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Lisa Genova, author of More or Less Maddy

Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out freshman at NYU. Between schoolwork, exams, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it’s normal to be feeling overwhelmed. It doesn’t help that she’s always felt like the odd one out in her picture-perfect Connecticut family. But Maddy’s latest low is devastatingly low, and she goes on an antidepressant. She begins to feel good, dazzling in fact, and she soon spirals high into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. As she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects that bipolar has on her identity, her relationships and her life dreams, Maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough.

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More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova

January 2025

I have been a long-time fan of Lisa Genova’s work. In fact, her previous novels --- STILL ALICE, LEFT NEGLECTED, LOVE ANTHONY, INSIDE THE O'BRIENS and EVERY NOTE PLAYED --- were Bets On selections. Reading them, I have learned about early-onset Alzheimer’s, traumatic brain injury, autism, Huntington’s disease and ALS.

In MORE OR LESS MADDY, Lisa takes us inside the world of Maddy Banks, who seems to have normal issues for a college student. But when they escalate, she finds herself in a deeply depressed and dark state, barely making her way through the day. A quick visit to the university’s health facility gets her a prescription for an antidepressant, and all is well for a while.

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