LIZ: BOOK #39

Under Observation: Life Inside the McLean Psychiatric Hospital by Lisa Berger and Alexander Vuckovic

288 pages

Completed 10/15/10

A combination of clinical reports and patient activity and the life of a doctor inside a psychiatric facility, Under Observation was more dated than I had hoped. As a student of psychology, I am always drawn to case studies and daily interactions with disturbed patients. However, much like the real world of psychology, the bureaucracy surrounding these patients and the McLean facility bored me.

A lot of medical advances have occured since this book was written, and new findings studied. If I had read more carefully, a book chronicling the treatment of patients in 1995 would not have drawn my interest. However, as a glimpse into a psych wing - albeit a very small window - this book could be considered telling to those simply interested in the accounts of one doctor.

As for myself, I would not recommend this work. Exhausting to the point of repetition, I wonder if I had viewed it differently as an outsider who has never experienced working with this population. I did, however, heartily appreciate the follow-ups on the patients provided at the conclusion of the book.

LIZ: BOOK #10

Swing Low by Miriam Toews

208 pages

Completed 2/18/10

This book's writing style convinced me to pick it up; Toews wrote this book as if she were her father. An interesting concept, but one that failed to impress me. Her bipolar teacher father, who committed suicide later in life, left his family, and especially the author herself, with unanswered questions. A cathartic way of coming to terms with who her father was, I'm sure, but it never reeled me in enough to be moved by this book.

Coining this book as a memoir is deceiving, I think. Although told from the perspective of the main character, there's no way Toews could have truly entered her father's world and his lifelong struggle within it. I think that my own wariness for such an iffy way of presenting the story never allowed me to fully believe it. I can see, however, how this book could be a great resource for family members who have lost a loved one to mental illness - either living or dead.

An extremely talented writer, Toews did manage to churn out a very well-written book with "Swing Low". From early adulthood up until the day of what would end up being his last, Toews does cover her father's life in depth. I guess it just wasn't personal enough for me to enjoy it.

Liz: Book #3

Scattershot: My Bipolar Family A Memoir by David Lovelace

292 pages

Completed 1/10/10

The cover of this book is what drew me in - it looked humorous, and with my own family history of (somewhat comical) mental illness, my interest was piqued. Ugh. I should have skipped this one. It took me far too long to complete, just because it was so boring. While the story started out well enough - Dave Lovelace's father is completely manic and has left his wife to fend for herself having fallen into a stupor for days - but soon progressed to monotonous, not-very interesting life stories. While Lovelace suffers from bipolar disorder, I feel like the second third of the book was instead about his travels - which, yes, would affect his disease, but instead it just droned on and on. His introduction with his future wife was unclear; in fact, most of this book seemed like a shoddy piecing together of random tidbits of Lovelace's life. As for the last third of the book, it had all to do with the disease, and in much to serious of a way, if you ask me. I picked up this book for some lighthearted humor regarding a serious subject; instead I felt that I had read a self-help guide to hard times. I felt no empathy for his family, and found myself bothered by the fact that he seemed to place them below himself. For a family memoir, this was definitely lacking.