Rating: 
Summary: Misadventures of a narcissistic manic
Review: "Electroboy" is a fascinating account of a privileged life lived under the thrall of mental illness. Behrman's vast mania obscures his depression and disconnection with the world and permits him to function in a slew of occupations: filmmaker, art dealer, stripper at a gay bar, public relations agent. His mania also leads him on a hazardous journey through substance abuse in the grandest sense and through ultimately unsatisfying (bi-)sexual adventures. While it gives a compelling portrait of struggling with a mental illness, the book doesn't seem to have a point beyond being a document of Behrman's raging manic depression. It ends up being like a reality television show in book form: fascinating for some and tedious for others. Bringing to mind aspects of "American Psycho" and "Running with Scissors", "Electroboy" will mostly appeal to those with a fascination with mental illnesses.
Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating read
Review: A lot of people have criticized this book as being too sensationalistic and trashy. Others have labeled Behrman a self-promoter. These allegations may be partly correct, but one aspect of writing a good memoir is to entertain the reader a little. For example, I found the description of Behrman's art forgery interesting and consistent with manic behavior. I suppose the book is a little light on information about bipolar disorder, but perhaps describing bipolar disorder in detail wasn't really the intent- hardly anyone criticizes Kay Jamison for not providing more info about bipolar disorder in "An Unquiet Mind". In summary, Behrman has assembled a pretty good book in "Electroboy" that anyone interested in bipolar disorder, or who likes entertaining narrative nonfiction, should read. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".
Rating: 
Summary: Addictive
Review: Awesome book.... very addictive as I was reading it, except I was getting so into it that I started feeling a little manic myself... very fun and easy to read and very stylish; suprising considerng the situation the author was in. It draws you into the author's world so well, its got me watching my own mental health!Especially easy for a NYC'er to relate too, by the way.
Rating:
Summary: Candid But Glorified Look At Manic-Depression
Review: Behrman initially captivated me with his rapid-fire, neon-bright prose that made me feel as though I was his accomplice in his debaucherous escapades. But, I had a few complaints with both his ending and his style of writing. First, I'd like to say that I found it hard to actually sympathize with Andy's condition because of the way he always seemed to revel in his outbreaks even after the crescendo of a particularly wild ride. Though quite descriptive when writing about his adolescence and mid-twenties, he seemed too hurried to conclude the book. Also, even through his final "Electro" phase, I found it hard to muster up much sympathy for a man who, by who by all accounts, led a rather charmed life. Don't get me wrong, there were some poignant elements that were truly disturbing (example being his foray into the adult entertainment business), but at the end, I felt he slammed on the breaks too fast to deliver the message he intended. Finally, I'd like to point out that this book was an enjoyable and quick read, though it was written in almost a journal-entry style, and I'd recommend it to someone who wants a hip, slick beach book to read this summer.
Rating:
Summary: has a better book ever been written? not since the bible.
Review: electro-boy is electro-fun. if you're the mood for a light hearted, jovial romp through the world of a bumbling drug addict, then this one is for you. ... It's one of those masterpieces where you don't have to think when you read it. I'd rate it second on the greatest books ever written list, behind the bible and just ahead of Ulysses. p.s. if you like america, don't read this: this book is one of the most unpatriotic novels ever written. in one scene, the hero electro boy uses an american flag to wipe his groin sweat, and steals a cane from a war veteran so he can purchase more heroin. stay away if you're a patriot.
Rating:
Summary: A Searing, Engaging Self-Portrait
Review: Electroboy infused me with enough wattage to light up my day-- yes I read this page-turner in a day, unable to put it down. Behrman's manic hijinx were alternately hilarious and terrrifying. His jet-setting, drug infused, sexually charged escapades come at a price and his struggle through electroshock therapy, prison (though his is definitely a minimum security cake walk) therapy and getting himself a taste of sanity is as gripping as the ride through hell. Most intriguing was the honesty with which Behrman examines his post-manic life. Though partly pleased to be out from the escalating madness he expresses feelings of regret-- Behrman seems to miss his over-the-top existence. I regret having finished this book so quickly.
Rating:
Summary: Out of Control
Review: Electroboy is a very peculiar, always interesting, and sometimes disturbing look into the days of a life of a young New York Jewish man. Andy Behrman is afflicted with manic depression and it forces him to live his life at a whirlwind pace. He has no control over what he will do next - catch a flight to Morocco, clean and scrub his house spotless, go on a wild shopping spree, have sex with women prostitutes while snorting cocaine, lay in bed all day and watch CNN, catch a flight to St. Louis Missouri, have sex with male prostitutes while smoking crack, stalk his ex-girlfriend, make thousands and thousands of dollars in every business ventures he undertakes, etc... Andy Behrman is a fine wordsmith and his writing crackles with a manic energy of its own - it hooked me enough to buy the book. But after bringing Electroboy home and truly sitting down and absorbing it, the more I read, the more I found myself becoming mentally exhausted trying to keep up with the author in all his rapid-fire rambling and highly detailed discourses. The story of this book is how he eventually winds up getting caught for selling art forgeries, but really, it's about his daily and wildy varying adventures while in the compulsive grip of manic depression. This book is very thought-provoking, and yes, very disturbing, what with all the graphically described gay sex and hard-core drug use. It's hard to believe people really live like what is described in this book, but interesting nonetheless to know people do indeed live in worlds probably very different from our own.
Rating:
Summary: Trying to Stay Aboard A Wild Horse Certainly Can't Be Easy
Review: Electroboy: A Memoir of Madness is one man's story of his roller-coaster ride through the hell of manic-depressive illness. Fortunately, he seems to have made it to the other side intact enough to write about it. Many others never survive, even as long as Berhman has done, and succumb much earlier to the high fatality rate within this population of our mentally ill. There is a certain irony in the frustrations expressed by many of the reviewers of Electroboy. They cite the book's disorganized and chaotic approach as its negatives. Yet, looking at this book from another perspective, what I believe Berhman has done remarkably well is to convey just how much his life was one lived in fear, uncontrolled energy and terrifying frenzy. As I read the book, I found myself needing to put it down every so often just to catch my breath. This may be what caused so many reviewers to react negatively to Electroboy. Yet, my sense of this cyclonic story is that it actually conveys to its audience just a small flavor of the severe degree to which the individual suffering is just simply out of control! Yes, it is filled with alcohol, drugs, sex, bizarre world travel, and other seemingly reprehensible behavior! This is the 'stuff of the illness' While some may choose to view Berhman's behavior as hedonistic or self centered or egotistical, these conclusions really speak to how little is widely known about manic-depressive illness and most other mental illnesses.Our society continues to hedge on its willingness to recognize mental illness as real. While we have come a long way from parking our disturbed relatives hundreds of miles away in institutions where "out of sight and out of mind" ruled the ways of treatment, even in our more progressive and informed twenty-first century, we still have some very faulty and often superstitious beliefs about mental illness. Honestly, who would choose to live life in such free fall and utter chaos? I know I wouldn't. Most people certainly don't choose such a life. I don't think those who suffer it choose it either. For too long we have labeled mental illness as a moral, or religious or willpower failure. Others only describe the behavior by its outward manifestations and related labels: alcoholic, drug addict, sexual deviant, thief, and sociopath... It would seem to me that we need to make some urgently needed revisions on the conclusions and judgments we make when an individual member of our world is so utterly disordered. We might begin with a simple question pursued diligently by the search for an answer -- What's causing this crazy making? More likely than the failings of morality, or will, we will increasingly come to understand, hopefully soon with empirical evidence, that there exists an authentic organic disease of the brain. While we have mastered much of the physical body, the brain continues to be largely uncharted territory. We still too often want to view mental illness through the more familiar lens with which we view the broken leg or the tumor or an infection. Quite simple -- Diagnose and treat aggressively! Yet, we aren't so good at realizing that we know much more about the cause and treatment of infections and broken limbs than we do about the malfunctioning brain. We are still in some ways in the dark ages with the diagnostic and treatment approaches for mental illness. Without increased voice for research funding and for insurance coverage, we will probably remain in this dark place for the foreseeable future. The most compelling and saddening part of Andy Berhman's struggle to gain a level plain on which to live life is how imprecise medical treatment is for mental illnesses. Even with hopeful recent additions to the armament of medications, its seems they are used too broadly with a "one size fits all" attitude. Yet the reality of mental illness diagnosis and treatment is the fact that what works for one person doesn't often work for the next. Dosages need to be trialed and monitored for each individual. Combinations of drugs need to be constantly tinkered with, often over long periods of time. Some people respond to much less medication than others; some to much more than standard. At the very same time we begin to understand just how complex treatment is for an illness such as this one is, Medical Insurance policies continue to scale back coverage for mental illness. Psychiatric time is often doled out in fifteen-minute segments for a pre-determined number of sessions -- often allocated even before a diagnosis is made. Appointments are often set months apart. Patients are given medications in standard dosages and told to follow the instructions and come back in a month or three! What we know darn well about people who are sick is that they don't have the wherewithal to follow anything with a degree of consistency. To start with these indivduals often don't have much hope left.Why bother with the medications? Beyond this, asking the disordered mind to follow the order required to take a regimen of medications isn't exactly a logical treatment approach. These folks need some help to do things as basic as take medications until they reach a point where they can do it for themselves. Sadly, on the human level, too often when mentally ill human beings are at their utter bottoms and need their friends and loved ones the most, simply to take care of them in basic ways -- watch their medications, make sure they eat, wash -- these very important people often make themselves particularly scarce out of frustration, fear or their own sense of helplessness. I hope that Andy Berhman's courageousness in "laying it all out there" for the general public to see helps at least a few professionals to pay better attention to those who come to them for help. So too, I pray that Berhman's story will offer a ray of hope to those (or their family members) still suffering through turmoil similar to that which Berhman himself experienced. I applaud Berhman's contribution to helping us all understand just a little more about the illnesses of the mind!
Rating:
Summary: Very Exciting Read...
Review: First off, I would like to say that for me reading must be exciting
or I will get bored, which is something that this book is not. I read Electroboy in one night whom my manic depressive friend gave to me as a gift.I thought it was amazing and one of the best presents I ever received. I just could not put the book down. I read the whole book in a few hours and was a little sad when I came to the last chapter. My friend is a manic depressive and I was used to some of the things he was speaking about in the book. So I really related. One in particular that I would like to share is the to do list
I thought that was so awesome, because my friend's head thinks like that. I definately was intriqued by Mr. Behrman's life and thought that he must be incredibly intellegent/bordering on genious
to accomplish as much as he did in his life professionally and personally. I really could not believe all the things that he went through and is still able to progress in his life. That is an amazing accomplishment. I can't beleive someone could travel that much from country to country in a matter of days. Stay up all night, do drugs, have wild parties, take as much medication as he did and still somewhat keep it together. I reccomend this book to all my friends and anyone who comes across my path. Andy Behrman's style of writing is brilliant. I have never appreciated a book as much as I have this one. It makes me realize that my Manic Depressive friend of ten-years is not the only one who behaves this way and confirms for me that these behaviors are really due to an illness. I cannot wait for book number 2.
Rating:
Summary: I'm still catching my breath!
Review: For most of his life Andy has hidden his raging mania under a larger-than-life personality until he turns to art forgery. Then he became the subject of a New York scandal, jail & house arrest until, finally, when he knows he can no longer control himself, he opts for electroconvulsive therapy. Andy Behrman, inspite of his mental illness, has written an engaging & exhausting, hilarious & horrifying memoir of where he came from, how it all started & what happened. How he moved from authentic into full throttle forgery - both in the field of his art dealing &, as the disease overwhelms him, in his life. His monumental To Do List is a sign of things to come! ELECTROBOY is a bit longer than it needed to be, with no excuses for the turmoil tumbling out. You will find yourself holding your breath & then squeaking with relief tinged with chuckles. On & on he goes, round & round he swirls on highs so high he's looking down at the sky & then, in a blink, he's so at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, he can't see daylight. Extra-ordinary & a thought-provoking, memorable read! I will not look at my life the same way again!
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