Voluntary Madness by Norah Vincent

() This book gives good insight into the differences of treatment and services provided in various mental health facilities in the U.S.

Also, the author analyzes mental illness, hers included (depression), to exhaustion. Her writing is straight-forwarded and piercingly honest.

This novel is interesting in that it can make us more aware of specifically how the mentally ill are 'cared for' in this country, and thus form our own opinions about the best treatment options available. Furthermore, we can deduce some of the problematic areas that need more attention. Vincent's writing can also help us see alternative perspectives based on different psychological afflictions. She details many of the "patients" or "clients" as well as the institution's staff.

She goes to three different facilities, starting with the least appealing and ending with the most appealing. Of course the first is a public city hospital. She compares the three treatment centers to each other, and concludes her ideal way of healing.

It's not the most exciting, enthralling read, but it's informative, and not boring if you've got a curiosity about the topic.

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

() Reads in the poetic form of the author's other works, such as Burned. It's another one that also pulls on anyone's desire for tragedy.

The setting is in a mental institution of some kind. The main characters whose viewpoints are switch-narrated among come from completely different backgrounds with completely different "problems". Nonetheless, two fall in love, and one just falls.

If you have a craving for reading about crazies, (which I often do,) this is for you. It's a lot thicker in page volume than Burned, and I suppose not as good, according to my review.

Some keen insight into different thought processes is shown. I also am starting to enjoy Hopkin's less conventional way of composing stories. But there were many times throughout this read that I found myself wanting to stop and pickup another book. Not sure exactly how to pinpoint my reasoning for this.

Good stuff: "Is it even a window / I'm looking through, / or only cloudy panes / of vision, opening / on drifts of ivory / linens - soft cotton, / crisp percale - / my snow just / a blizzard of white / noise?" (pg. 18)
"Don't you feel better [...] with all of that out in the open? / [...] I do feel / somehow relieved, like I'm / cutting teeth on psychoanalysis." (pg. 150)
"[...] although he's more / like a faraway star, brilliant, / but cold in his distance; / beautiful in his perfection, / but likely to burn too brightly, / stuff himself out. / I wonder where he came / from, what random joining / of energies created such complexity." (pg. 271)
"I'm afraid - [...] when I get out of this place, / everything will be exactly / the same as before - even me. / I'll still live in my parents'/ shadow; I'll still drive myself to / achieve impossible perfection. / And I'll never let myself / believe that someone really loves me." (pg. 418)
"It's not easy to get / close to anyone in here, / Tony. Everyone's afraid / of everybody else ... maybe / because we're all afraid / of ourselves." (pg. 468)
"Think how people must have / loved each other when all / they had was each other." (pg. 506)
"What Tony doesn't know / Is that love and I are like / water and oil. Put the two / together, blend well, and you / get Quaker State quicksand." (pg. 597)
"This time / when we kiss, I feel / it in the pit of my stomach, / I feel it in my heart. / And I realize love isn't about sex. / It's about connection." (pg. 663)