A review by maaikereadsbooks_
The Darlings of the Asylum by Noel O'Reilly

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

2.0

Many thanks to HQ and Noel O’Reilly for the advanced copy of The Darlings of the Asylum via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review. Quick note: I don’t recap plots in my reviews, as it’s easy enough to read the book’s synopsis and blurbs, I purely focus on my feelings & opinions of how the books makes me feel. 

This book reminded me why I normally don’t read books with female protagonists written by male authors. There are so many wonderful female authors out there that need our support and they write amazing, strong, wonderful female protagonists. And then there’s this. 

Disclaimer: I have experience with hospital care for mental illness in the 21st century. Whilst we’ve moved on from some practices from the 19th century, you’d be surprised how some attitudes haven’t changed. 

Having done a brief dive into the author’s background, it’s clear they have no history in mental health. And that is clear in the writing of this book. The symptoms given to the protagonist, Violet, describe some strange hodgepodge of Bipolar, Dissociative Identity Disorder (a highly controversial diagnosis, one which the majority of the psychological profession does not believe actually exists) and very little of the actual, historical “hysteria” that many women were thrown into asylums for. It’s like the author set out to make a point of how women were unfairly treated but then set off on his own random tangent and, in doing so, completely disrespected the plight of the hundreds of thousands of women who died in these asylums under the guise of “hysteria”. 

Overall, I found the book poorly researched and unrealistic. Of course the book is a work of fiction, but one expects any piece of historical fiction to be accurate and true to the time. This was not, and it disrespected the women who were victims of the asylums and the ‘doctors’. The addition of DID and poorly researched mental illnesses was atrocious. Do your research before tackling these huge subjects. 

Moods: dark, emotional, mysterious, tense 

Pace: medium 

Character development: medium 

Plot or character driven: plot 

Diversity: low 

Spice: 0/5 

Trigger warnings: Mental Illness, Misogyny, Physical or mental abuse 

Rating 2/5 

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