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ettuladyblue's review
2.0
A bit too meandering, with weird switches between academic and conversational writing. I had to push to finish it, as it was an interesting subject. Wouldn't really recommend unless you're in a class--I didn't get any enjoyment as someone with an interest in old-timey medical techniques.
rosieclaverton's review
5.0
Excellent book on the history of asylum care and controversy in the Victorian era, through a series of landmark cases. Compelling for anyone with an interest in mental health, particularly the ongoing debates around liberty, society and the anti-psychiatry movement. A very readable book, with fascinating characters inhabiting it - highly recommended.
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
3.0
Think lunatic asylum and the words will instantly conjure up an image of a Victorian institution with mad-doctors and deranged patients in straight-jackets. This book, pieced together from correspondence and court reports of the time, tells the story of how the asylums got their image today. Mad-doctors indeed, this was just what Victorians called doctors who dealt with the mentally ill; they were also referred to as alienists. Neither term elicits confidence of the profession from a modern mind-set.
I found the subject matter fascinating however it did get a little repetitive. Each chapter deals with a case study, most of which share some similarities, and the writing is quite dense. Yet the historical detail, and unwillingness of Sarah Wise to embroider the truth with modern sensibilities, drives home that fact is stranger than fiction. Some of these plots would be laughed at in a modern day novel, yet these cases did actually happen.
It does dispel the myth that Victorian women were more likely to be locked away than men. Figures are actually quite even between the sexes. One of the cases does highlight how the female plight was given more coverage in the press, with one victim making the most of her publicity skills to further the feminist cause. Fiction writers found a female lunatic was much more popular with their readers than a man wrongly confined. Yes, hysteria was coined to refer to “excitable” women but men were at greater risk of being locked away for their money.
The reoccurring theme from both the male and female cases was the fact that the family were after something and the easiest way to get it was to declare their relative insane. There was huge injustice in these cases, where wrongful incarceration was charged to the victims’ accounts. The law just wasn’t on the accused side. Whilst there is a huge list of things that you could be declared insane for doing, it seemed they were usually just an excuse.
There was one case that stood out as different to me, the case where a mother was trying to free her daughters from what I can only call a cult. The lunacy laws were her only tool and I felt sympathy for her. They might have had the right to believe in whatever religious nonsense they liked but there was a distinct whiff of brainwashing to it. It's probably still a grey-area in law, when does something go from harmless to needing state intervention?
The cases are in roughly chronological order and they do show how public and legal attitudes shifted over the years. There’s also a few places which refer to them literature of the time, most prominently Jane Eyre and The Woman in White and Charles Dickens crops up repeatedly in his role as journalist, publisher and friend to many of the men involved. It seems Victorian society was a small world indeed.
Some of it is uncomfortable reading. It it wasn't bad enough to have your liberty taken away, many also had their dignity removed. Whilst some mad-doctors believed a nice, calming stay in the country away from family would help matters, many also believed in restraint and punishment. I would recommend this as research for anyone using a Victorian asylum in their writing, although I think reading it in one go for entertainment isn't such a good idea.
I found the subject matter fascinating however it did get a little repetitive. Each chapter deals with a case study, most of which share some similarities, and the writing is quite dense. Yet the historical detail, and unwillingness of Sarah Wise to embroider the truth with modern sensibilities, drives home that fact is stranger than fiction. Some of these plots would be laughed at in a modern day novel, yet these cases did actually happen.
It does dispel the myth that Victorian women were more likely to be locked away than men. Figures are actually quite even between the sexes. One of the cases does highlight how the female plight was given more coverage in the press, with one victim making the most of her publicity skills to further the feminist cause. Fiction writers found a female lunatic was much more popular with their readers than a man wrongly confined. Yes, hysteria was coined to refer to “excitable” women but men were at greater risk of being locked away for their money.
The reoccurring theme from both the male and female cases was the fact that the family were after something and the easiest way to get it was to declare their relative insane. There was huge injustice in these cases, where wrongful incarceration was charged to the victims’ accounts. The law just wasn’t on the accused side. Whilst there is a huge list of things that you could be declared insane for doing, it seemed they were usually just an excuse.
There was one case that stood out as different to me, the case where a mother was trying to free her daughters from what I can only call a cult. The lunacy laws were her only tool and I felt sympathy for her. They might have had the right to believe in whatever religious nonsense they liked but there was a distinct whiff of brainwashing to it. It's probably still a grey-area in law, when does something go from harmless to needing state intervention?
The cases are in roughly chronological order and they do show how public and legal attitudes shifted over the years. There’s also a few places which refer to them literature of the time, most prominently Jane Eyre and The Woman in White and Charles Dickens crops up repeatedly in his role as journalist, publisher and friend to many of the men involved. It seems Victorian society was a small world indeed.
Some of it is uncomfortable reading. It it wasn't bad enough to have your liberty taken away, many also had their dignity removed. Whilst some mad-doctors believed a nice, calming stay in the country away from family would help matters, many also believed in restraint and punishment. I would recommend this as research for anyone using a Victorian asylum in their writing, although I think reading it in one go for entertainment isn't such a good idea.
swillsy's review against another edition
5.0
Such a fascinating read. Definitely provided some much needed inspiration for my dissertation.
tombomp's review
5.0
First, I want to emphasise that unfortunately this pays very little attention to the fate of poorer "lunatics" and pretty much nothing about the public asylum system in general. It focuses instead on a series of cases by richer people involved in the private system and their struggles to change it etc. As long as you're aware of those limitations though it's absolutely fascinating. Every story was incredibly readable and interesting.
One of the most fascinating stories is John Perceval, son of the PM Spencer Perceval, who wrote an account of his time in an asylum he was confined to after a breakdown possibly triggered by his involvement in the Irvingites, a Christian religious sect. After finally being released he founded the Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society, which agitated for reform of the lunacy law as well as advocating for those felt to be unlawfully or unfairly confined, a cause he dedicated the rest of his life too. The book gives a good account of his experiences and his ideas, promoting an idea of recovery based on a patient's internal life and understanding that still seems fresh today. He comes across as an impressive character, with an unusual blend of a highly aristocratic sense of hierarchy combined with strong sympathy and material support for those of the "lower orders" treated badly.
One of the most fascinating stories is John Perceval, son of the PM Spencer Perceval, who wrote an account of his time in an asylum he was confined to after a breakdown possibly triggered by his involvement in the Irvingites, a Christian religious sect. After finally being released he founded the Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society, which agitated for reform of the lunacy law as well as advocating for those felt to be unlawfully or unfairly confined, a cause he dedicated the rest of his life too. The book gives a good account of his experiences and his ideas, promoting an idea of recovery based on a patient's internal life and understanding that still seems fresh today. He comes across as an impressive character, with an unusual blend of a highly aristocratic sense of hierarchy combined with strong sympathy and material support for those of the "lower orders" treated badly.
marshmalison's review
3.0
Interesting topic, but at times a little unbalanced between the details of individuals' cases and the wider history / political and legal context. Found a bit of repetition made it feel like a longer read than it probably actually was.
franfernandezarce's review against another edition
3.0
as Sarah Wise herself admits in her epilogue, the circumstances of those admitted into mental asylums against their will can 'stubbornly' echo one another. despite the historical scope of this book, each individual here discussed cannot escape their place in Victorian society and, in consequence, its rules and laws. since the reader cannot escape either the resonances in-between cases, these echoes do take half the steam of the book's running time as the similarities and names begin to blur one another. interest wanes, inevitably.
one fix would have been to have selected a smaller group of cases and provided a more extended discussion of their specific characteristics and differences. although Wise has structured her cohort in terms of causality to explore how each situation influenced or altered the laws on lunacy at the time, foregrounding those individuals more easily distinguishable from one another could have certainly helped the book in terms of pacing.
unfortunately, this form of selection would have required a form of value judgment on Wise's part. nobody wants to be a compliment on someone else's story and if there is one thing this book persistently avoids doing is to offer an opinion. more journalistic in tone than in pure retelling, one does wonder if there is a former draft crystallising Wise's opinions on her subjects that was sadly scrapped. biographies, after all, are partially generated by and for the sake of gossip, and opinions are partially created by other people's thoughts. a strange tinge of emptiness is left lingering on the reader by the end of Wise's book. outrage will not be in short supply but the liveliness generated by one's talk about another person will be difficult to find.
one fix would have been to have selected a smaller group of cases and provided a more extended discussion of their specific characteristics and differences. although Wise has structured her cohort in terms of causality to explore how each situation influenced or altered the laws on lunacy at the time, foregrounding those individuals more easily distinguishable from one another could have certainly helped the book in terms of pacing.
unfortunately, this form of selection would have required a form of value judgment on Wise's part. nobody wants to be a compliment on someone else's story and if there is one thing this book persistently avoids doing is to offer an opinion. more journalistic in tone than in pure retelling, one does wonder if there is a former draft crystallising Wise's opinions on her subjects that was sadly scrapped. biographies, after all, are partially generated by and for the sake of gossip, and opinions are partially created by other people's thoughts. a strange tinge of emptiness is left lingering on the reader by the end of Wise's book. outrage will not be in short supply but the liveliness generated by one's talk about another person will be difficult to find.
librarianonparade's review
4.0
They have become two of the most recognisable stereotypes of women in the Victorian age, thanks to novels such as Jane Eyre and The Woman in White: the madwoman in the attic and the innocent heroine wrongfully imprisoned in a lunatic asylum. In this book, Wise sets out not necessarily to expose those stereotypes, but to explore the society that created them and uncover the reality of the lunacy system in Victorian England.
For a start, the majority of 'lunatics' incarcerated were male, whether they were held in public asylums, private care homes or within their own homes;the myth of the damsel in distress proving to be just that. Some undoubtedly were insane and were held for their own safety and the safety of others. But a great number were not insane, were guilty of little more than the kind of eccentricities and personality quirks that we today would scarcely blink at. It is these cases Wise uncovers in this book - individuals were dared to go against society's norms, who wished to 'marry beneath them' or not marry at all, who held unconventional religious beliefs, who stood in the way of economic progress of their husbands, wives or families.
The burgeoning field of psychologists and psychiatrists, known then as 'alienists', do not come across well in this book - that said, they were at the forefront of a new and uncharted field of human medicine, and it cannot be entirely held against them when there was indeed so many disagreements about what even constituted lunacy and how one could recognise it. But there were enough alienists, 'mad-doctors' and asylum keepers who were prepared to sign anything for money that it is no wonder there was so much concern and public outcry over the ease with which a British citizen could be deprived of their liberty, with no appeal, no trial, no right to know who had signed the order or why.
Ironically, as Wise points out in her conclusion, despite the fact that we consider the 'sane lunatic' a stereotype of the Victorian age, with every family having not just a skeleton in the closet but a relative in the attic, it was the middle of the twentieth century that really took things to extremes, with young women held for decades simply for bearing an illegitimate child, teenagers held under middle or old age for rebellious youthful antics. And really, she asks, have things changed so much? The stigma of mental illness remains, and the public seem much less concerned about the erosion of civil liberties than they were a century or more ago.
For a start, the majority of 'lunatics' incarcerated were male, whether they were held in public asylums, private care homes or within their own homes;the myth of the damsel in distress proving to be just that. Some undoubtedly were insane and were held for their own safety and the safety of others. But a great number were not insane, were guilty of little more than the kind of eccentricities and personality quirks that we today would scarcely blink at. It is these cases Wise uncovers in this book - individuals were dared to go against society's norms, who wished to 'marry beneath them' or not marry at all, who held unconventional religious beliefs, who stood in the way of economic progress of their husbands, wives or families.
The burgeoning field of psychologists and psychiatrists, known then as 'alienists', do not come across well in this book - that said, they were at the forefront of a new and uncharted field of human medicine, and it cannot be entirely held against them when there was indeed so many disagreements about what even constituted lunacy and how one could recognise it. But there were enough alienists, 'mad-doctors' and asylum keepers who were prepared to sign anything for money that it is no wonder there was so much concern and public outcry over the ease with which a British citizen could be deprived of their liberty, with no appeal, no trial, no right to know who had signed the order or why.
Ironically, as Wise points out in her conclusion, despite the fact that we consider the 'sane lunatic' a stereotype of the Victorian age, with every family having not just a skeleton in the closet but a relative in the attic, it was the middle of the twentieth century that really took things to extremes, with young women held for decades simply for bearing an illegitimate child, teenagers held under middle or old age for rebellious youthful antics. And really, she asks, have things changed so much? The stigma of mental illness remains, and the public seem much less concerned about the erosion of civil liberties than they were a century or more ago.
maccymacd's review
4.0
This was a very tough read. I plodded on and on with it day after day, getting no closer to the end...
However, when I did finally finish, I had to sit back for a minute to soak up everything I had learned.
What a fascinating yet devastatingly sad read. Sarah Wise has luckily separated each of the 12 cases into sections, as well as combining pictures, photographs and maps together to break up the text.
I always knew that lunacy was a controversial topic in the 19th century, but I didn't truly realise how bad it was. Some poor people were effectively kidnapped and thrown into the madhouse for : wanting to keep their own money that they earned, for wanting to write, for learning more than one language, for being flamboyant and confident in their mannerisms, for being in the way of siblings/relatives getting their money.. the list is endless. And this happened to men and women. So desperately sad. Although this was a massive chunk of a book and I found it emotionally hard going to read, it has certainly whet my appetite for the subject.
However, when I did finally finish, I had to sit back for a minute to soak up everything I had learned.
What a fascinating yet devastatingly sad read. Sarah Wise has luckily separated each of the 12 cases into sections, as well as combining pictures, photographs and maps together to break up the text.
I always knew that lunacy was a controversial topic in the 19th century, but I didn't truly realise how bad it was. Some poor people were effectively kidnapped and thrown into the madhouse for : wanting to keep their own money that they earned, for wanting to write, for learning more than one language, for being flamboyant and confident in their mannerisms, for being in the way of siblings/relatives getting their money.. the list is endless. And this happened to men and women. So desperately sad. Although this was a massive chunk of a book and I found it emotionally hard going to read, it has certainly whet my appetite for the subject.
topazriver's review against another edition
3.0
Wow, what a tomb of a book. It started getting interesting about half way through in the chapter 'The Woman in Yellow' referring to Rosina, Edward Bulwer-Lytton's wife and the circles of friends he hung around with, including Charles Dickens, who all snubbed Rosina and her literary works. Interestingly, at the same time as reading this book I find myself reading [b:84 Charing Cross Road|1074384|84 Charing Cross Road|Helene Hanff|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1298030092s/1074384.jpg|938626], where Helene Hanff refers to Dicken's work as boring. I tend to agree. The more I read about this fellow and his followers, the more I dislike the man. I'm going off course here but these were the very people that had influence on the system.
The point being that Sarah Wise includes a comprehensive background and reasons for the way people were manipulating the system through ease of chance, influence, status and politics. This book read very much as a thesis for a Masters Degree at first and I was tiring of it until this chapter 6. I became enthralled in the way people thought at the time - including how spiritualism fitted into all of this and is a wonderful example of how the Victorian's started to change it's mind on certain aspects of religion, acceptance and tolerance.
I really liked this book and would have no hesitation to read a follow-up on the way the health system has treated mental health patients in the 20th Century - a follow-up is implied in the last few words which makes you want to read more.
The point being that Sarah Wise includes a comprehensive background and reasons for the way people were manipulating the system through ease of chance, influence, status and politics. This book read very much as a thesis for a Masters Degree at first and I was tiring of it until this chapter 6. I became enthralled in the way people thought at the time - including how spiritualism fitted into all of this and is a wonderful example of how the Victorian's started to change it's mind on certain aspects of religion, acceptance and tolerance.
I really liked this book and would have no hesitation to read a follow-up on the way the health system has treated mental health patients in the 20th Century - a follow-up is implied in the last few words which makes you want to read more.