The Tunnel: A Memoir

There is a popular, long held superstition that when you are travelling through a tunnel, if you make a wish, and hold your breath for the length of the tunnel, your wish will come true. Over the last decade, Tripp Friedler would hold his breath and make one wish: that his son Henry would get better, that he would find a way for him to live with his debilitating bipolar disorder--a disorder that cost Henry the ability to hold down a job, keep friends, or maintain an apartment. A disorder that would see him kicked out of prep schools and colleges and that led to time in psych wards and, occasionally, jail. The Tunnel is a father's memoir about a family's odyssey through the world of serious mental illness. It is a story about the battles Henry fought with his parents, with various authority figures--including schools, teachers, and the police-- and most importantly, the battles Henry fought with his own mind. Henry's story takes place for the most part in the distinctive air of Uptown New Orleans. He came from a well-educated and prosperous Southern family, the only son between two sisters. The memoir chronicles the way society views, treats, and even criminalizes the mentally ill. It is a love story of a husband and wife as well as a fractured love story of a father and son. But at its heart The Tunnel is a story of the resilience of a family, a man, and a marriage. It is a story of taking that gasp of air at the end of a tunnel--a breath that says you are alive, you made it through your own tunnel of darkness, and you will find happiness on the other side.