My Body Is a Book of Rules
Intelligent
Vibrant
Depressing

My Body Is a Book of Rules

As Elissa Washuta makes the transition from college kid to independent adult, she finds herself overwhelmed by the calamities piling up in her brain. When her mood-stabilizing medications aren’t threatening her life, they’re shoving her from depression to mania and back in the space of an hour. Her crisis of American Indian identity bleeds into other areas of self-doubt; mental illness, sexual trauma, ethnic identity, and independence become intertwined. Sifting through the scraps of her past in seventeen formally inventive chapters, Washuta aligns the strictures of her Catholic school education with Cosmopolitan’s mandates for womanhood, views memories through the distorting lens of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and contrasts her bipolar highs and lows with those of Britney Spears and Kurt Cobain. Built on the bones of fundamental identity questions as contorted by a distressed brain, My Body Is a Book of Rules pulls no punches in its self-deprecating and ferocious look at human fallibility.
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Photo of Steph Lodico
Steph Lodico@stephlo
5 stars
Jan 7, 2023
Photo of Gracyn Wistoski
Gracyn Wistoski@smileygracyn
4.5 stars
May 14, 2022
Bold
Vibrant
Touching
Depressing
Intelligent
Photo of Ana Hein
Ana Hein@anahein99
3 stars
Jan 5, 2023
Photo of Haley Quinton
Haley Quinton@haleylquinton
2 stars
Dec 24, 2021
Photo of Ruby Huber
Ruby Huber@rubyread
5 stars
Nov 17, 2021