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A review by kittyg
Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England by Sarah Wise
3.0
This book is one I read as it made the WellcomeBookPrize shortlist and I am doing a little reading project of some of the shortlisted books with my friend Elena. I am actually very glad I did read this book as it was a very insightful read and it was a topic I didn't know too much about before reading this book, but I did find it to be a bit of a mixed bag at times too.
This book is divided into quite a few different sections, each on focuses on a case of an individual who is wrongfully/badly mistreated and sentenced to an asylum or single-patient care in the house of a lunatic doctor. I think the idea of working chronologically throughout the century, starting with the earlier high-profile cases and following through is a good one, and the chronology of the book worked well for me.
I did find as the book went on that there were many similarities throughout the cases and I felt like there was actually quite a lot that could maybe have been summarised/cut as it wasn't all that essential to repeat or show a very slight difference between the cases.
This book definitely had some very good insights on why things took so very long to change and why today we still struggle with identifying and treating mental health conditions, but I just wish it had been a bit more choppy and fast-paced at times. It was a solid overview that sometimes gave a bit too much detail, but it made for some interesting tidbits and certainly kept me occupied whilst reading. 3*s overall.
This book is divided into quite a few different sections, each on focuses on a case of an individual who is wrongfully/badly mistreated and sentenced to an asylum or single-patient care in the house of a lunatic doctor. I think the idea of working chronologically throughout the century, starting with the earlier high-profile cases and following through is a good one, and the chronology of the book worked well for me.
I did find as the book went on that there were many similarities throughout the cases and I felt like there was actually quite a lot that could maybe have been summarised/cut as it wasn't all that essential to repeat or show a very slight difference between the cases.
This book definitely had some very good insights on why things took so very long to change and why today we still struggle with identifying and treating mental health conditions, but I just wish it had been a bit more choppy and fast-paced at times. It was a solid overview that sometimes gave a bit too much detail, but it made for some interesting tidbits and certainly kept me occupied whilst reading. 3*s overall.