Missing the Big Picture is an autobiographical coming of age story about one man's struggle with mental illness and suicidal thoughts, his eventual college graduation, and his career as a comedian. Comedian Luke G. Donovan is the product of a single parent home with a mentally ill grandmother. Bullied and abused by classmates and faced with inappropriate and unprofessional faculty members in high school, he finally has a great first year of college, but continues to hear voices and have suicidal thoughts. But through it all he perseveres to earn his degree, work as a registered nurse, and become an award winning stand-up comedy performer. A story as harrowing as it is hopeful, Donovan delivers it all with a humbling dose of self-confidence and humor that is enthralling and inspirational. For Luke G. Donovan, life in Albany is, as Erma Bombeck famously said, "like a bowl of cherries"-and he is indeed in the pits. After being a product of an estranged household, and finding his home life stigmatizing in his Catholic military high school, he is the recipient of bullying from classmates and inappropriate and unprofessional faculty members. Ultimately he transfers to a public school, but only continues to have difficulty relating to classmates. A people pleaser by nature, he is consistently taken advantage of, picked on, and unhappy with whom he is and how he looks. From the age of eighteen through his graduation from college, Donovan hears voices in his mind, voices that lead to thoughts of suicide. Through perseverance and courage, however, he is able to emerge from these trying times as a registered nurse. And as he continues to grow as a person, he begins to understand what he calls the big picture: self-confidence, compassion for others, and a positive, realistic attitude. And instead of letting anger at his treatment consume him, he uses it to help heal himself and others with laughter. Shining light on a litany of taboo subjects, Donovan illuminates the profound truth that relationships, friendships, peer pressure, and body image are not gender issues-rather they are human issues. A powerful, inspirational coming of age journey, Missing the Big Picture shatters stereotypes as it teaches tolerance and acceptance.