I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

*** By Joanne Greenberg. A shorty review.

After a suicide attempt, a teenage girl is sent to a mental illness home where she is diagnosed with schizophrenia and undergoes "the talking cure." The novel points out the subtle differences between people labeled sane or insane, for to some degree most people are troubled. It also illustrates why drugs, therapy, and even fierce determination to succeed cannot always combat mental illness for an extended time.

The book is beautifully written, with some incredible imagery. I know it was made into a movie, but I have trouble envisioning that, unless it were made by a master of imagery and dreamwork like Terry Gilliam. For it is in the girl's schizophrenic episodes, where we meet the characters behind the voices, and experience the wasteland between Yr and here, that the beauty of her illness comes through. All else is the dull, clinical reality she sees... until, of course, one sunset.

I am curious, not being an expert on schizophrenia or psychoanalysis, whether the symptoms and experiences and recovery process described in the story are accurate. However, like any other good book, if you're willing to suspend your disbelief just a little, you'll probably enjoy it.

Posted by Lisa on April 10, 2003 09:19 AM