"Running for My Life" focuses on a girl traumatized by her mother's mental illness and shows us how she begins to heal through therapy and running (and spitting, believe it or not). It's a book that strives to illuminate the issues of mental health and the healing benefits of therapy but it is bogged down by improbable situations, unrealistic characters, and unpolished writing.

The book begins with the main character, Andrea, in such an overwrought state that it was hard for me to get into the story--it is as if the author leaves herself nowhere to go with the character. It didn't help that this 14-year-old girl, who dates and fantasizes about going to the prom, also carries around a stuffed bunny named Pedro--even going so far as holding him up to the phone so he can "hear" her conversations. It is no doubt meant to show us how traumatized Andrea is but it just seemed absurdly childish to me. Even the details of Andrea's therapy sessions--drawing pictures to illustrate her feelings, treasuring medallions the therapist gives her that say "Courageous" or "Strong"--seem to be more the way a therapist would treat a child than a teenager. Almost as if the author wrote the book about a six year old, then changed it to a teenager's story later.

The character of the girl's father is especially unrealistic--Mike Brady himself couldn't say or do the perfect thing as often as Andrea's father did. And the other teenagers that Andrea interacts with are all amazingly sensitive and understanding of her problems--which is nice, but not quite believable. The only character who is portrayed as unsympathetic--almost evil--is Andrea's mother. For a novel that is supposed to help children come to terms with a mentally-ill parent, this story takes a pretty dim view of the mother and her condition. She is definitely the villain of the piece and the circumstances of her hospitalization and eventual release seem particularly improbable.

Overall, I did not find this a well-balanced look at mental illness and its effect on families, and I don't think the writing is good enough to overcome the story's flaws. ( )