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A review by lifeinpoetry
72 Hour Hold by Bebe Moore Campbell
5.0
I read this book anxiously the first half. First because I wondered if it'd be another story where the magical parent/psychiatrist/treatment program saves the day. Then because Keri's trip with Trina, her daughter cycling in and out of psychiatric hospitals, for the miracle cure seemed the stuff of nightmares and something that could easily veer into someone dying or being incarcerated for fruitless search in the hope of ensuring capitalism's version of success, the American dream.
Then they do not become a victim of a human trafficking ring, there is no miracle cure, and it all came together for me.
I feel that a lot of the work I read about the parents of a psychiatrically disabled child look for ways to exonerate themselves, their child, (some of) their family and/or partner so it was good to read fiction in which the mother makes a huge mistake and works on correcting it, fights for having a life outside her child's illness, has to learn how to let herself be vulnerable, and has to let go of the idea she has to always be the nurturer. The desire to change someone to who they were before mental illness must seem irresistible. I can sympathize though I'm not sure if I'd have forgiven.
I also love that for once the protagonist of fiction involving mental illness is a Black woman and that 72 Hour Hold was written by a Black woman based on her own experiences with her bipolar daughter. Mental health fiction from outside the white perspective written by someone who isn't white and is a respected writer isn't your everyday book. It was exactly what I needed. There are references to certain instances where race complicates Keri's attempts to save her daughter. The instances were she warns police that Trina is mentally ill and begs them not to shoot her while directing them to Trina's room because a disproportionate amount of people killed by police are Black and/or disabled/mentally ill. There is also the isolation she felt within the Black community due to there being more stigma surrounding mental illness and its treatment than in white America, the mistrust by the very people she was seeking aid from because of racial bias (whether the the bias is conscious or not is unimportant), and multiple microaggressions before that word had become part of our everyday vernacular. It's life, uncomfortable or unnecessary as it may seem for some.
It's a story to hold onto even as I wait for one that will illuminate my own mother.
Then they do not become a victim of a human trafficking ring, there is no miracle cure, and it all came together for me.
I feel that a lot of the work I read about the parents of a psychiatrically disabled child look for ways to exonerate themselves, their child, (some of) their family and/or partner so it was good to read fiction in which the mother makes a huge mistake and works on correcting it, fights for having a life outside her child's illness, has to learn how to let herself be vulnerable, and has to let go of the idea she has to always be the nurturer. The desire to change someone to who they were before mental illness must seem irresistible. I can sympathize though I'm not sure if I'd have forgiven.
I also love that for once the protagonist of fiction involving mental illness is a Black woman and that 72 Hour Hold was written by a Black woman based on her own experiences with her bipolar daughter. Mental health fiction from outside the white perspective written by someone who isn't white and is a respected writer isn't your everyday book. It was exactly what I needed. There are references to certain instances where race complicates Keri's attempts to save her daughter. The instances were she warns police that Trina is mentally ill and begs them not to shoot her while directing them to Trina's room because a disproportionate amount of people killed by police are Black and/or disabled/mentally ill. There is also the isolation she felt within the Black community due to there being more stigma surrounding mental illness and its treatment than in white America, the mistrust by the very people she was seeking aid from because of racial bias (whether the the bias is conscious or not is unimportant), and multiple microaggressions before that word had become part of our everyday vernacular. It's life, uncomfortable or unnecessary as it may seem for some.
It's a story to hold onto even as I wait for one that will illuminate my own mother.