National Network for Equitable Library Service

This book is about mental illness, family caregivers, Alzheimer's and dementia, and the health care system. It continues the story of the Martini family and their experiences with mental illness (which was earlier chronicled in the book Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness). In The Unravelling, Olivier Martini has lived with his mother, Catherine, since his diagnosis with schizophrenia thirty-six years ago. It hasn't always been a perfect living situation, but it's worked: Catherine has been able to help Olivier through the ups and downs of living with a mental illness, and Olivier has been able to care for his aging mother as her mobility becomes limited, and Olivier's brothers Clem and Nic have been able to provide support to both as well. But then Olivier experiences a serious health crisis at the exact same time that his mother starts slipping into dementia. All of a sudden, the precarious caregiving situation the Martini family has constructed is about to come apart. The family family's lifelong struggle with mental illness is suddenly complicated immeasurably as they begin to navigate the convoluted world of assisted living and long-term care. With anger, dry humour, and hope, The Unravelling tells the story of one family's journey with mental illness, dementia, and caregiving, through a poignant graphic narrative from Olivier accompanied by text from his brother, award-winning playwright and novelist Clem Martini.