The Death of Small Creatures

In her lyrical memoir The Death of Small Creatures, Trisha Cull lays bare her struggles with bulimia, bipolar disorder and substance abuse. Interspersing snatches of conversations, letters, blog entries and clinical notes with intimate poetic narrative, Cull evokes an accessible experience of mental illness.

In The Death of Small Creatures, Cull strives to cope with her hopelessness. She finds comfort in the company of her two pet rabbits until one of them dies as a result of her lethargy. She numbs herself with alcohol. She validates her self-worth by seeking the love of men—any and all men—and three relationships significantly impact her life: her marriage to Leigh, a much older man; her unrequited love for Dr. P, her therapist; and her healthier relationship with Richard, an American she meets through her blog. She tries drugs—Neo Citran, Ativan, Wellbutrin, crack, crystal meth—and after two hospitalizations, she undergoes electroconvulsive therapy.

Haunting and expressive, this immersive memoir explores love in all its facets—needy, obsessive, healthy, self-directed—and plunges the reader headlong into the intense and immediate experience of mental illness.