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beccakatie 's review for:
The Mad Women's Ball
by Victoria Mas
For such a short book with a simple plot, I thoroughly enjoyed this. The plot moved very swiftly, but somehow did not seem rushed. The theme of how women suffer at the hands of men was poignant, and the suffering of each of the women invites the reader to reflect on the society of both them and us. In some ways we seem to have developed, we no longer treat patients as freak shows, but there is still stigma and lack of understanding surrounding mental health and trauma.
Seeing this community of women exist both on its own away from the reach of men, but at the same time be created and enforced through the decisions of men, of fathers, husbands and doctors, is a powerful dichotomy, and the power of this book comes from understanding the strength of female relationships and communities. These are the only way that the women in this book can exercise autonomy, and they are still vitally important today.
It would potentially have interesting to have the Spiritism a little more in doubt, questioning whether Eugenie and Genevieve were mad or not, but that would have changed the tone into more of a gothic mystery similar to Sarah Waters than the simple examination of women’s existences and experiences.
Seeing this community of women exist both on its own away from the reach of men, but at the same time be created and enforced through the decisions of men, of fathers, husbands and doctors, is a powerful dichotomy, and the power of this book comes from understanding the strength of female relationships and communities. These are the only way that the women in this book can exercise autonomy, and they are still vitally important today.
It would potentially have interesting to have the Spiritism a little more in doubt, questioning whether Eugenie and Genevieve were mad or not, but that would have changed the tone into more of a gothic mystery similar to Sarah Waters than the simple examination of women’s existences and experiences.