The Bleaks

"I read The Bleaks in almost one sitting. It is a compelling tale that drew the reader along with at times arm-gripping intensity. I especially appreciated the every-day treatment of the topic of mental illness. No big fanfare, kid glove, overly sentimental, politically correct, fearful back away, or over-the-top emotional stuff. Just a and then there is this aspect of my story approach. To my mind, the world would be a better place if more of us could take that attitude." —Lenore Rowntree, co-editor of Hidden Lives: Coming Out on Mental Illness
"It is difficult to write a memoir at any time, more so when your life has been transformed into a Catch-22 tragedy. Black humour may be the only defence to mental collapse, but it is hard to sustain those ironic guffaws and see the bright side as the bills roll in and one's social world implodes. Paull Illidge does a remarkable job maintaining his perspective. The Bleaks is a cri de coeur in the face of the absurd personal destruction wrought by the century-old, ineffective criminal prohibition against cannabis. It would be truly funny, if it weren't true." —Ian Mulgrew, columnist, Vancouver Sun, author of Bud Inc.

"On his harrowing descent into the contemporary Canadian criminal justice system, Paul Illidge unfolds a cautionary tale that would make Frans Kafka flinch. His sharp-eyed, page-turning memoir reveals how our demonizing marijuana laws have reached a scandalous point of overkill; it's no small miracle that the author survived his serial, Job-like persecutions with a redeeming blend of bulldog tenacity, irreverent humour and plain old resilience. If written as a novel, The Bleaks would stand accused of being incredible, and thus unpublishable. But it's all true, and far stranger than fiction." —James FitzGerald, author of What Disturbs Our Blood, winner of the 2010 Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize