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vanilla_m's review against another edition
Idk wtf was this...I listened to this and it took me a while to finish for a short book
It's either the book is chaotic and all over the place or I wasn't really paying attention with t e audiobook
It's either the book is chaotic and all over the place or I wasn't really paying attention with t e audiobook
frauleinn8123's review against another edition
4.0
This book was wonderful, I thoroughly enjoyed it even knowing the premise from the film which evidently was not true to the book. There were times she went off on medical tangents that I struggled to get through, but aside from those I couldn't put it down!
maisonmarsiela's review against another edition
2.0
i went into this book hoping it would impact me in the same way that sylvia plath’s the bell jar did - unfortunately, it did not. i was expecting something emotional and heartfelt, but overall the writing felt very impersonal and cold, despite it being a memoir - i found it to be dry, disjointed, and lacking depth. it was more of a collection of vignettes from susanna’s time at mclean than a commentary on her experience with mental illness - which is fine, but not what i had been anticipating. i thought the ‘my diagnosis’ chapter was beautifully done though - insightful and personal, what i had hoped the whole book would be
khaufnaak's review against another edition
4.0
“My situation was that I was in pain and nobody knew it, even I had trouble knowing it.” This book communicates the confusing and disorienting experience of, simply, suffering. I fear to even call it mental illness because it’s evident from the authors last chapter (entries?) that she herself is questioning the pathologization of her being. Her question of, is one going insane in a sane word or merely sane in a sane world, while cliched, a valid and incredibly relevant question. The account she details only give insight into how the mental healthcare system’s level of sense degrades as one examines it’s nooks and crannies.
I think the nature of literature by people with mental illness, about their experiences, with mental illness, with the mental healthcare system, how they understand life, everything, naturally challenged epistemic injustice. People who are identified as mad, their capacity to know, is questioned. The chapter talking about how the women in the facility realized that a black man on trial was gagged so he could not speak was because he had credibility was poignant. Because they realized, they did not need to be gagged, because nobody would believe what they had to say. Epistemic injustice *does* extend people of color, women, oppressed people in general, but of course it is in different ways, with different intersections, different manifestations. When examined through the lens of epistemic justice and phenomenology, this book is particularly enlightening. The mental healthcare helps some, but it certainly harms many as well.
I think the nature of literature by people with mental illness, about their experiences, with mental illness, with the mental healthcare system, how they understand life, everything, naturally challenged epistemic injustice. People who are identified as mad, their capacity to know, is questioned. The chapter talking about how the women in the facility realized that a black man on trial was gagged so he could not speak was because he had credibility was poignant. Because they realized, they did not need to be gagged, because nobody would believe what they had to say. Epistemic injustice *does* extend people of color, women, oppressed people in general, but of course it is in different ways, with different intersections, different manifestations. When examined through the lens of epistemic justice and phenomenology, this book is particularly enlightening. The mental healthcare helps some, but it certainly harms many as well.
turtletonga's review against another edition
4.0
Made me view mental health differently from a whole new perspective and angle.
inquistivemind23's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Mental illness, and Incest