Gorilla and the Bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gorilla and the Bird: A Memoir of Madness and a Mother's Love is a memoir by the American public defender Zack McDermott published in 2017.
Published in 2017, the book discusses McDermott's experience with bipolar disorder and how his mother helped him survive the diagnosis.[1][2] When he checked in to the psychiatric unit of Bellevue Hospital for the first time, McDermott began penning the book.[3] The "Gorilla" in the book's title refers to the nickname his mother gave him because of "his barrel chest and hairy body", while the "Bird" refers to his mother as he cited "her tendency to move her head in these choppy semicircles when her feathers were ruffled".[4] The book's initial printing was 40,000 issues.[2]