Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Yellow Wall-Paper

A beautifully writen tragic story about mental health and sexism. Learning that it was written about the author's own experience made it more powerful.

I think I was expecting something more intense/ dramatic to happen at the end.

Content Warnings

opplecopter's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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xabbeylongx's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Spoilers Ahead:
I thought this book was short and sweet, and it was a really interesting read! It’s only 21 pages long, and if you’re interested in fast-paced psychological horror, this is definitely the book for you.

We follow an unnamed narrator as she is TW imprisoned by her husband. She’s just given birth to a baby boy, and it is likely that she suffers from postpartum depression. As she starts to become stir-crazy from being inside the room for so long and suffering the TW abuse that she did, she starts thinking that there are women on the other side of the wallpaper, trying to get in to see her husband. At the beginning, she believes her husband, John (who is a physician and somehow makes all her decisions for her - whilst telling her that she has complete freedom) is doing it all because he loves her. Then she starts to be scared of him. She writes a diary, but he doesn’t like it when she does, so she has to hide it from him. Eventually, she tries to tear the wallpaper, because she’s convinced John knows about her obsession with it, and so tries to tear it off to free the woman behind it. When John finds out, he faints.

A lot of the way through this book I had no clue what was going on - and, to be honest, I had to look up what actually happened. Now that I have read about it, I think it’s a very cool book. It’s essentially about patriarchal standards, and how women are made to feel like they’re going mad, and belittled, even when they show their love to men (just like our narrator was). I like how everything was described, and I like the imagery, and I liked how it ended - though I still can’t work out if she is still alive or not, because it seems to me that she isn’t, but I could be wrong. As I said, short read although sort of hard to follow along with - but I think that really adds to the plot!

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griffington's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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toriliz's review against another edition

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dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

I'm not sure that this story translates to a modern audience well. I think its use of an unreliable narrator and the descent to madness are done well enough but the crux of the plot is not something most modern folks are aware of. If I were to ask someone what a "rest cure" is for, I doubt many people will know it was a treatment for postpartum women. I certainly sympathize with her being trapped and isolated somewhere and am not surprised that those actions would lead her to her descent. I don't think it has the same potency or impact it did previously, though.

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