The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases From a State Hospital Attic

The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases From a State Hospital Attic by Darby Penney & Peter Stasny 208 pages

 

In the Acknowledgements of Ellen Marie Wiseman’s “What She Left Behind,” Wiseman gives credit to this book and its authors for bringing that novel to fruition. And because I was also reading “What She Left Behind,” I had to read it.

 

This book tells the heartbreaking stories of ten of the people who were institutionalized in New York’s Willard State Hospital, the setting for Wiseman’s “What She Left Behind.”

 

From Amazon:

“When Willard State Hospital closed its doors in 1995, after operating as one of New York State’s largest mental institutions for over 120 years, a forgotten attic filled with suitcases belonging to former patients was discovered. Using the possessions found in these suitcases along with institutional records and doctors’ notes from patient sessions, Darby Penney, a leading advocate of patients’ rights, and Peter Stastny, a psychiatrist and documentary filmmaker, were able to reconstruct the lives of ten patients who resided at Willard during the first half of the twentieth century.

The Lives They Left Behind tells their story. In addition to these human portraits, the book contains over 100 photographs as well as valuable historical background on how this state-funded institution operated. As it restores the humanity of the individuals it so poignantly evokes, The Lives They Left Behind reveals the vast historical inadequacies of a psychiatric system that has yet to heal itself.”

 

As I was reading the book, I felt as if I was spying on people’s personal lives. It was disconcerting, and sometimes I could not finish the chapter; I could not finish snooping into everyone’s life.

 

Published in 2009, this book is an important one. One that not only gives us a glimpse into others’ troubles but could shine a light on our own life. The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases From a State Hospital Attic receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Long Way Home

Long Way Home by Lynn Austin 400 pages

 

This is a story of the Greatest Generation---both on the war front and the home front. Most of the men who fought never talked about their experiences. Through a dual narrative, we get to explore how two men suffered from battle fatigue, or as we know it, PTSD and one woman’s fight to stay alive and find her love.

 

Hudson Valley, New York. Jimmy Barnett is not the same person he was when he came home from the Europe theater. Before, he was outgoing, funny, handsome and had plans to be a veterinary like his father. Now, in 1946, he just sits on his bed and stares out the window. No one seems to be able to help him find his way back home. When he attempts suicide, his parents check him into the nearest VA hospital, an hours away where they can only visit him once a week.

 

Motherless Peggy Serrano lives across the road. Her father is a mechanic and doesn’t pay much attention to her, especially since he has a new live-in girlfriend, Donna. Peggy helps Mr. Bennett in his practice and has a special touch. She is so excited when Jimmy comes home, but so sad when the old Jimmy is gone.

 

All three think the arrival of an old Army buddy, Sam, will help bring Jimmy around. But the physically wounded Sam may as well be invisible. However, Sam finds comfort in the Serrano and Bennett families. He shows up, and when his own battle fatigue gets too much, he takes off on his motorcycle.

 

At the VA hospital, Jimmy goes through some awful treatments, like an insulin coma and electric shock therapy. Then Peggy gets an idea: maybe if she could find more of Jimmy’s Army pals, knowing how much Jimmy helped them (he was a medic), that might bring him around. As Peggy is rooting around in Jimmy’s duffel bag, looking for clues, she discovers a picture of a beautiful woman with only the name Gisela written on the back. Could she be the key to unlocking Jimmy’s mind?

 

Berlin, Germany, 1938. Gisela Wolff and her family know it is time to leave Germany. Her father has worked hard to obtain the visas and passports that will allow her family to flee the Nazis. They board the luxury liner, SS St. Louis, and head for Cuba. Cuba denies the 900 Jewish passengers’ entry. The ship then tries to enter America, but again they are turned away (true story) and sent back to Europe.

 

One bright light in Gisela’s light is the young man she meets about the boat, Sam Shaprio. The two quickly fall deeply in love. They are separated and Gisela must make her way through the war. She ultimately winds up in one of the concentration camps.

 

Don’t want any spoilers, so I better stop now. However, grab your hankies, ‘cause when Jimmy and Gisela’s stories converge, you’re gonna need them.

 

Long Way Home gets 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Invisible Girl: a Novel

Invisible Girl: a Novel by Lisa Jewell    368 pages

When Saffyre Maddox attends sessions with her psychologist Roan, she feels he has only scratched the surface of her problems.   She has never told him what is at the core of her problems, what happened when she was 10 years old when he tells her one day after three years that he feels she is cured.   She knows better but says nothing.   She becomes fixated on Roan and stalks him.   Strange people, strange behaviors come into play and when Saffyre comes up missing the bigger mystery is who has been molesting women when there are so many obvious candidates?    Good story.   I highly recommend this one to teens on up.

 - Shirley J.

Insane America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness

Insane: America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness by Alisa Roth  312 pages

This is a pretty sobering book to read, although it's fascinating. Roth went deep inside the criminal justice system to explore how and why it has become the main place for people with mental illness to end up, and how those people are often denied proper treatment and are punished in ways that make them sicker. Roth personally interviewed people for this book, so you get facts and her analysis, but you also get stories from real people --- and that makes this book especially hard-hitting.  You can read cold facts and not have a reaction, but it's hard not to feel something when you read some of the stories of people who have wound up in the criminal justice system.  Mental illness affects more than half of the inmates in U.S. prisons, so when you read about overcrowding in jails and prisons, keep that in mind.  Mass incarceration has exacerbated this problem so that now correctional facilities have become the mental health providers by default. But, of course, there are too few resources and too many people who need them.

The book is organized around the process of criminalization, so you get a clear picture of the proces from the beginning.  Roth touches on history in order to bring light to current practices and also explores some of what people have been working on to resolve some of the issues that are currently problematic.

Wishful Drinking

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher     163 pages

Carrie Fisher tells the true and intoxicating story of her life with inimitable wit. Born to celebrity parents, she was picked to play a princess in a little movie called Star Wars when only 19 years old. "But it isn't all sweetness and light sabres." Alas, aside from a demanding career and her role as a single mother (not to mention the hyperspace hairdo), Carrie also spends her free time battling addiction, weathering the wild ride of manic depression and lounging around various mental institutions. It's an incredible tale - from having Elizabeth Taylor as a stepmother, to marrying (and divorcing) Paul Simon, from having the father of her daughter leave her for a man, to ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed. 

Hilarious and fascinating. I absolutely love Carrie Fisher's writing and this book was a page turner. She's so clever, funny, and insightful. The majority of this book is her poking fun at herself and her life. I love, though, that she is able to do this and is able to say, "Hey, I know I've had a good life, so my 'Poor old me' isn't something I should dwell on" but at the same time be able to say, "Hey, I have problems and I'm learning how to deal with them and it's not something I shouldn't talk about." I very much enjoyed reading how she sees herself and how this is helpful for her to gain control of her own crazy. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who want's a good laugh, anyone who also struggles with mental illness and wants to hear from someone who's been there, done that, and lived to talk about it. It's a very moving book, peppered with good-natured self-mockery. I loved it.