This was a really interesting read. The author warns that the prose may feel scattered due to the context in which its written but I felt that gave it a real honesty. This book may not be for everyone as it can't exactly be called politically correct, but I found it a stark, realistic look at mental illness and mental health institutions and felt the author was really insightful. Really thought provoking read!

Although I found it difficult to get into this book at first, once it got going I found that I really enjoyed it and couldn't put it down.

Bedlam is a crackling, satirical debut based on a horrifying true story about what happens when an asylum owner becomes a patient. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

DNF @ 53.4%

i was reading this a while back and then decided to try to reach over the 50% mark and then take a break because i was very conflicted on whether to DNF. i haven't returned to it for a month and tried to start again but couldn't get through it.

i was compelled at the beginning it was an interesting and unique perspective to see from for sure (which is what brought me in the first place). however, as i kept reading i realised it wasn't really what i was hoping for.

it's written in this very casual way with plenty of f-bombs and breaking the fourth wall. i didn't mind this at all and think it can be much more digestible and interesting way of writing. however, at some points the swearing just seemed excessive and unnecessary, coming from me, an aussie who swears once every 7 sentences.

the structure jumped from recalling their childhood to their present which was quite confusing and unclear. since, it wasn't separated through chapters and it wasn't clear when there was a change within the same page. so, i found myself not knowing there was a change till i had finished reading the new time.

i feel a bit nit-picky saying this but feel it is probably useful to the author and editors. a more technical things that i picked up on was that there was a lot of repetition of random details that once you noticed you couldn't stop noticing. for example, in one of the chapters he introduced a character named "nancy" and repeats that she is overweight but had brown eyes maybe three times or so through the chapter. which doesn't seem like a lot but just felt a bit out of place and irrelevant to what he was saying after the first time. as well as this, there were some comments made about people that didn't really sit right with me and discouraged me from reading. it discouraging me me reading did surprise me since i usually can appreciate and enjoy a unlikable or morally gray character/person.

i will say that there were a lot of interesting thoughts and ideas brought forward in the story. there was commentary and shared experiences on class and race how that plays plays addiction, mental health and the treatment of those with mental illness who are lower class or homeless. from where i read there was no expansion on these ideas. they were mentioned with little elaboration but, maybe they were expanded upon later however, can't comment on that. "they were planting thought seeds but no plant grew"

i actually think that this book might actually work better as an audio book. having someone read the story will probably make the swearing sound much more natural and add to the brash/careless nature i think the author was trying to convey. since the way it is written is talking directly to the reader and sometimes breaking the fourth wall i think an audio book would actually be much more effective.

Morose look at the "physician, heal thyself" adage, with someone who has inherited his parent's industry of running care homes for the mentally ill and disabled. It wants to show his own psychotic descent, him being a junkie and pig sick of knowing he's in the wrong business yet doing jack all that is serious enough about it, but in diverting to the author's own knowledge of what goes on in care systems (the mentally ill dying of cancer because their allegedly sane relatives refuse any prognosis or treatment, bi-polar inmates going postal) you don't quite get the momentum the unlikeable character might have deserved. Not exactly joyful.