“Maybe nobody ever saw themselves completely
objectively. Every self-image
needs a flattering mirror or two.” Truth.
12.13 The Devil in Silver
This book is classified as literary horror. Wrong. I suppose it is Literary because
there are words, but there is no horror involved; suspense maybe but no
horror. Instead it is a social
commentary on the woes of the mental health system. In a lot of ways it felt like I was reading a fictionalized
version of someone’s college thesis. Are there too many drugs being handed out
like candy? Yes. Are there doctors who hands are tied by hospital boards who
only care about making money? Yes. Are these huge issues that need to be fixed?
Absolutely. Does this book show us
all of this? Yes. Does it offer any
answers? No. And so I am left
wondering what the point was.
Spoilers ahead!
The only answer suggested here is to run away, not to
mention the fact that the over riding assumption is that all the patients in
the hospital has been put there wrongfully. So everyone is over drugged and everyone wants out. One character does manage to escape and
while it makes for a bit of a heart-warming moment for the story, I have to
wonder what she will do now? She has no money, no job skills, and no network of
support. How can anyone manage
that way? At the end of the book the remaining characters prove themselves to
be literal savages and yet I am supposed to think that they are the good guys? And our main characters, I never
understood him in the first place.
So many of his actions, after being brought to this hospital under such
odd circumstances, made no sense.
Why didn’t he call someone?
Why didn’t he ask the doctors or nurses for help? Why didn’t he ask any of the visitors
to help him? And why, when he
spoke to his family, did he act like he was calling from home? How could he expect anyone to help him
when no one knew anything about his situation?
Again, I have no idea what the point was, and if I hadn’t
been reading the book for a group I never would have finished it.
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