Stay Crazy by Erica L. SatifkaMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
"It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you." That old saying isn't entirely accurate in Stay Crazy, because our heroine Em really is paranoid (specifically, paranoid schizophrenic with depressive tendencies). But as strange things happen at the local superstore, it may that something really is out to get her, too.
Em is a young woman dealing with mental illness in rural Pennsylvania. She's had to drop out of college, returning home to live with her mother and younger sister. When she takes a job at the local Savertown USA big-box discount store, she begins to hear a voice coming from another dimension. Strange suicides plague the store's employees, and Em follows the voice's instructions to stem an extra-dimensional incursion and save the day.
At least, that's how Em describes things. Since the story is told entirely from her perspective, and her illness is certainly not totally under control, it's not clear to the reader whether the unnatural extra-dimensional events are really happening or not. It all seems to merge into the world as Em sees it, but is it reality or something warped by her perceptions?
In the end, I don't think it really matters, since Stay Crazy is less a story about extra-dimensional beings and more a window into Em's life as she deals with her illness. Struggling with her medication, dealing with well-meaning but unhelpful doctors, relationship troubles, and many other aspects of living with schizophrenic and depression. All made more difficult by the knowledge that she's in a dead-end job in a small town with little prospect for improvement.
Em is a sarcastic and witty narrator. There's plenty of humor, even when things appear to be pretty bleak. Satifka's characters are nicely developed as the story moves along, though few are particularly likable (at least as colored by Em's perceptions).
Em certainly has her fair share of problems, both self-inflicted and external. The author doesn't end with a happily-ever-after scenario, but things are looking up for her, though plenty of work remains. In the end, I felt like she'd made it through a difficult time and had hope for a better life ahead. Despite all the difficult subject matter, Stay Crazy manages to be both an entertaining and hopeful story.
