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vigil's review
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
the author has a very impersonal style of writing, alluding to her background in academia (which she likes to make note of, often) that makes it difficult to emotionally engaged with though highly informative. her first-hand account of schizophrenia and the way it is treated by the healthcare system was thought provoking and again, informative.
what i will say is that it jumps around from topic to topic with little coherency. the ultimate endpoint of the book, is more akin to a memoir, perhaps a journal, than essays. and because of this failure of the marketed and titled premise it begins to feel increasingly trite as it goes on. i think this quality would’ve likely stayed even if reworked into a memoir format, but it might have been somewhat mitigated. in a memoir if you don’t want to have deep reflection on your privileged life and attitude (she loves to remind readers that she went to yale, generally in every entry) that is one thing, but in a collection of essays? it seems odd and out of place how little this was explored or addressed, only simply, and i must stress, repeatedly, stated with no clear purpose.
what i will say is that it jumps around from topic to topic with little coherency. the ultimate endpoint of the book, is more akin to a memoir, perhaps a journal, than essays. and because of this failure of the marketed and titled premise it begins to feel increasingly trite as it goes on. i think this quality would’ve likely stayed even if reworked into a memoir format, but it might have been somewhat mitigated. in a memoir if you don’t want to have deep reflection on your privileged life and attitude (she loves to remind readers that she went to yale, generally in every entry) that is one thing, but in a collection of essays? it seems odd and out of place how little this was explored or addressed, only simply, and i must stress, repeatedly, stated with no clear purpose.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, and Self harm
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