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A review by sarahanne8382
10 Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly
4.0
My LibriVox book was the true story of the courageous young journalists attempt to see the underside of New York City's mental health system by becoming a patient at the infamous Blackwell's Island Lunatic Asylum. I remember one of our reading books in elementary school had a story about Nellie Bly, the fearless young woman who proved that women could be journalists too.
In this expose she pretends to be a poor crazy girl long enough to have herself committed to the charity asylum at Blackwell's Island. This long story was really quite a head trip as Nellie discovers more and more of the women labeled crazy aren't actually insane, while the treatment by the purportedly sane nurses is not just neglectful but cruel and unusual to the degree that they turn one seemingly sane girl into a lunatic, and even Miss Bly has to struggle to keep her wits about her in the deplorable conditions. Her bright tone, though, somehow manages to keep this peace hopeful as she follows up her visit to Blackwell's Island with testimony to a grand jury and a visit to the much improved (but still not great) island.
In this expose she pretends to be a poor crazy girl long enough to have herself committed to the charity asylum at Blackwell's Island. This long story was really quite a head trip as Nellie discovers more and more of the women labeled crazy aren't actually insane, while the treatment by the purportedly sane nurses is not just neglectful but cruel and unusual to the degree that they turn one seemingly sane girl into a lunatic, and even Miss Bly has to struggle to keep her wits about her in the deplorable conditions. Her bright tone, though, somehow manages to keep this peace hopeful as she follows up her visit to Blackwell's Island with testimony to a grand jury and a visit to the much improved (but still not great) island.