Author Interview: Elliot Gavin Keenan

Today on the Underground, I'm excited to bring you an interview with Elliot Gavin Keenan, author of On Being Insane: In Search of my Missing Pieces. You can find my review of his memoir here. Elliot wrote about his college years studying psychology while dealing with his autism and bipolar diagnoses and multiple psychiatric hospitalizations. Currently, Elliot is working on his PhD.

What genre do you write and why?

Memoir and lyric essay, mostly, but I also branch out into poetry and lately I’ve been writing a fiction piece. I like to sample different genres, and use whatever form is most conducive to the story I want to tell. I would say my single favorite form is lyric essay because I feel like I have the most freedom when I write that way.

Tell us about your latest book.

On Being Insane is a memoir that focuses on my years as a college undergraduate while going through a series of psychiatric hospitalizations. That said, it also dives into my childhood, giving insight into what it’s like to grow up with an autism diagnosis. I think the major theme of the book is the importance of neurodiversity.

Who are your favourite authors?

One of my favorite writers is Maggie Nelson. I fell in love with her work after reading her book Bluets. I also really like the work of Kay Redfield Jamison, whose memoir An Unquiet Mind was a major inspiration for On Being Insane. And, of course, I have to mention John Elder Robison, who is not only an excellent memoirist but a passionate advocate for autistic people who I have had the pleasure of meeting several times now.

What advice do you have for other writers?

Be truthful to the story you’re telling; be brave (especially if you’re writing memoir!); and be almost-recklessly bold. But not quite recklessly. It’s a fine line, one that I mostly dealt with in the editing process – but when you’re churning out the first draft, I say you should put it all to the page.

Where can people find out more about you and your writing?

I have a Tumblr blog (professorprettyboy.tumblr.com), which is one of the best ways to connect with me.

Who is your favourite character in your book and why?

My favorite character is the speaker’s mentor, Dr. Pinball, who is all at once an absent-minded professor and a sage-like figure dispensing timeless wisdom. He’s kind of a good-hearted goofball.

How long did it take you to write your book?

I wrote the entire book in about a year.

Who designed the cover?

The cover is actually derived from a painting I did myself!

What are you currently reading? 

NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman – a book I should have read long ago!

When you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?

I love tabletop games, like Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, and Settlers of Catan. I also will be spending a good deal of time studying from now on, since I’m in a psychology PhD program at UCLA.

Book Review: On Being Insane

Book Review: On Being Insane: In Search of my Missing Pieces by Elliot Gavin Keenan

Goodreads Description: After being diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder at age seven, Elliot becomes fascinated with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the Bible of American psychiatry) and its enumeration, categorization, and systematization of innate human differences. This specialized knowledge of the DSM's rules and codes comes in handy as Elliot struggles through multiple psychiatric hospitalizations for severe bipolar depression, but his dreams of being a clinical psychologist seem ever further out of reach until a kindly professor and autism scientist termed herein as Dr. Pinball takes notice of his abilities. This is a story of one young man's searching: for sanity, for stability, and for the people who understand. They may be found in unlikely places.

My Review: Books like this are so hard to explain for me. They are about everything and nothing, about something so personal and at the same time universal, that it makes pinning down exactly what the book is about difficult. On Being Insane is a memoir of the author's experience of growing up with autism and how that affected his journey towards a career in mental health. But there's so much more going on than just that. Keenan is transgender, has bipolar disorder as well as autism, and deals with multiple hospitalizations. He asks some big questions, like whether or not people with mental illnesses can actually work as mental health professionals, which he approaches with such a raw honesty and sincerity that it tugs at the heartstrings. 

As far as the linear progression of the book, it can be sometimes hard to follow, as the author jumps around in the timeline a bit in a way that made it easy to lose track of what happened when. The book isn't written as a straight dirty details, tell-all kind of memoir, and instead focuses on the feelings of events rather than explaining the full situation. Even his goodbye scene with JS, who is a major character and influence in his life, left me a little confused as to what happened between them that made them part ways. I can understand the artistic intent around shying away from the details and focusing on feeling, and in a lot of ways it works really well, so I am a little torn. I do feel that a little more information and clarification could have gone a long way.

As for the writing itself... wow! The book is so beautifully written, and filled with such poignant observations that I was often writing down passages in my quote book. Even with the non-linear narrative, his message comes through loud and clear, and we're given a hopeful look at life with mental illness. All the parts of it come together in such a beautiful way, from all the characters portrayed to the descriptive observations and use of metaphor, such as the descriptions of the fake grass outside the hospital. The pieces compound into a really great look into what it feels like to live with autism, which I think would make this an awesome read for anyone interested in/works with mental illness, has autism, or wants to gain a little more insight into what life with a disorder is like. 

All in all, this was a really beautiful book that has forged its own place in my heart. I can't exactly articulate what about it is so wonderful, other than while reading it, I just kept thinking, "Me too, me too, me too..." 

TL;DR: 4/5 stars. An incredibly heartfelt memoir of Keenan's life with autism and his journey towards working in the mental health field.