A review by books_n_cats_1973
Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original "Psycho" by Harold Schechter

5.0

This is the real life account of Ed Gein of whom was the inspiration for the Psycho books and movies. Other movies such as The Texas Chainsaw massacre found inspiration from Ed Gein as well. I will not go into the horrifying accounts of the story so as to not spoil the story for potential listeners. I would like to mention why I find this so sad. Ed Gein was a very troubled and isolated mentally ill man. This stems from an overbearing, controlling mother who used religion to control her 2 boys. I somewhat identify with Ed in this regard and deal with my own psychosis (of course my own situation was not as severe as Ed’s as I do not see myself dealing the same atrocities upon mankind as Ed did) with therapy, medication and even greater steps pertaining to things conducive to better mental health. What I mostly gained from this book is how my own mother who was severely abused, created a childhood for me of severe dysfunctional rearing with the added toxicity of religion. I would encourage others who may have had a dysfunctional or abusive childhood to to give serious consideration of what a story of this regard may do to help, or hinder their own mental health.