Borderline

I feel a little unsure about Borderline. There's a pretty standard urban fantasy plot, centered around an unapologetically, no-holds-barred borderline personality disordered protagonist. And I felt towards it the way that years of being in the medical profession has drilled me to react to borderline personality disorder: man, it's kind of fascinating, but best observed at arm's length. The portrayal of borderline personality disorder is eerily accurate, but also extremely sympathetic. The book has received much accolades on its portrayal of BPD, and I think a lot of that is deserved: this is clearly the best portrayal of BPD in the literature, one of the few protagonists I know of with BPD and its take is quite nuanced. However, at some point, I also felt like Millie got too much of a narrative pass for her behavior and it was pretty clear to me from the writing that the author herself had BPD (indeed, she does.) The way that this is clearest to me is that there's a sense when you're around someone with BPD that their behavior and actions are amped up to a hundred to the point that no one around them has any space, and the book completely treats Millie that way – all of the other characters are flat and under detailed. Even the plot grinds to a halt to serve Millie's internal churning. Perhaps that's part of the realistic portrayal, but it's kind of off-putting as a reader. What redeems the book for me is Baker's portrayal of Millie's inner self, her suffering and her (meager) attempts at getting better.

Overall, I found this book a fascinating insider's view on borderline personality disorder, but kind of flawed as a novel.