ASK Musings

No matter where you go, there you are.

Daily Archive: 26/08/2018

Sunday

26

August 2018

0

COMMENTS

Faces in the Water by Janet Frame

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Three Stars

Best for: People who enjoy her style of writing, I’m guessing.

In a nutshell: Istina is mentally ill and being ‘treated’ at an in-patient facility. For nine years.

Worth quoting:
“Later, the same nurses will become impatient with their charges; but at first they are full of sympathy.”
“Few of the people who roamed the dayroom would have qualified as acceptable heroines, in popular taste; few were charmingly uninhibited eccentrics.”

Why I chose it: I’ve been having a hell of a time finding a book for the “Birthday” BINGO square. I kind of wish I’d kept looking.

Review:
I’d not heard of Ms. Frame prior to picking up this novel, but she is a much-celebrated author from New Zealand. If this book is representative of her work, then I can definitely not count myself as a fan. The book follows Istina from one in-patient facility to another and back again, seeing it through her eyes as she deals with hallucinations, being moved to different wards without understanding why, being given ECT, and being scheduled for a lobotomy.

There are moment in this book that are so frustrating, such as when Istina describes the nurses ‘caring’ for patients who are in an especially challenging situation, as instigating fights just to see what the patients will do. Treating them as zoo animals or, perhaps more aptly, fighting dogs. It’s also so sad, but unsurprising, to read of the doctors who make only the occasional appearance in the lives of the patients. No one is really getting therapy or treatment — they are just housed like cattle, kept away from the rest of society without getting much beyond food and shelter.

This is a novel, but it is likely pulled from Ms. Frame’s own life, as she entered in-patient treatment multiple times over nearly a decade, even publishing her first book while a patient. So I cannot speak to whether this is an amazing example of writing about what it is like as a patient with mental illness, but I can say that it was challenging to read. Ms. Frame (or perhaps Istina?) seems to abhor the comma, so sentences at times wander. Again, I couldn’t tell if this was an affect of the main character or if this is just how Ms. Frame writes. If it’s the former, I’m sure it serves a literary function; if it’s the later, it just seems pretentious.

Obviously Ms. Frame was a celebrated author, so I can’t say that this is a BAD book. It is just not one I enjoyed, nor is it one I would recommend.

Sunday

26

August 2018

0

COMMENTS

What I’m Reading – August 26, 2018

Written by , Posted in What I'm Reading

Xenophobia

“The smartphone contained photographs of Ms Lazoja “in a state of undress”, as well as private messages from her lawyer. “Ms Lazoja is a Muslim woman and wears a hijab (a headscarf) in accordance with her religious beliefs. Pursuant to her sincerely held beliefs, Ms Lazoja cannot be seen in a state of undress by men who are not family members,” the documents state.” Woman sues US border agents over seized iPhone (BBC)

Misogynoir

“And look, I’m not here to argue about whether a scientifically-designed power suit that covers ALL THE BITS UP is somehow less respectful than the typical tiny tennis skirt. I’d just like the point out that Williams wasn’t just wearing it to be different, or because it made her feel like a “warrior princess kinda queen from Wakanda.” She was wearing it for her blood clot issues, which came to a head after the traumatic birth of her child (she ended up having to have multiple surgeries to remove clots in the days following her C-section). Wearing pants helps with circulation. She’s literally wearing this catsuit for her health.” French Open Changes Dress Code Because HOW DARE SHE (by Tori Preston for Pajiba)

Misogyny

“Before the first game of the season, an unofficial flyer was handed round saying the stand was a “sacred place” where women were not allowed. But Lazio blamed “a few fans”. “We are against any discrimination,” it said.” Serie A: Lazio hardcore fans call for women ban in some seats (BBC)

“The school found a video of Mason’s work as a pole dance instructor on her private Facebook account. Mason believes the video may have been pointed out to her district superiors by some “malicious” person. “I’ve worked so hard to try and make sure I can provide for my daughters and our livelihood to have it jeopardized just for doing something that I’m passionate about,” said the single mother of two. Along with her pole dancing instruction credentials, Mason has a master’s degree in psychology, a bachelor’s in English and a phlebotomy certificate.” A North Carolina Teacher, Who Is Also A Part-Time Pole Instructor, Was Suspended After Her Pole-Dancing Videos Were Seen On Facebook (by Tonja ReneeStidhum for Blavity)

“Human Rights Watch said they recently went on trial at a terrorism tribunal on charges including “participating in protests” in the restive Qatif region. It has been the scene of demonstrations by the minority Shia Muslim community. Ms Ghomgham is believed to be the first Saudi woman to possibly face the death penalty for rights-related work. HRW warned that it set “a dangerous precedent for other women activists currently behind bars” in the Gulf kingdom.” Saudi Arabia ‘seeks death penalty for woman activist’ (BBC)

Reprehensible Government Officials

“That tableau of terror is Jeremy Hunt, who in his prior role served as Britain’s Health Secretary and who helped spearhead the continued plunder and destruction of this country’s National Health Service so as to advance the neoliberal political class’ decades-long mission of finally privatising this nationally beloved monument to the idea that a person’s access to healthcare should not be dependent on the size of their wallet. That’s him there having tea and smiling along with Henry Kissinger, war criminal and cold-blooded avatar of American exceptionalism, who claimed his place in the history books and signed his name there with the blood of hundreds of thousands. I Don’t Think a Single Tweet Has Ever Made Me Feel This Sick (by Petr Knava for Pajiba)

Fighting Back

“The statue, erected in 1913, has a long racist history tied to the oppression of black people in the nation and the surviving veterans of the Confederacy at that time. When it was built, tobacco industrialist and Confederate veteran Julian Carr praised the Southern rebels as the saviors “of the Anglo Saxon race in the South” and reminisced about “horse-whipp[ing] a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds.”” Confederate Statue On College Campus Makes Like Humpty Dumpty After Fed-Up Students Take Matters Into Their Own Hands (by Rickey Riley for Blavity)