Notes from an Exhibition

Familiar story of a creative individual with the stigma of manic depression. You could easily reduced the page volume by half and the impact would be greater. The way it is written is like eating sponge cake for a main meal and feeling so unsatisfied. But it might just be your kind of cake. Don't get me wrong, the story is good but there is way too much boring fluff to wade through.

Britain's "most successful openly gay author" (this from OutUK.com) has written a book that has little to say about gayness, much to say about the impact of mental illness on a family, something to say about religion and its consolations, and much to say about sibling relationships. The book is artfully constructed, told through several voices. Gale portrays Rachel Kelly, an artist with four children, in great and caring detail. He does the same for Rachel's paintings.