The Bi-Polar Express by Ela and Natasha Simon is a riveting, humorous and emotional journey that reminded me of some of my own painful experiences of living with bipolar disorder. It actually made me chuckle from time to time.

The book is written in two parts, the first perspective being from Ela, the mother of a young person living with bipolar disorder and the second being that of her young daughter, Natasha.

The Bi-Polar Express portrays the many challenges of the illness, but also captures Natasha’s tenacity and courage to get up time and time again to live in the fullness of life despite her illness.

There are many themes in this book which are common to people living with a mental illness and their carers. The one theme that stood out for me was the consistent and supportive love of Natasha’s mother, Ela, and how important this is in maintaining wellness and order through the chaos and fluctuations of bipolar disorder.

I especially enjoyed reading Ela’s perspective of Natasha’s early life as a baby. It is very rare that we get an insight into what people with bipolar were like as young children and whether there are ever any early indicators of the illness.

I found the book held common themes that are experienced by many people living with bipolar disorder. I found these particularly insightful, especially how it took an unusually long time for Natasha to finally get a correct diagnosis. Natasha was on incorrect medication for quite a long time and left without a mood stabiliser. This happens all too often to people with a mental illness.

Natasha’s struggle to find acceptance from friends and her peers was particularly poignant and reminded me of how hard it is to maintain friendships whilst struggling with a bipolar disorder.

However, the story of Natasha finding her soul mate, “Arthur”, was very inspiring as it took her a long time and many twists and turns to find a man who respected and loved her for what she was. This aspect of her story offers hope to others in similar situations who feel they may not be accepted by the mainstream community and find it hard to find love and disclose their illness.

Natasha’s perspective is written in little vignettes and I felt like she was a close friend as I was given a window into her life for a brief moment. This style reflects her personality - gutsy, courageous, humorous and inspiring. Her verve and vivacity for life is clearly captured in her various musings and I laughed and commiserated with her throughout her roller-coaster ride with bipolar disorder.

I especially liked the depictions of her time in hospital and thought it was humorous how she described different patients as bears (eg. dopey bear, sleepy bear, honest bear).

I also noticed how Ela’s narrative was sequential and ordered, whereas Natasha’s was more spasmodic and dipped in and out of experiences. The individual personalities of mother and daughter really shined through and it was wonderful that both reflected their quite divergent perspectives and personalities.

The book is filled with the various symptoms and behaviours of bipolar disorder and is easy to understand for people with personal experience of the illness and their carers. However, I felt it needed a detailed clinical definition and description of bipolar disorder for all readers to gain a better understanding of the illness.

Natasha ends her story with a wonderful thank you to her mother for sharing her “roller-coaster” ride with her from the very beginning. Often carers ride the “roller-coaster” from time to time and get off when the going gets tough or it no longer serves them.

This thank you really reminded me of the central message I took away from the book: A mother’s love, and an extraordinarily brave, intelligent, talented girl who is free to fall, get up and experience the fullness of life knowing she has a soft place to land.

The book The Bi-Polar Express  is available from selected bookstores, healthcare professionals or direct from the publisher: pegsystems@optusnet.com.au