Reviews

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Hannah Green

kaygo2490's review against another edition

5.0

I read this in high school an it was one of those books that I will always remember. It changed my life and gave me a young outlook on mental illness. Highly recommended.

paroof's review against another edition

Read this in high school after I read Sybil. I was very into books about mental illness for some reason. Anyway, I remember I liked it.

thetombreader's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

raven_morgan's review against another edition

4.0

Haunting, and pretty damn confronting about the treatment of psychiatric disorders in the 1960s.

magsmybags's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

g_schmigel2023's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

kittygiffin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

kazzy's review against another edition

challenging

3.25

kellymat77's review against another edition

5.0

This book is a unique semi-autobiographical piece of fiction about a young girl being treated for schizophrenia. While reading, I was as fascinated by the story itself as I was by the story of how the book came to be. Greenberg based the book on her own experiences in a mental hospital coping with schizophrenia at a young age, and that fact gives the book a lot of dimension and weight. It has beautiful, intelligent prose and switches perspectives between the protagonist, Deborah, and her parents and doctors. It’s a very compelling read. I want to say it’s a brilliant example of the unreliable narrator genre, but it doesn’t really fit, because Deborah’s entire conflict in the book is against her own reliability. It’s a dense, heavy read but the story is so genuine and personal that I didn’t mind. Definitely a memorable book.

sherbetlizard's review against another edition

emotional inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

slow start to this book, definitely had high school english class energy and a lack of early explanations that made it hard for me to get into at first but once i got into it i found this book really inspiring. although i don’t have it as rough as deborah i identified with the way she struggled with her mental health and loved that it wasn’t a clear cut ending where she gets fully better