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A review by gracekennedy134
No Such Thing as Normal by Bryony Gordon
1.0
1.5/5 - I write this appreciating the various tools, language, and support that people use in order to start or continue understanding their mental health, even if this was not for me. No Such Thing as Normal is a realistic and friendly discussion on mental health. I appreciate Bryony for sharing her personal experiences and breaking down mental health into a daily healing process: looking at everyday interactions and tasks as a place of healing and not focusing on the large tasks.
This was a short, quick read, but not one I necessarily enjoyed. I found that it lacked the substance I was expecting. The book reads like a friend telling what worked for them in their mental health journey. This can be a very helpful entry point for many trying to understand and heal their own mental health or support others in their journey, but it wasn’t working for me. I didn’t take a lot away from this, personally, and found myself losing focus as messaging became repetitive. I found the frequent pull-quotes to be distracting and had to stop reading them since they are already in the text. I didn't know this going into the book, but it focuses on the great resources in the UK for mental health. As a non-UK reader, the principle could be similar, but it adds an extra step to find their equivalent. The overall writing style and framing of the subject did not engage me, and I probably wouldn’t have finished if I wasn’t reading for book club.
Again, everyone's reception and journey to better mental health is different, and even discussing the topic and sharing unique experiences is important and not to be discredited.
This was a short, quick read, but not one I necessarily enjoyed. I found that it lacked the substance I was expecting. The book reads like a friend telling what worked for them in their mental health journey. This can be a very helpful entry point for many trying to understand and heal their own mental health or support others in their journey, but it wasn’t working for me. I didn’t take a lot away from this, personally, and found myself losing focus as messaging became repetitive. I found the frequent pull-quotes to be distracting and had to stop reading them since they are already in the text. I didn't know this going into the book, but it focuses on the great resources in the UK for mental health. As a non-UK reader, the principle could be similar, but it adds an extra step to find their equivalent. The overall writing style and framing of the subject did not engage me, and I probably wouldn’t have finished if I wasn’t reading for book club.
Again, everyone's reception and journey to better mental health is different, and even discussing the topic and sharing unique experiences is important and not to be discredited.