Washington Post (NEW REVIEW)
Reviewed by Jane Ciabattari

Imagine a family where bipolar illness is the norm. David Lovelace and his father, mother and brother all struggle with the opposing poles of "night sickness" and "bright blindness." Only his sister has been spared. In his memoir, Lovelace interweaves descriptions of the numbing despair and thrumming hypomania of the illness with images from his upbringing by religious parents. His father, a Princeton-trained theology professor considered too eccentric for the ministry, taught at a fundamentalist seminary in Massachusetts. His mother experienced lengthy postpartum depression each time she gave birth and was tormented by paranoid fantasies as she grew older. Episodes of madness were so common that the family dubbed them the "whim-whams." Lovelace was a teenager when his first paralyzing depression hit; he was in college when he first became manic.

The family discovered lithium in 1986. The drug can be a lifesaver, but also a poison; his father nearly killed his mother with overdoses. Lovelace details the temptations of going off the mood-stabilizer, which deprives him of the "fluidity of thought, the expansive, even beautiful, mind that hypomania brings." At times, both father and son have been driven back into the extremes of mania and suicidal depression. This family story is helped immensely by the author's empathy for all involved (including his wife, children and friends) and by his poetic descriptions of emotional states most of us cannot imagine.

Publisher's Weekly
"I've denied my own illness, and I've loved it almost to death."

"As a twenty-something in the 1980s, Lovelace discovered that he had bipolar disorder (formerly known as manic-depression), a shattering mental illness shared by both his parents and, they would find later, his younger brother. Growing up, his parents went largely undiagnosed—his mother’s initial breakdown was in 1949, the days when “psychiatrists diagnosed almost all delusional illness as schizophrenia,” and the only treatment was electroshock. Members of his family spent years in deep, undiagnosed suffering, largely from depression (“Denial wasn’t difficult, not yet. No one in my family had experienced mania”), and Lovelace spent years running from his illness through Mexico, South America and later to New York, accompanied by drugs and alcohol: “I've denied my own illness and I've loved it almost to death.” Lovelace's poetic prose is both matter-of-fact and haunted, capturing the unpredictable rhythms of mental illness: “Alone in the bathroom I made a smile in the mirror and it strangled my eyes.” Readers will get a real sense of the interior world of a single patient, and a family, on the verge of a mental breakdown. "

Charleston City Paper
"a consistently engaging, often frightening report from a damaged — but possibly brilliant — mind"

""Throughout the book, Lovelace's prose mimics his fragile mental condition, accelerating to a breathless poetry during his manic phases and slowing to a near-catatonic whisper during the depressive phases.

Rarely lapsing into self-pity, Lovelace is careful to note that "one of the least attractive aspects of manic-depressives ... is their deep, nearly bottomless capacity for narcissism. They claim to be theologians and poets. They write books explaining God's own will; they write poems, throw readings and make people listen; they write memoirs."

Fortunately, Scattershot isn't just another memoir of shattered childhood, psychological illness, and drug addiction. It's a consistently engaging, often frightening report from a damaged — but possibly brilliant — mind, and it should resonate with anyone who's dealt with mental disorders or psychological anguish."

Kirkus Book Review
"Compelling, charming and devastating"

"The author describes medications and the process of recovery, but his book’s major strength is its language, which beautifully mimics his bipolarity. When Lovelace chronicles a manic episode, the prose comes in breathless, eloquent bursts; when he describes crushing depression, it’s as though all the air is being sucked out of the room. "


Robert Stone
Author of "Dog Soldiers," "Damascus Gate," and "Prime Green: A Memoir of the Sixties"

" I found Scattershot amazing, harrowing and fascinating. The family you recall here is truly memorable – maybe unforgettable is the word. I really did find this a gripping read and it’s beautifully written with deep understanding and insight."


Andy Behrman
author of "Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania"

"Scattershot portrays the reality of this brutal illness with such emotional intensity. Lovelace's journey reminded me so much of my own struggle - - except his account is even more devastating because his was a family affair. His chronicle is critical for people to read to understand how mental illness impacts families and gives them hope that recovery is possible."