Take a photo of a barcode or cover
isabelwillems 's review for:
I couldn't finish this book -- I got a little over 60% through -- because honestly, Patricia is just irritating. I can't tell if it's bad writing or if I genuinely just don't like her as a person.
I don't want to be an asshole, especially not towards a person that has obviously had a terrible life, but I took issues with several things throughout the book. I struggle with mental illness, although of course not to the extent that the body of Kim Noble does, and when I was a child, I functioned like Patricia did. I thought everyone was mentally like me and that I just was worse at coping with it. However, when I was a teenager and started forming deeper connections with people, it became crystal clear that I was very different from a lot of my loved ones. I get wanting to deny such a severe mental illness, but Patricia makes it sound like she didn't so much as question her reality until she was in her early thirties. Surely at some point she thought it was strange that she was being kept for years in mental institutions when other teenagers didn't have to? She had to have realized at least once that other people didn't have such terrible memories (although of course her memory wasn't the real issue).
I also take issue with the way Patricia talks about mental health and medication. She paints other mentally ill people in a very negative light and speaks about them as if from an outside perspective, yet she struggles with arguably one of the most severe mental illnesses in the world. She also acts like all medication is evil and turns you into this bumbling, shambling zombie. As someone who relies on daily prescription medication just to live a normal life, I obviously take issue with this. Sure, some people are overly or incorrectly medicated, but medication isn't evil. It's essential to lots of mental health journeys.
The main part of the book that bothered me was when Patricia -- or, I suppose, the body of Kim Noble as a whole -- was diagnosed with dissociation and Patricia just...ignores it? Again, I totally understand wanting to deny that there's something so very wrong with you, but having a dissociation disorder explains so many of her problems. It would explain her terrible memory, her differences from her peers, and the difficulties she has in her life and relationships. I would have thought that she would be desperate for an explanation as to what the hell was going on with her -- but again, she doesn't even question her way of life until her early to mid thirties! At some point, if everyone around you is constantly wrong and you're always right, you have to wonder if maybe you're perceiving things incorrectly.
A scene near the beginning of the book also sticks out to me as strange. She discusses how other people with DID have communication with their alters and she has none, but that she prefers it this way. I obviously didn't finish the book so maybe there's some big revelation as to why this is the case, but shouldn't her therapists have tried to help her connect with her other alters? One of my old friends struggles with DID so I did a ton of research over the last few years to be able to understand him better. During that research, I found that most therapists aim to either combine all the alters or create a sort of symbiotic relationship between all of them so they can all coexist. In that initial chapter, Patricia doesn't seem to even understand this is an option. She seems to believe that either it's radio silence between alters or it's a constant cacophony of alters shouting over one another. She also doesn't mention headspaces or inner worlds, and based on how terrible her life was for three decades, knowing about and existing in such a space could be hugely beneficial. Seriously, who are her therapists?
I absolutely believe the body of Kim Noble has Dissociative Identity Disorder. I was just very irritated with Patricia throughout the book. I would have preferred hearing the story from a less abrasive, combative alter.
I don't want to be an asshole, especially not towards a person that has obviously had a terrible life, but I took issues with several things throughout the book. I struggle with mental illness, although of course not to the extent that the body of Kim Noble does, and when I was a child, I functioned like Patricia did. I thought everyone was mentally like me and that I just was worse at coping with it. However, when I was a teenager and started forming deeper connections with people, it became crystal clear that I was very different from a lot of my loved ones. I get wanting to deny such a severe mental illness, but Patricia makes it sound like she didn't so much as question her reality until she was in her early thirties. Surely at some point she thought it was strange that she was being kept for years in mental institutions when other teenagers didn't have to? She had to have realized at least once that other people didn't have such terrible memories (although of course her memory wasn't the real issue).
I also take issue with the way Patricia talks about mental health and medication. She paints other mentally ill people in a very negative light and speaks about them as if from an outside perspective, yet she struggles with arguably one of the most severe mental illnesses in the world. She also acts like all medication is evil and turns you into this bumbling, shambling zombie. As someone who relies on daily prescription medication just to live a normal life, I obviously take issue with this. Sure, some people are overly or incorrectly medicated, but medication isn't evil. It's essential to lots of mental health journeys.
The main part of the book that bothered me was when Patricia -- or, I suppose, the body of Kim Noble as a whole -- was diagnosed with dissociation and Patricia just...ignores it? Again, I totally understand wanting to deny that there's something so very wrong with you, but having a dissociation disorder explains so many of her problems. It would explain her terrible memory, her differences from her peers, and the difficulties she has in her life and relationships. I would have thought that she would be desperate for an explanation as to what the hell was going on with her -- but again, she doesn't even question her way of life until her early to mid thirties! At some point, if everyone around you is constantly wrong and you're always right, you have to wonder if maybe you're perceiving things incorrectly.
A scene near the beginning of the book also sticks out to me as strange. She discusses how other people with DID have communication with their alters and she has none, but that she prefers it this way. I obviously didn't finish the book so maybe there's some big revelation as to why this is the case, but shouldn't her therapists have tried to help her connect with her other alters? One of my old friends struggles with DID so I did a ton of research over the last few years to be able to understand him better. During that research, I found that most therapists aim to either combine all the alters or create a sort of symbiotic relationship between all of them so they can all coexist. In that initial chapter, Patricia doesn't seem to even understand this is an option. She seems to believe that either it's radio silence between alters or it's a constant cacophony of alters shouting over one another. She also doesn't mention headspaces or inner worlds, and based on how terrible her life was for three decades, knowing about and existing in such a space could be hugely beneficial. Seriously, who are her therapists?
I absolutely believe the body of Kim Noble has Dissociative Identity Disorder. I was just very irritated with Patricia throughout the book. I would have preferred hearing the story from a less abrasive, combative alter.