She even walked right through a glass window. When Lisa even screamed out that she needed help, they simply wouldn’t understand. They simply refused to accept the fact that their daughter was in need of anything. Many told Lisa’s stubborn parents that she needed a psychiatrist. Lisa was in school and pricked herself with a needle that drew blood. Her parents did not pay attention in the beginning when Lisa started to act a little different. The main conflict of this book is the struggle to convince Lisa’s parents that she is ill and needs serious help. Luckily, she has friends that care enough to help her. Her mother and father snub her off completely overlooking her serious unstableness. Detailing how mental illness affects friends and family of the ill, Lisa, Bright and Dark has been in print for more than forty years. Many can relate to Lisa and her illness because it is among teenagers today. Selected as one of TheNew York Times Book Reviews Best Books of the Year and honored worldwide, Lisa, Bright and Dark was an immediate sensation when it was first published. This is hard to do since she is in need of help. Lisa’s motivation as a teenager is to live her life normally. Her dangerous state of mind reflects the realism that this does happen. Lisa is quite an example of a teenager with problems which is why she’d be classified as a very real character. She is just sixteen as she slowly loses her mind. They may not always know exactly what to do, as they shouldn’t be expected to, though their devotion to the care and well-being of their friend is outstanding and would do wonders if emulated.Lisa Shilling is the main character of this book. (Mary Nell), fresh and original Betsy, along with guarded, though warmhearted Elizabeth throw themselves into offering genuine support as well as getting the right help their friend needs. I found this book to be very insightful on the stigma and reality of having a friend who suffers from a mental illness. The ‘voices’ have seemed to suddenly overwhelm her and turn change her into someone that not only friends and her boyfriend, Brian, don’t recognize, though she doesn’t recognize either. She doesn’t understand why she is her usual bubbly self one moment and dark and empty the next. What’s different about Lisa is that she cannot control her ever-changing moods. She’s popular, held highly in the eyes of her peers, and she has a sense of humor that can melt the ice off the coldest of hearts. Lisa is your typical happy-go-lucky high school student.

Lisa, Bright and Dark by John Neufeld