Reviews

What is truly frightening is how calm and measured Carrington is throughout the book, even being very precise with the visions/hallucinations while documenting them. Indirectly, this book is also an account of the external effects of Cardiazol, administered to her in an attempt to stop her psychosis, but with the side-effects of intensely experienced fear.

One can't help but be held in awe of her self-assurance and immense will to live, given the horrendous events she had to undergo.

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4.0

Fascinating, a depiction of depression and madness as a sort of world that one inhabits, "down below" as a source of comfort when things are already so terrible. I can't say I always knew what was going on, but the introduction and postscript were valuable in providing context. I want to read more of Leonora Carrington's work, this was a good one to start with, though it was a particularly odd one because the text provided here was dictated by Carrington but written down by someone else, the original text having been lost. Still, a good introduction to a captivating figure in the surrealist movement.