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Summary: A consciously intriguing look at the unconscious.
Review: This book can be very confusing at times. The concepts of the other world, Yr, are not clearly introduced and there is a vagueness about these ideas at first. Once the book gets going, the reader is drawn into it and keeps going to find out what happens next. It is not something to be read when you can't really concentrate on it.
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Summary: Very worth-while!
Review: This book was incredibly hard to follow, but it was so real. I can't imagine going through what the characters in this book did.
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Summary: A triumph of will over the cruelest of enemies.
Review: Few works of art have spoken to me as this book has. Through the course of story, you are shown that, truly, our most formidable opposition lies within us. But it goes on to illustrate that our greatest strength does as well. Anyone who has ever felt alone, scared, hopless, or otherwise has been given a graphic demonstration that no fear is stronger than our desire to defeat it. I know Deborah well. She has become a part of me.
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Summary: Very Interesting, but also Confusing
Review: The novel "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" was an extremely moving book. At times I felt I could connect with Deborah, being that I have been though therapy and I've seen a continuous line of psychologists. I was assigned this book for a summer reading program as I went into 9th grade. At first I thought it would be relatively easy reading, as I already read books such as Anne McCaffrey's, the Dragonlance books, and others. This however, was a different story. It was twisting and occasionally confusing, but I still enjoyed it. I loved to hear of her times with her friends and the other patients. I knew they'd always have interesting things to say. I especially liked when she and Carla, "crazy" as they were, ran out into the night and still came back, with no punishment. The doctor really trusted them, and I admire that. All in all, "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" was a very, very good book
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Summary: The mind is a terrible thing to waste...
Review: There are times when I would like to just go "insane" and casually strangle my annoying co-workers, but I don't. Why? There is something called a "conscience" and that is what prevents me from doing just that.How can you put those you love most through the stress, trauma, and burden of dealing with your insanity when they too have to deal with bills, the fear of death, and every other type of stress that the fates toss into our lives. People who truly love their families, chose to remain strong and resist the urge to go bonkers. With such a biased opinion, you wonder why I even bothered reading this novel. Actually I'm half way through it and I have gained an appreciation for the act of "insanity". I started to read this book as a way of opening my mind up to the possibilites that perhaps when people go crazy it's a physiological defense against severe mental trauma. Well, this book doesn't convince me so. Alternatively, it makes me more aware that there are some people that just can't handle life. So they choose to fabricate lies and deceive those around them so they can meander around in white halls and make the lives of the "babysitters" miserable. This book is quite good, however. (It did arouse jolts of anger in me.) And I feel that any book that makes me "feel" something be it anger, sorrow, joy, or indifference is something great and worth experiencing. So hats off to the author and I look forward to finishing her work.
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Summary: Shows the reality of this awful psychosis
Review: My grandmother suffers from this, as did her mom, and eventually mine...than maybe me. It's a scary thought. This book helped me to understand what their world is like more clearly, and even gave me a little patience. I just loved this book. Of course, if you can't tell my view is quite bias. If you need some inspiration in your life, this is a book that just may do the trick. Hope you all enjoy it!
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Summary: Brilliant. A classic. I couldn¿t put it down.
Review: Rarely does there come a book that transcends genre, time, and cultural barriers speaking directly to the human heart. This is one of those rare books. Rather than showing the mysterious and foreign world of insanity I had expected, it reveals that the mentally ill struggle with the same needs and battles as we all do: The need for love and acceptance, the power of undiluted truth, and of undeserved kindness and forgiveness. Comparable to victor Hugo's Les Misérables this book is not merely about a certain minority group, but about major life issues and struggles that touch us at the core of who we are, no matter what our background. Insanity is a form of defense, a way of not seeing. Rather than offering an "alternate reality", it creates a wall that keeps out hurt, but also keeps out the love that we all need. I couldn't help but see the similarity between the hiding from life of the insane, and the hiding from life of the polite, trivial, distraction-obsessed, non-introspective world of the "normal". To live in reality is a fight for us both. It is tempting to take the easy way out for both groups, and swallowing the lies of an easy struggle-free existence is tempting, but as the main character Deborah Blau says, "To be alive is to fight". This book made me glad to be alive. Read it!
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Summary: Confusing yet Educational
Review: I recantly read Hannah Green's book for an extra credit novel that I could take in my Literature class. I enjoyed the book, but at times I found it hard to understand. I would only recomend this book if you are a person who is truely intrested in mental illness. I belive that it should be read by the more advanced reader. At times, I think that everyone would be able to see themself in Deborah's shoes. Eventhough this book was a little difficult to understand, I think that I learned alot about mental illness by reading it. If you are curious in that field I would defiantly recomend it.
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Summary: This book was hard to understand
Review: I thought the book was kind of confusing when she kept going back and forth from Earth to Yr. The book has some places where it is hard to understand and it also has parts that makes you want to keep reading to find out what happens next.
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Summary: Fascinating
Review: I Never Promised you a Rose Garden is a sensitive and moving gift of understanding. This brilliant and creative, although tormented young girl urges one to explore their own reality and the sanity thereof.
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