A review by paulataua
The Octopus Man by Jasper Gibson

3.0

Tom has lived with schizophrenia for nineteen years communicating in private with this octopus god, but then is hospitalized when his condition is triggered. One solution is for him to take part in a clinical trial of a new drug, an option that is being pushed upon him by his well-meaning family and the not so concerned doctors. I found the whole thing quite unconvincing. I found the main character, and virtually every character in the hospital, to be a shallow sketch, and the conversations there seemed quite unrealistic. I was also irritated when his beautifully poetic descriptive powers endured in the face of heavy medication. I really did struggle to get to the end. Having said that, the message of the novel was good and the last few pages almost, and I stress the ‘almost’, made it worth reading. Not my favorite critique of psychiatry, but at least a critique!