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draculaura21's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.25
No real surprises here. Conditions at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island (now Roosevelt Island) in 1887 are exactly what you'd expect. No heat, bad food, physical and verbal abuse by staff, and abhorrently loose definitions of "insane." At least the Grand Jury investigation that resulted from this publication yielded an $850,000 budget increase. Straitjacket silver lining, I suppose.
The real interest here is Nellie Bly herself. A pioneer in the field of investigative journalism, she even took a solo trip around the world to turn "Around the World in Eighty Days" into fact. She did it in 72. Sounds like one heck of a lady.
The real interest here is Nellie Bly herself. A pioneer in the field of investigative journalism, she even took a solo trip around the world to turn "Around the World in Eighty Days" into fact. She did it in 72. Sounds like one heck of a lady.
e_etcetera's review against another edition
3.0
Mitigée. Mais c'est d'une autre époque ce qui explique sans doute mon soucis avec le vocabulaire de l'autrice.
jayykitty's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book!
I really enjoyed the way this comic was set up. It does a great job of conveying the message of the work it is based on. That being said, sometimes it felt like the character designs were a little too similar and it was hard to discern exactly which woman was featured in that panel. Overall, I liked this one!
I really enjoyed the way this comic was set up. It does a great job of conveying the message of the work it is based on. That being said, sometimes it felt like the character designs were a little too similar and it was hard to discern exactly which woman was featured in that panel. Overall, I liked this one!
rchluther's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
5.0
Fascinating book. I can’t believe what she went through for a story. Look up Nellie Bly. What a awesome lady!
kevin_shepherd's review against another edition
4.0
I’m not sure Nellie Bly knew exactly how difficult it would be for a female journalist to find work in 1887 New York. She had left a good job in Pittsburg and moved to the Big Apple with little else but high hopes. Four months later, after numerous rejections, she was almost penniless and still unemployed. Finally, the New York World gave her an assignment; if she agreed to go undercover and write an exposé on the treatment of patients at the then-infamous Blackwell Island Lunatic Asylum for Women, she had a job. It was illegal, it was dangerous, but it was an opportunity. She agreed.
What Bly wrote changed the face of institutional mental health care in America. Her series of investigative articles shocked 19th Century sensibilities. As a result, state investigations were launched, protocols were drastically altered, and an additional $850,000 (that’s $26,556,505.26 in 2022 dollars) were allocated for New York’s mental health services.
This is a short but compelling read. Yes, it’s a little “tabloidy” and melodramatic but it suits the era in which it was written, and its historical significance is enormous. I can think of at least three films that played on the theme of Bly’s nightmarish experiences: The Snake Pit (Anatole Litvak, 1948), Shock Corridor (Samuel Fuller, 1963), and, of course, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milôs Forman, 1975). Good movies all, and all have Nellie Bly to thank.
What Bly wrote changed the face of institutional mental health care in America. Her series of investigative articles shocked 19th Century sensibilities. As a result, state investigations were launched, protocols were drastically altered, and an additional $850,000 (that’s $26,556,505.26 in 2022 dollars) were allocated for New York’s mental health services.
This is a short but compelling read. Yes, it’s a little “tabloidy” and melodramatic but it suits the era in which it was written, and its historical significance is enormous. I can think of at least three films that played on the theme of Bly’s nightmarish experiences: The Snake Pit (Anatole Litvak, 1948), Shock Corridor (Samuel Fuller, 1963), and, of course, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milôs Forman, 1975). Good movies all, and all have Nellie Bly to thank.
abbeleas's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.5