You've finished the book. Now say what you feel. Don't hold back! This is the place to include spoilers and engage in debate.****WARNING: THIS PAGE CONTAINS SPOILERS! IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE BOOK, GO BACK TO THE HOME PAGE TO MAKE YOUR COMMENTS*******
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I enjoyed the book - he has much to say about attitudes to mental illness in various eras - has much changed? I found it easy to tell which time he was in at any given moment - his clues are quite clear. Cultural references shed much light on times, though I thought that the description of life in WW1 times was less precise and secure, more taken from general knowledge of the times. I did like the language - didn't find it pretentious as I expected. Italics were a bit of a red herring, though. I loved the fate of the hospital as Princess Park - a wonderful touch and sooo true to today's 'values'.
ReplyDeleteIt was an interesting fate for a hospital that started life as a lunatic asylum, then rebranded as a hospital and finally becoming luxury flats. It made me realise that the Sky series Bedlam about a luxury development created in a former asylum wasn't just a horror movie trope but was actually inspired by this kind of redevelopment sans the resident ghosts.
DeleteI agree with you that the novel did show the shift in attitudes towards mental illness - though didn't really cover the present with former patients now rebranded as 'service users' being much more included in the process of their care and treatment.
OK, here we go . . .
ReplyDeleteI really had to concentrate hard on this book, with its jagged leaping about - mid sentence - between three periods of time and four points of view. It was like learning to read all over again. But, once I got into the rhythm, I found I begin to enjoy the book. I confess I did read it on an iPAD and found the device's instant ability to reference a word I didn't know (and there were quite a few) to be far easier than having my thumb stuck in a dictionary. (Many of the words Self uses are archaic.)
What I did like: the sheer amount of research and observation of mental illness and mental hospitals; Zach Busner, the radical psychiatrist; the final morphing of Friern into Princess Park; the wartime story of machinegunner Stanley, brother of Busner's 'star' patient Audrey.
What I didn't like: The leaping about without warning; off-piste snippets of TS Eliot and Shakespeare; too many well-imagined battlefield scenes in the last quarter of the book; Albert!; the author appearing to interject into the narrative ad nauseum any random thought that came into his head (or that's how it seemed).
Paul, how about a few examples of those interjections? Anything particularly heinous spring to mind?
DeleteCarla, I could list a hundred, but without their context they would be even less meaningful!
ReplyDeleteAwww! Not even one?
DeleteThis novel was very hard work from start to finish. As said in my entry I followed my housemate's advise and just let the words wash over me. After a time I was less bothered by the stream-of-consciousness and jumping about in time/point of view.
ReplyDeleteThe difficulty with Self's abandonment of the conventions of the novel format though was that it overall the novel felt very fragmented. I never did feel any real engagement with the characters despite wanting to. The tragedy of Audrey's situation felt diminished by the style.
I was interested in the subject matter of mental illness and the shifts in attitudes of the medical profession. I rather wish he had tackled this subject in a more conventional style because it is one of those areas where there is a great deal of misunderstanding and/or sensationalism.
I gave this the benefit of all possible doubts and I did find some of the writing - especially Audrey's childhood memories - very vivid, but I do think it's too long for such an unstructured piece of writing. Compare it with Mrs Dalloway we may, but that's a slim volume. A touch self-indulgent, I would say, and I did love John Crace's digested read!
ReplyDeleteLike Muse and Swalk I found that the novel's unstructured style made it very difficult to follow. I did try to like it, but found the effort involved in reading it made this impossible. A pity, because I feel that Will Self has a lot to say and the subject of mental health is one which needs expanding on.
ReplyDelete