A Waltz Through La La Land: A Depression Survivor's Memoir

This book details twenty-two year old David's four and a half month stay in a private psychiatric hospital as he battles severe depression. The narrative explores the territory of a hospitalization and exposes the positive atmosphere and effective professionals who helped nurse David back to health. The events leading up to his breakdown are revealed in a third person narrative as are the extraordinary events of life under observation. David is portrayed as a real person because this work is based on the author s own experience. David's pain emerges from the pages as does the irony of his interaction with the professionals paid to make him well. The story explores an enriched emotional landscape, from the humorous situations created when David encounters his new environment to the gut-wrenching tension created when David attempts escape and suicide when out on pass. The reader is left asking, Is the waltz theme another of the authors mechanisms to rise above this depressing episode in his life?