Coconats • read

A story based on real events based on psychiatry from the 1940's, especially concerning leucotomy (aka. lobotomy) and other treatments on World War II soldiers, and the experiences of those from the Burma Campaign. I found the book to be engaging, with the push and pull of relationships that can happen with mentally disabled people, alongside its ups and downs. Even though it was rough, this 'strange' solidarity between everybody was bittersweet. At the same time, there was this hope and reassurance from the Daniel Carter, the psychiatrist and deuteragonist, when confronting the powers of the medical system and seeing him 'be human' too. Though, it did feel iffy when claiming to have given the patients a voice. Sure, he could be a proxy, but it would've been more meaningful if there was an instance of one or more patients actually voicing out their concerns besides the overall grumbling. Not even those in the main cast did that. It was an interesting choice to have the patient, David Reece, have a first-person narration while Daniel Carter was in third-person. Yet, the third-person was omniscient. I'm currently not too sure what to make of it, besides the possibility for us to be more into David's shoes when it comes to his inner psyche while we can feel this distance with Daniel that he has in his sessions. Maybe. But I'll simply have to look into that. The other highlight for me in this story was the strong presence of art, whether that'd be visual, written, or some other form, it being an expression and utility for therapy was really fascinating. One of the characters would've argued: "There’s no such thing as art therapy. […] All art is therapy". The ending ends on a cliffhanger. In most media that I've seen cliffhangers, it still had an element to it that made it still qualify as an ending to story arc it contained. The one in this book was one that ends in a way that doesn't necessarily make you want more, but exclaim: "Wait, that's it?". Not on a high note, and not on a low note either. There was an uncertainty to it - and I think that's the point. I've seen a few compare this to the Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker as lesser to it. Another on the reading list, perhaps?