What stood out to me about Glitterland was how it felt like an honest portrayal of the ups and downs of mental health (not so hidden within a wonderful and adorable British gay romance* story.)
(*While I still think there are a wide range of better ways to form intimate connections than sex, somehow the sex in this story worked, and I guess in the end the fact that people in stories and out in the real world like sex is not really any stranger than the fact there are people who like the taste of coffee or alcohol or pumpkin spice everything, Though don't ask this Ace to ever totally understand the having sex fad. LOL)
The story was able to strike a nice balance between being truthful about the fact that mental health is something that will always be with a person, never will be magically solved, and can negatively impact you by stealing so much of "you" from yourself, while also showing that mental health is something you can learn to live with always having with you.
The mental health issues neither became a superpower, magically went away, nor became the cause of a tragic opera like death scene which is common in many stories around mental health. In addition there was an exploration of the impact of mental health on friends and family. Some characters were kind, some were filled with pity, some were angry, and some were simply mean about the mental health challenges faced by the main character.
The story also maintained the balance of navigating the challenges of relationships without knowing if it will work out but leaving you in a spot where you can realistically be hopeful. We have no idea where the characters might be in a year or 5 years or 10 years but that is ok.
While this story was clearly about someone who had mental health issues and had been in crisis, the story was not only about that. Mental health was just one of the characteristics of the main character. After reading this story I realized just how important this type of story is, and how we all need more stories about mental health like this one.
The story was able to strike a nice balance between being truthful about the fact that mental health is something that will always be with a person, never will be magically solved, and can negatively impact you by stealing so much of "you" from yourself, while also showing that mental health is something you can learn to live with always having with you.
The mental health issues neither became a superpower, magically went away, nor became the cause of a tragic opera like death scene which is common in many stories around mental health. In addition there was an exploration of the impact of mental health on friends and family. Some characters were kind, some were filled with pity, some were angry, and some were simply mean about the mental health challenges faced by the main character.
The story also maintained the balance of navigating the challenges of relationships without knowing if it will work out but leaving you in a spot where you can realistically be hopeful. We have no idea where the characters might be in a year or 5 years or 10 years but that is ok.
While this story was clearly about someone who had mental health issues and had been in crisis, the story was not only about that. Mental health was just one of the characteristics of the main character. After reading this story I realized just how important this type of story is, and how we all need more stories about mental health like this one.
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