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Reviews tagging 'Grief'
Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals by Christopher Payne
1 review
jhbandcats's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
5.0
This book of photographs of abandoned state mental asylums is just about the saddest I’ve read in I don’t know how long. It’s also incredibly thought provoking. These magnificent, massive buildings and their extensive acreage were larger than many towns. Now, they’ve been demolished or reduced to worthless trash.
Why, when so many people need housing, can these buildings not be saved? Well, obviously because of the cost. Then why can’t developers convert the existing buildings to condominiums and keep part of the buildings and their effects intact, perhaps in a small onsite museum? These buildings were designed by the best architects of their time, and they’re beautiful.
The combination of the anguish the mental patients were suffering and the demolition of these phenomenal buildings has really affected me. I should at least say that Payne’s photos are gorgeous and Oliver Sacks’ words are always more than worthwhile.
Why, when so many people need housing, can these buildings not be saved? Well, obviously because of the cost. Then why can’t developers convert the existing buildings to condominiums and keep part of the buildings and their effects intact, perhaps in a small onsite museum? These buildings were designed by the best architects of their time, and they’re beautiful.
The combination of the anguish the mental patients were suffering and the demolition of these phenomenal buildings has really affected me. I should at least say that Payne’s photos are gorgeous and Oliver Sacks’ words are always more than worthwhile.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Medical content, Mental illness, Grief, Death, and Chronic illness
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