Reading Rules!
My memoir, Instability in Six Colors, is a collection of personal essays, poems, and pastiche pieces that paint a vivid picture of what it is like living with chronic mental illness, trauma, and a complicated relationship with sanity, suicide, and self-love. To tell my story I use six different colors to chronicle the cyclic nature of my life with bipolar disorder, from the neon pink highs of hypomania to the dark black crashes of depression. Ultimately, this book is about finding peace, no matter how many times I lose it; figuring out how to accept my illness without letting it own me; learning how to love my beautifully imperfect body and resilient glitchy brain; and kindling hope for others who are impacted by mental illness.
My book is available at White Whale Bookstore, Bookshop, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Reviews of my book!:
Inside Our Minds
Pittsburgh City Paper
"Instability in Six Colors by Rachel Kallem Whitman is an informative and inventive way of exploring the many experiences that come with Bipolar Disorder. Through personal reflection, that displays itself in the form of prose and vivid retellings, the author invites the reader into a world so few are familiar with or even aware of. Rachel spills her “insider” details without holding little to anything back. The book is emotional, straight-forward, and a stark invitation to unforgivingly view the many shades and hues our mental health struggles can and do take on. This [bipolar disorder] is a lesser-known struggle, but thanks to Whitman, we now have the fortunate opportunity to embark on this journey through her words with the hopes of more adequately understanding this life-long challenge."
-Becky Ebert, Editor at To Write Love on Her Arms
"Instability in Six Colors" is an incredibly special and important piece of work. Rachel's ability to open our eyes and our minds to the world in which she lives gives us all the opportunity to put ourselves in the shoes of people dealing with many different issues. Not only is this piece so beautifully written, but it also should be used as a tool to help discuss and end the stigma surrounding mental health. Mental illness is such a difficult thing to accurately describe to those who have never personally experienced it. Rachel's storytelling ability, word choice and creativity gives the reader a chance to truly understand what is it like to see the world through her eyes. Rachel's writing ability is a gift that should be shared with the world.”
- Jordan Corcoran, Creator & CEO of Listen, Lucy
