THE OTHER SIDE OF NOTHING

Zadeik’s novel offers an unflinching account of mental illness from multiple perspectives.

After Julia Reeves loses her father to cancer, she becomes despondent. She distances herself from her friends, her family, and, most of all, her mother, Laura. She then endures a clinical depression in which she uses drugs, disassociates, self-harms, and eventually attempts suicide to cover up a truth she’s hiding about her father’s death. Upon meeting with yet another therapist who fails to understand her, Julia recognizes that she must commit to hospitalization to save herself. (“Time and space had gone wonky lately; weaving in and out of weeks, an hour could feel like a year, while a day went by in a blur. The world couldn’t be counted upon to keep its form and shape.”) Julia checks in to a facility called Brookfield, where she meets Sam Lorenzo, another patient. As the two connect over aesthetic and literary interests, they fall in love. Not unlike the trajectory of mental illness, however, the narrative then takes an unexpected turn: Sam asks Julia to leave with him, and Julia follows. Laura receives a call from Brookfield reporting that Julia has disappeared; the institution can do little because Julia is over the age 18 and not a threat to herself or anyone else. Laura, joined by Sam’s mother, Arabella, crosses the country piecing together where Julia and Sam could be located in a seemingly hopeless search. The author offers an authentic-feeling depiction of mental illness and its impact on the sufferer’s loved ones. Zadeik deftly evokes the dark days of clinical depression and the rapid cycling of a mood disorder while exploring societal attitudes toward mental illness over generations. The author also beautifully depicts the unfolding and emotionally charged love story between two young people invested in philosophy, literature, and art, and she captures the heartbreaking spiral that can happen when things go awry. Alternating between the perspectives of Julia, Laura, and Arabella, this beautifully rendered narrative offers striking environmental details that mirror the characters’ perspectives while maintaining a tight plot structure.

A stunning story of mental illness and its challenges.