Rock Crazy is a science fiction story set in 2065 about a woman called Katie McGowan who suffers from bipolar disorder (rapid cycling). She relies heavily on her medication to survive but recently even that was failing to stop her wild mood swings and blackouts. The only cure involves the implantation of a microchip in her brain to regulate her moods but she has no desire to become, as she construes it, a robotic puppet for the rest of her life. She therefore stubbornly refuses this medical option, especially since the operation can only be performed on the moon.
Things are complicated by the relationship with her husband who, despite years of trying, is unable to cope with her mood swings and violent outbursts. Her refusal to have the microchip operation is the last straw for him. As a last attempt, he takes her to the moon where he works and splits up with her, forcing her to look after herself and contemplate the operation. Unfortunately, she discovers she is pregnant….
Rock Crazy is a well written and entertaining read. Despite not being a big fan of science fiction, I found myself on a pleasant reading journey as Katie tries desperately to deal with her illness. As a bipolar sufferer myself, albeit with far less severity, I was very intrigued by the nature of the story and I related fondly to her well told struggle for survival. As a result, I highly recommend this brave story to anyone who suffers from any kind of mental illness.
If I had to come up with a criticism, it would be that I did find myself wishing often as I read that this story hadn’t been set in such an original setting of the moon. Combining the illness with such an unusual location was no doubt entertaining but I yearned heavily for the more realistic and gritty surroundings that realism provides. I wanted to relate to the circumstances Katie found herself in far more than I was able to. Although, I remain unsure as to whether this was a tribute to the writer’s well woven characters or rather a personal scepticism of science fiction on my part.
4 stars out of 5
Reviewed by Roger Gerald Scott, Award Winning Published Author and Debra L Hartmann, Published Author, Professional Editor and daily Blogger
Link to Rochelle Weber’s sales page: http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=223&category_id=7&keyword=Rock+Crazy&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1
Rochelle’s About the Author Website (nice site by the way, beautiful graphics!): http://www.rochelleweber.com/
Her blog site for book reviews: http://rochellesreviews.blogspot.com/
And, of course, the amazon link where you can read more reviews of this book and see her author’s page: http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Crazy-ebook/dp/B005W5QS0E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361886722&sr=8-1&keywords=rochelle+weber
This review is also being published on http://rogerrgeraldscott.blogspot.no/
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