In popular narratives, there is a clear tendency to romanticize mental illness as something like a personality quirk that can make a character uniquely special, the mental illness a challenge, but also a kind of gift.
Consider the examples of “A Beautiful Mind,” in which John Nash’s schizophrenia is portrayed as inextricable from his genius. In “Silver Linings Playbook,” Pat (played by Bradley Cooper in the film) is seemingly “cured” thanks to his romantic connection to Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) after spending eight months in a psychiatric hospital.
“The Mind Reels” by Fredrik deBoer seeks to undo these narrative tropes by dropping us into an immersive experience of what life with a profound mental illness truly entails, to show us that a disordered mind is no gift and that we should resist the urge to attach a quest narrative framework of challenge and redemption to what is instead a lifelong condition that will never not be a burden.
“The Mind Reels” is the story of Alice, who is deliberately painted as being as ordinary as ordinary can be throughout her childhood. She grows up in Oklahoma, an only child to an auto parts salesman father and library worker mother. She lives on a cul-de-sac. When Alice rides her bike around the cul-de-sac the neighbors would remark, “She’s just fine.”
Alice is also just fine as a student, achieving “the level of B+ advanced mediocrity she was destined to reach.” She disappointingly winds up only being accepted to the University of Oklahoma, but once there, finds some comfort and familiarity in her roommate, Clara, who leans on Alice in ways that are familiar to her from her previous “best friend” from high school, Sadie.
We are no more than 15-20 pages into the book when this ordinariness unravels as the first signs of Alice’s illness manifest, most acutely a paranoia that is increasingly focused on Clara. Alice is trying to have a “typical” college experience of (some) class, partying, hooking up with boys, and on the surface, all of this seems to be going according to its very ordinary plan, but deBoer, in clear, matter-of-fact prose, pierces this facade to show a person unravelling very quickly.
Some public incidents are harrowing, as Alice melts down in public, but the scariest moments, particularly early in the book, are when Alice intersects with doctors and mental health providers who are certain something else is going on, like “stress” or taking ADHD medication off-label. There is a firm refusal to see Alice as what she is, profoundly ill with a disease.
When Alice is not medicated, she cannot function. When she is, she sometimes feels like a person separated from herself, unable to keep weight off, her emotions dulled. She does her best, going through these motions of what is expected of her — a job, a relationship — but every moment is a struggle without any promise of redemption, just more struggle.
“The Mind Reels” is slim but powerful, gripping without making any effort to manipulate the reader through a redemptive plot arc or even milking sympathy for Alice. She is difficult. Her life is difficult. She must stick with her medication to maintain a connection to reality. This same medication is ruining her life.
There is not an ounce of sensationalism or sentimentality to Alice’s story. The later chapters move her through post-college years, the inevitable swings when she cannot bear to stick to the pharmaceutical regimen and bad things happen.
The situation is impossible, intractable, but necessary if Alice wants to live. That “if” is ever present.
“The Mind Reels” forces the reader to deal with this reality; no redemption is coming.
John Warner is the author of books including “More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.” You can find him at biblioracle.com.
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.
1. “Beartown” by Fredrik Backman
2. “The Frozen River” by Ariel Lawhon
3. “The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife” by Anna Johnston
4. “The River Is Waiting” by Wally Lamb
5. “The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern” by Linda Cohen Loigman
— Kirsten V., Glenview
This is a family story that’s a little more out there than some of what Kirsten has been reading, but I think she’ll find it quite charming, “The Family Fang” by Kevin Wilson.
1. “James” by Percival Everett
2. “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
3. “Stella Maris” by Cormac McCarthy
4. “Tomato Red” by Daniel Woodrell
5. “The Mezzanine” by Nicholson Baker
— Charles W., Northfield
For Charles, a classic novel of intrigue, “The Quiet American” by Graham Greene.
1. “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt
2. “The Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osman
3. “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng
4. “The Wedding People” by Alison Espach
5. “The Paper Palace” Miranda Cowley Heller
— Marisol N., Chicago
If I’m not mistaken, at least 4 out of 5 of these books are part of our major celebrity book clubs. No shade to the books or those celebrities, but we can’t just let those three people choose our books for us. That’s what I’m for! “Black Swan Green” by David Mitchell.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com.