ladyhighwayman's review against another edition
5.0
I do not know where to even start with this. The fact that this was non fiction just blew my mind. I've read fiction books that take place in mad houses during the 19th century, but the fiction was more of a reality than I had originally thought.
Nellie Bly is a journalist and gets an assignment in 1887 to go undercover and spend ten days in a mad-house and report her findings. She goes about this by purchasing a room in a women's boarding house and acting peculiar. She says that all the other women are crazy; she sits up all night; she keeps asking where her trunks are. None of this is even remotely crazy behavior, but the other boarders become agitated and the police are called in. Just goes to show how quickly a label was placed on somebody. Eventually, she is declared mad and sent off to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island.
When Nellie is in the mad house, she discovers that absolutely nothing is being done to help anyone, and just how quickly women were admitted. Some women were just getting over physical illnesses, some women couldn't even speak English! Nellie acts perfectly sane once she arrives, but no matter what she says, it's blown over as 'ravings.' Someone women actually ask the doctors to test them to see if they are insane or not, but they are ignored. And the doctors do absolutely nothing. They do not even listen to the women. Everything they say is written off as ravings of a mad woman.
The women were fed food that wasn't even fit for animal consumption. There was absolutely no heat, so the women practically froze to death. The women were given baths in cold water that wasn't even changed until the water got thick. ICK. The nurses used physical violence, along with agitating some of the women to act mad in front of the doctors. Some women were afraid to report this to the doctors, but it was no use if they did, because the doctors didn't listen, anyhow. There were no activities to stimulate the minds of the patients, so, if anything, these so-call "hospitals' actually made most of the patients - who weren't even mad to begin with - actually mad.
When Bly left, her reports launched a jury investigation, and surprise surprise! Things started to improve.
This book was riveting. It made me angry; it disgusted me. Nellie Bly was truly an amazing woman. I suggest reading more about her.
Nellie Bly is a journalist and gets an assignment in 1887 to go undercover and spend ten days in a mad-house and report her findings. She goes about this by purchasing a room in a women's boarding house and acting peculiar. She says that all the other women are crazy; she sits up all night; she keeps asking where her trunks are. None of this is even remotely crazy behavior, but the other boarders become agitated and the police are called in. Just goes to show how quickly a label was placed on somebody. Eventually, she is declared mad and sent off to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island.
When Nellie is in the mad house, she discovers that absolutely nothing is being done to help anyone, and just how quickly women were admitted. Some women were just getting over physical illnesses, some women couldn't even speak English! Nellie acts perfectly sane once she arrives, but no matter what she says, it's blown over as 'ravings.' Someone women actually ask the doctors to test them to see if they are insane or not, but they are ignored. And the doctors do absolutely nothing. They do not even listen to the women. Everything they say is written off as ravings of a mad woman.
The women were fed food that wasn't even fit for animal consumption. There was absolutely no heat, so the women practically froze to death. The women were given baths in cold water that wasn't even changed until the water got thick. ICK. The nurses used physical violence, along with agitating some of the women to act mad in front of the doctors. Some women were afraid to report this to the doctors, but it was no use if they did, because the doctors didn't listen, anyhow. There were no activities to stimulate the minds of the patients, so, if anything, these so-call "hospitals' actually made most of the patients - who weren't even mad to begin with - actually mad.
When Bly left, her reports launched a jury investigation, and surprise surprise! Things started to improve.
This book was riveting. It made me angry; it disgusted me. Nellie Bly was truly an amazing woman. I suggest reading more about her.
laura_litandflicks's review against another edition
3.0
(3.5/5 Stars)
While I didn’t love Nellie’s writing style, the profound impact of her undercover experience and subsequent account cannot be denied. Nellie Bly’s bravery likely improved thousands of lives and changed the sphere of mental health forever.
Full review at litandflicks.com
While I didn’t love Nellie’s writing style, the profound impact of her undercover experience and subsequent account cannot be denied. Nellie Bly’s bravery likely improved thousands of lives and changed the sphere of mental health forever.
Full review at litandflicks.com
samanthabw's review against another edition
4.0
3.5*
Wow, what horrible treatment of those poor women! Are we surprised on how easy it was to be declared insane in 1887? Really shocking, I’m glad that mental health (and women’s rights) is much more respected in 2021.
What I will say is I felt a bit iffy on the ethics of a privileged sane women doing this sort of exposé. I’m happy it resulted in changes and better care in the asylum, but it seems quite unethical to have her subjected to this. I guess that was just Nellie Bly’s thing as a journalist? She was doing “The Simple Life” over a hundred years before Paris and Nicole haha.
Wow, what horrible treatment of those poor women! Are we surprised on how easy it was to be declared insane in 1887? Really shocking, I’m glad that mental health (and women’s rights) is much more respected in 2021.
What I will say is I felt a bit iffy on the ethics of a privileged sane women doing this sort of exposé. I’m happy it resulted in changes and better care in the asylum, but it seems quite unethical to have her subjected to this. I guess that was just Nellie Bly’s thing as a journalist? She was doing “The Simple Life” over a hundred years before Paris and Nicole haha.
_ninahannah's review against another edition
5.0
Imagine giving one of the most revolutionary exposes in history less than five stars... couldn't be me.
books_plan_create's review against another edition
3.0
I never thought a little 90 page book would make me feel so angry. Anger for the way people labeled "insane" were treated at Blackwell Island insane asylum for women. It was truly horrific. This is a rabbit hole I don't need to go down as far as research goes, but one I know I will.
cstefko's review against another edition
3.0
3 stars
The narration wasn't always clear, but this graphic history was interesting enough. I would have liked a little more background about Nellie Bly herself.
The narration wasn't always clear, but this graphic history was interesting enough. I would have liked a little more background about Nellie Bly herself.
endlesstbr's review against another edition
4.0
Neat illustrative style of pen-and-ink graphics, with a stark quality to portray the horrid conditions in Blackwell Island as shared by Nellie Bly in a salacious and revolutionary journalistic endeavor in the late 19th century.
spinebrreaker's review against another edition
5.0
I would never have done this, and I think it's a credit to all investigative journalists that they're willing to put themselves at risk to expose the truth. Clearly it has a great effect, and did even as far back as Nellie Bly in 1887. Her work is captivating and exciting and gripping, and I love that writing for a "scandal" paper didn't dull her quest for the truth or her scathing denunciation of the people who didn't care, didn't listen, and didn't act while she was in the asylum. Let's make this determined, courageous woman required reading.
ladyfives's review against another edition
4.0
Read the original in 2018, and the graphic novel adaptation in 2022, and could not understand why they’re listed under the same book ever since. Graphic novel elevated it quite a lot; so much so that it feels wrong that it’s only getting a visual adaptation now!