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leahcolby's review against another edition
5.0
History matters! What an amazing woman and biography of her struggles, persistence and intelligence.
chattycathy55's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating story of a fascinating woman. She gets to many opinions for her husbands liking and he puts her into an institution. She spends the rest of her life getting herself out of the institution and fighting for the rights of married women and the mentally ill.
buddhagem's review against another edition
2.0
I can’t quite remember a book that made me roll my eyes more than this one. I thought I was diving into a little known firebrand feminist of some sort, but what I discovered was a delusional, narcissistic liberal. I was not at all impressed with Elizabeth Packard as depicted by Kate Moore.
Moore does her best to impress upon us just how intelligent Elizabeth Packard is, but that seemed constantly undermined by her delusions that the very people hurting her were going to eventually be on her side. Again and again she thinks her husband who sent her to the insane asylum has turned over a new leaf. She does the same thing with Dr. McFarland who is essentially in charge of torturing his patients. Again and again while Mrs. Packard is thinking her enemy has finally turned the corner and is now on her side—because she’s clearly not insane, she discovers that they were working against her the whole time! It’s hard to view someone this delusional in a positive light.
At one point her fellow inmates stage a riot and destroy all manner of property within the asylum. Mrs. Packard doesn’t participate because—we’re told—she’s already such a bad ass writing a book that’s going to magically save everyone. Meanwhile the actual bad ass women in the asylum go to work and not only raise a ruckus but actually win their demands: Sabotage worked!
Then there is the crazy love letter she sends Dr. McFarland while incarcerated at this insane asylum. Just to be clear all the men in this story are truly awful people. But in attempt to woo this monster she writes this love letter to her Dr. That is just crazy. In it she tells Dr. McFarland, “I have never seen a man, before I saw you, to whom my whole womanly nature could instinctively pay homage, as my head, as the husband should be to the wife. To such a one, alone, can I entrust the key with which to unlock the fountain of conjugal love within me whose depths no mortal has ever yet sounded.” She’s basically throwing herself at the Dr. In hopes he will pay to publish the magic book she’s writing that will magically free all the ladies from asylums.
It never seems to dawn on Mrs. Packard that other people might have motives different than her own. She just assumes that this monster that basically runs a house of horrors is actually trying to help her publish a book. She thinks that she can write a flowery love letter and he will do what needs to be done to get her book published and then, naturally, everyone will be set free. But that doesn’t happen! In fact Dr. McFarland was simply letting her write so that he could show just how crazy she was! And when she discovers this she tells him to destroy the letter.
But four years later this very bad man hasn’t destroyed the letter and even presents it as evidence in court! At many points in this story I felt that Kate Moore interjects herself a bit too much. Moore goes out of her way to explain to us that this letter was really meant as a promise to love Dr. McFarland in the next life. It felt like Moore did this a lot in this book. She had to keep reiterating how smart Mrs. Packard was because there is very little in this book that screams: This is an intelligent woman.
At one point for instance she’s successfully pushed for legislation to get people a jury trial to determine if they are crazy or not. The idea was to take power away from one man like Dr. McFarland. Like most things liberals embark upon it sounded good on paper.
Fast forward and the actual trials and not a single person is deemed sane. Not one. All that work and it didn’t help anyone. Now an intelligent person would have concluded that the system is so foul that it cannot possibly be reformed. But that’s not what Mrs. Packard does (and here she is helped by the author): Elizabeth couldn’t believe it. Not one patient sane? That was not the reality of the wards she’d lived in. Yet she trusted in the independence of the juries. She could therefore reach only one conclusion: her law had come to late.”
Despite her lived reality that showed her that many of these people were not insane. She trusted the system more than her own lived experience. She trusted the jury. She trusted her husband. She trusted Dr. McFarland. Again and again she trusted the wrong people. She’s not intelligent enough to think maybe the system is rigged and none of this is fair. Instead she just assumes her efforts came too late!
I was not at all impressed with Mrs. Packard. I was even less impressed with Kate Moore’s insistence that this gullible, delusional, narcissistic woman was some super intelligent force for change. While she was worrying about her stupid book her sisters in the asylum organized and carried out direct action that led to immediate changes in their daily lives. While she spent years passing laws that helped nobody they were fighting back with their bodies. If anything this is a cautionary tale against liberalism and its siren song of reforming this system of oppression.
Moore does her best to impress upon us just how intelligent Elizabeth Packard is, but that seemed constantly undermined by her delusions that the very people hurting her were going to eventually be on her side. Again and again she thinks her husband who sent her to the insane asylum has turned over a new leaf. She does the same thing with Dr. McFarland who is essentially in charge of torturing his patients. Again and again while Mrs. Packard is thinking her enemy has finally turned the corner and is now on her side—because she’s clearly not insane, she discovers that they were working against her the whole time! It’s hard to view someone this delusional in a positive light.
At one point her fellow inmates stage a riot and destroy all manner of property within the asylum. Mrs. Packard doesn’t participate because—we’re told—she’s already such a bad ass writing a book that’s going to magically save everyone. Meanwhile the actual bad ass women in the asylum go to work and not only raise a ruckus but actually win their demands: Sabotage worked!
Then there is the crazy love letter she sends Dr. McFarland while incarcerated at this insane asylum. Just to be clear all the men in this story are truly awful people. But in attempt to woo this monster she writes this love letter to her Dr. That is just crazy. In it she tells Dr. McFarland, “I have never seen a man, before I saw you, to whom my whole womanly nature could instinctively pay homage, as my head, as the husband should be to the wife. To such a one, alone, can I entrust the key with which to unlock the fountain of conjugal love within me whose depths no mortal has ever yet sounded.” She’s basically throwing herself at the Dr. In hopes he will pay to publish the magic book she’s writing that will magically free all the ladies from asylums.
It never seems to dawn on Mrs. Packard that other people might have motives different than her own. She just assumes that this monster that basically runs a house of horrors is actually trying to help her publish a book. She thinks that she can write a flowery love letter and he will do what needs to be done to get her book published and then, naturally, everyone will be set free. But that doesn’t happen! In fact Dr. McFarland was simply letting her write so that he could show just how crazy she was! And when she discovers this she tells him to destroy the letter.
But four years later this very bad man hasn’t destroyed the letter and even presents it as evidence in court! At many points in this story I felt that Kate Moore interjects herself a bit too much. Moore goes out of her way to explain to us that this letter was really meant as a promise to love Dr. McFarland in the next life. It felt like Moore did this a lot in this book. She had to keep reiterating how smart Mrs. Packard was because there is very little in this book that screams: This is an intelligent woman.
At one point for instance she’s successfully pushed for legislation to get people a jury trial to determine if they are crazy or not. The idea was to take power away from one man like Dr. McFarland. Like most things liberals embark upon it sounded good on paper.
Fast forward and the actual trials and not a single person is deemed sane. Not one. All that work and it didn’t help anyone. Now an intelligent person would have concluded that the system is so foul that it cannot possibly be reformed. But that’s not what Mrs. Packard does (and here she is helped by the author): Elizabeth couldn’t believe it. Not one patient sane? That was not the reality of the wards she’d lived in. Yet she trusted in the independence of the juries. She could therefore reach only one conclusion: her law had come to late.”
Despite her lived reality that showed her that many of these people were not insane. She trusted the system more than her own lived experience. She trusted the jury. She trusted her husband. She trusted Dr. McFarland. Again and again she trusted the wrong people. She’s not intelligent enough to think maybe the system is rigged and none of this is fair. Instead she just assumes her efforts came too late!
I was not at all impressed with Mrs. Packard. I was even less impressed with Kate Moore’s insistence that this gullible, delusional, narcissistic woman was some super intelligent force for change. While she was worrying about her stupid book her sisters in the asylum organized and carried out direct action that led to immediate changes in their daily lives. While she spent years passing laws that helped nobody they were fighting back with their bodies. If anything this is a cautionary tale against liberalism and its siren song of reforming this system of oppression.
jenofwine's review against another edition
5.0
A harrowing tale, a true story, of one woman’s incarceration in an insane asylum at the whim of her husband, of her fight to become free, and her battle to bring about reform and change to the treatment of women and those committed to these asylums.
c_rabbit's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Challenging at first but super worth the long read with beautiful prose, and amazing story and heroine.
beckywaz's review against another edition
5.0
Why had I not heard of this brilliant woman before? Her name should be in every history book. This is a must-read for every woman. Captivating.
emelster's review against another edition
3.0
A good book and an important story, but it took too long. And I feel like the same things were repeated over and over, just phrased slightly different. This book kind of felt like one of those documentary series on Netflix that could have been a 90 minute movie but instead they stretch it out to make it a 10 episode mini series.
marlene061313's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
5.0