Almost up and Down — P.J. Thomas

Almost Up and Down is a journey into insanity. It is a black comedy written by PJ Thomas and considered "a lyrical, imaginative account of a woman's madness." - Geoffrey Reaume, Ryerson University. This breakthrough novel has been referred to by the press as ..". The Bell Jar with teeth, and lots of them." - The Peterborough Examiner. On the darkly funny ride that is Almost Up and Down, we see the lead character, Myra, in and out of mental institutions, trying to live independently and find some beauty in life. We meet marvellous characters along the way as Myra must navigate the sometimes disturbed area of psychiatry. Through her we experience the drugs, going crazy and being locked up in modern day North America. We see how one family copes with the tragedy and healing of mental health, and their lives forever changed. Almost Up and Down reveals great hope but all along we have to laugh. PJ Thomas gives us a taste of the psychotic experience in literary fiction, an account of mining in the human psyche and finding gold. Ms. Thomas' writing has been compared to Camille Paglia, Ken Kesey, Sylvia Plath, Graham Greene, Ram Dass, William S. Burroughs and Virginia Woolf.