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A review by quefelicia
A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel
2.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Hannah Gold starts as a typical unreliable narrator. She is institutionalized for reasons that are revealed in time, but one thing is clear from the beginning -- Hannah is considered "a danger to herself and others." She is kept isolated, not even leaving her room to use the bathroom. And then Hannah is assigned a roommate, Lucy, and she is determined to form a friendship that will prove to the doctors that she isn't mentally ill. Hannah believes that whatever event lead her to the institution was an accident and a misunderstanding, and she should be released.
I wanted to love this book, but it just didn't do it for me. I felt like pieces of Hannah's psychosis were revealed in the writing, but it was done in a way that made me think, "was that intentional or is the writing just repetitive?" I felt that the book didn't reach it's potential as an unreliable narrator story, nor did it take a deep enough look at a patient and her family coming to terms with her diagnosis. That said, this book will certainly have readers that love it, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to students.
Hannah Gold starts as a typical unreliable narrator. She is institutionalized for reasons that are revealed in time, but one thing is clear from the beginning -- Hannah is considered "a danger to herself and others." She is kept isolated, not even leaving her room to use the bathroom. And then Hannah is assigned a roommate, Lucy, and she is determined to form a friendship that will prove to the doctors that she isn't mentally ill. Hannah believes that whatever event lead her to the institution was an accident and a misunderstanding, and she should be released.
I wanted to love this book, but it just didn't do it for me. I felt like pieces of Hannah's psychosis were revealed in the writing, but it was done in a way that made me think, "was that intentional or is the writing just repetitive?" I felt that the book didn't reach it's potential as an unreliable narrator story, nor did it take a deep enough look at a patient and her family coming to terms with her diagnosis. That said, this book will certainly have readers that love it, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to students.