Nellie Bly, Brad Ricca, Courtney Sieh: Ten Days in a Mad-House (2022, Gallery Books)
English language
Published June 3, 2022 by Gallery Books.
Short but engaging and interesting. And sad. Glad I finally got around to reading it.
Wow! This is an old book that discusses an ongoing issue. The picture drawn of the "madhouse" is disturbing! I like to believe that insane asylums are better now, and I actually do believe that they are, but it's really easy to see how simple it is to abuse the system and get away with it. This book by Nellie Bly is truly a cautionary tale as well as illustrative!
You could say Nellie Bly was a brave lady, this book makes her come across as very inexperienced. She has got herself into this situation without really thinking about what she has accepted to do. There is no investigating Blackwell island before hand, no research into insanity, Nellie practices being insane by staring at herself in the mirror with wide open eyes...looks crazy so job done. Once she gets to the island and finds how bad it is there comes as a rude awakening to her, she is way out of her depth.
The book is shocking, you know the patients on the island are going to be treated badly, but it still affects you. How can one human being treat another so badly? I'm not gonna mention any of the scenes, get the book and read it, there is no way you'll be able to prepare yourself for it. …
You could say Nellie Bly was a brave lady, this book makes her come across as very inexperienced. She has got herself into this situation without really thinking about what she has accepted to do. There is no investigating Blackwell island before hand, no research into insanity, Nellie practices being insane by staring at herself in the mirror with wide open eyes...looks crazy so job done. Once she gets to the island and finds how bad it is there comes as a rude awakening to her, she is way out of her depth.
The book is shocking, you know the patients on the island are going to be treated badly, but it still affects you. How can one human being treat another so badly? I'm not gonna mention any of the scenes, get the book and read it, there is no way you'll be able to prepare yourself for it.
You gotta hand it to Nellie she stuck it out, made it to the end and revealed to the world what was happening and then was able to make a difference.
