Welcome to the mini blog tour for Polarized by Joseph DeBlasi. Read on for more details about this explosive memoir!
*Warning: Triggers – Trauma, Mental Illness, Sexual Assault
Polarized: Sex, Lies, and Family Betrayal (A Memoir of Manic Depression)
Genre: Memoir/ Non-Fiction/ Mental Illness
Publication Date: October 15, 2013
A Life of Ups and Downs
Joseph DeBlasi’s life has never been “normal.” Taken by his father at the age of nine, involved in an inappropriate sexual relationship with his stepmother, and estranged from his mom and two brothers, his formative years were spiked with trauma and pain.
And then he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and all hell broke loose. “Manic Joe” reared his ugly head—a brash but charming guy everybody loved despite his appetite for destroying his own life and anyone’s who crossed his path. Then he would slip into deep, months-long debilitating depressive episodes that not even the heaviest medications could touch. Only the undying support of his loved ones has helped him survive.
From Manic Joe’s run-ins with the law to his experiences with electro-convulsive therapy, Polarized: Sex, Lies, and Family Betrayal shows in excruciating and heartbreaking detail what it’s really like to live with mental illness.
My Review of Polarized: Sex, Lies, and Family Betrayal:
Joseph DeBlasi tells an excruciating story of living with mental illness. This story may seem like a farfetched tale of an author looking to shock you, but what you must understand is that this is all too real for those who have a mental illness.
This story hit too close to home for me. I, too, live with bipolar disorder. A lot of Joe’s story is also my story. It was hard for me to read, but at the same time, it was a bit exhilarating as Joe was advocating for me and all other people living with mental illness in the world.
This book is a must-read for everyone. If you have a mental illness, it can help you to know that someone out there is living it and surviving. You can survive too! If you have no association with mental illness, if it has never impacted your life, please read this book to educate yourself. There is much to be learned from this tome.
I award Polarized: Sex, Lies, and Family Betrayal, a full 5 out of 5 stars. The only thing left for me to say is thank you, Joseph. Thank you for telling your story. You have made my life better for having read the book, and I cannot thank you enough.
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About the Author
Joseph DeBlasi’s life has never been normal. Kidnapped by his father at the age of nine, involved in an inappropriate sexual relationship with his stepmother, and estranged from his mother and two brothers, his formative years were spiked with trauma and pain. And then he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and all hell broke loose.
“Manic Joe” reared his ugly head— a brash but charming guy that everybody loved despite his appetite for destroying his own life and anyone’s who crossed his path.
Then he would slip into deep, months-long depressions that only electric shock treatments could touch.
Only the undying love of his “fixer”, his younger brother Kevin, has kept Joe alive. Joe has not just survived, he has lead a real life Forrest Gump existence. Weaving in and out of dangerous mafia plots, professional baseball and football tryouts, jail, Fortune 500 Companies, and mental institutions his life is jaw dropping.
Whether a new court room drama, run in with celebrity, the law, the papers, the mob, a social movement, or their esteemed medical doctor father, Joe’s fixer is at his side willing to do whatever it takes to make sure they are never separated again.
An Ivy League trained attorney with the ability to talk the ass off a camel, Kevin drives a milk truck at night and delivers justice for Joe by day. As he is quoted on radio and television interviews, “I’m like Tommy Hagan from The Godfather, I have a highly specialized practice. I represent one client alone, my brother Joseph.”
Kevin is currently representing Joe in a civil case in NY Supreme Court against CBS Radio’s WFAN who dared humiliate Joe on air after he was arrested at Mets Port St. Lucie Training Facility after attempting a tryout in a manic high.
After spearheading the drive to successfully remove NY’s archaic Statute of Limitations on child sex abuse, Kevin is also assisting Joe in his 30 year pursuit for justice against the stepmother that sexually abused him and the hospital that failed to report it at the insistence of their father who was not only on staff at Staten Island University Hospital but was a feared mob doctor.
What will happen next? Just as Joe never knows what his mood will be from day to day you are just going to have to stay tuned.
Mini Tour Schedule
October 7th
Reads & Reels (Spotlight) http://readsandreels.com
October 8th
The Faerie Review (Review) http://www.thefaeriereview.com
October 9th
Tsarina Press (Spotlight) https://www.tsarinapress.com
October 10th
Reviews and Promotions by Nyx (Spotlight) https://nyxblogs.wordpress.com/
October 11th
My Bookish Bliss (Review) http://mybookishbliss.com
Blog Tour Organized By:
