fictional literature. This was a personal connection kind of thing for me. Bipolar disorder runs deep, deep, deep within my family roots and... I was diagnosed with it myself about a year and a half ago. My own "battle" is not as real as Mel's is (or Nolan's or HJ's) but I have seen first hand what kinds of things can happen with a dysphoric manic episode. My aunt's a little further along on the spectrum and that was always something that was hard for me to understand- especially when I was younger. Of course, now, I understand that there are mood swings and things you can't help and... a plethora of other things no one can truly understand unless they experience it themselves.

I tore through A Tragic Kind of Wonderful in about a day. Really, it was probably less than that because I couldn't consistently read at work and I had to sleep at some point. Anyway. I really liked the style it was written in and it was addicting and gripping and... I sympathized with Mel so much. So many of the feelings and the instances were relatable to me because of what I go through and deal with every single day (even on medication).

"Even on normal days I can only socialize for so long without recharging."

This particular excerpt is something that I have been struggling to explain to people for a long time- all the way back before I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder or depression. This was such a Eureka! kind of moment for me I almost started crying in the middle of my lunch break at work. Finally, it was like... someone had gotten it. Someone had cracked my head open and put what I wanted to say into words.

Naturally, this book is not perfect. I know there are plenty of people who probably aren't in love with it. For me, though, this brought me such relief and such... gratitude? Because, for the first time in a long time, I felt like someone got me. Even though this is a work of fiction someone understood and it was like things clicked into place.

I am so in love with this book and I really wish more people would write about mental illness. Be real about it, but tasteful. I really do hope to read more books akin to this one and will not hesitate to pick up more Eric Lindstrom books in the future.

The heart-rending and inspiring novel from the critically acclaimed author of NOT IF I SEE YOU FIRST. How can you have a future if you can't accept your past? Mel Hannigan doesn't have it easy. Mourning the death of her firework of a brother, trying to fit back into a school she's been conspicuously absent from and struggling to deal with the loss of three friendships that used to mean everything. Struggling to deal with a condition that not even her closest friends know about. So Mel tries to lock away her heart, to numb the highs and lows, to live quietly without hope - but also without pain. Until someone new shows her that it can be worth taking a risk, that opening up to life is what can make it glorious... And that maybe, Mel can discover a tragic kind of wonderful of her very own.

Imogen Barr

Really really liked this book! The only reason why it’s not 4 stars+ is because I felt like it only started getting really good 70% through the book…the first 70% was kind of just a back story which I didn’t find very engaging. BUT the last 30% (especially the ending) was awesome!! 
Would definitely recommend if you need a quick read or something to get you out of a reading slump as I’m SO ready to jump into another straight away now!

The heart-rending and inspiring novel from the critically acclaimed author of NOT IF I SEE YOU FIRST. How can you have a future if you can't accept your past? Mel Hannigan doesn't have it easy. Mourning the death of her firework of a brother, facing the loss of three friendships that used to mean everything to her and struggling to deal with a condition that even her closest friends don't know about. To protect herself and everyone else, Mel tries to lock away her heart, to live quietly without pain - but also without hope. Until the plight of an old friend, and meeting someone new, shows her that the risk is worth taking, that opening up to life - and who you really are - is what can make everything glorious... And that maybe Mel can discover a tragic kind of wonderful of her very own. A beautiful, captivating story about living with mental illness, and loving - even with a broken heart.

Kate

This was a quick, easy read and one I definitely enjoyed. However, I also have a lot of mixed feelings, especially regarding the bipolar, bisexual and lesbian representation, of which I have yet to find any #ownvoices reviews regarding how these character aspects were represented. 

In regards to the mental health aspect of this book in general, it definitely had both good and bad points. Although it’s painful to read about a character with so much shame surrounding their mental illness, it also felt authentic in terms of the way Mel seesawed between both shame and acceptance. 

I enjoyed the characters and variety of relationships and although it got uncomfortably close to it towards the end, I definitely appreciated that it didn’t fall into the ‘love fixes mental illness’ hole.

I’m still unsure of how I felt about this overall. Every time I think of a positive element, I remember a negative one and visa-versa. Generally, it was an average read for me but one that had both highs and lows.

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful

Reviews

Highlights