Mental: a novel

“But all of the chartreuse buds on the new spring branches are also the brown crispy leaves that blow to the ground in the fall. It’s natural. It’s the way life works.” — Chapter 16, “Mental”

“Mental,” which took twenty years to complete, is based on Johnston’s late teens and early twenties during the 1990s in Texas. Weaving journalistic scrutiny with magic realism, “Mental” draws upon a broad set of themes, all of which illustrate why one young woman’s emergence from childhood to take responsibility for her life was belated.

Told by identical twin narrators in three parts, “Mental” delves deeply into the inner workings of the psyche to achieve a hard won happy ending, leaving the reader with the suggestion that it is one’s attitude which directs one’s fate. Drawing upon Buddhist scriptures and with a strong foundation in the natural world, “Mental”’s subject matter may at times be dark—but the aftertaste of the piece as a whole is overwhelmingly positive.

This Second Edition of “Mental,” released on the first anniversary of its original publication, is meant to inspire those who are struggling to find themselves in a world that can be full of evil, disappointment, loss and grief. This novel is about dealing with changes and transitions, and is offered to illustrate the importance of adhering to the search for happiness and peace even in the midst of suffering.

Marie K Johnston (aka Kristen M McCurry) is a novelist, poet, visual artist and website creator. You can learn more about her life and art at MarieKJohnston.com. She is a 42 year old married mother of one living in a little arty town just northwest of Houston, TX. She was educated at The University of Texas at Austin and Cornell University, wrote for Walmart.com and Rice University’s Web & Print Division, and taught English for ten years before she married.