A review by crazytourists_books
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
This is one of the tiniest and most powerful books I have ever read about being a woman.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote about mansplaining in 1892; of course a man (with the authority of his gender and his profession) would know better how a woman feels, what she thinks and what she needs to get better.
131 years ago, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote about post natal depression. How it was dismissed as hysteria, as a nervous breakdown, as tiredness. Because, how could a woman that just had a baby can't be happy? Does this remind you of anything? It certainly sounds familiar to me...
A brilliant novella or short story, if you prefer, about being a woman in a man's world and about mental health in a world that considers mental health problems taboo. A feminist book, before feminism was even a word... Brilliant!
Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote about mansplaining in 1892; of course a man (with the authority of his gender and his profession) would know better how a woman feels, what she thinks and what she needs to get better.
131 years ago, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote about post natal depression. How it was dismissed as hysteria, as a nervous breakdown, as tiredness. Because, how could a woman that just had a baby can't be happy? Does this remind you of anything? It certainly sounds familiar to me...
A brilliant novella or short story, if you prefer, about being a woman in a man's world and about mental health in a world that considers mental health problems taboo. A feminist book, before feminism was even a word... Brilliant!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Mental illness