Doc Peter works in an asylum for the criminally insane which happens to be within walking distance of the home of their newly hired superintendent, his beautiful but bored housewife Stella and their young son Charlie. When an inmate named Edgar is hired on to do some work on their grounds Stella gets all hot and bothered by his sweltering looks and big brawny chest and begins to romanticize his criminal history. She starts to believe he only murdered his ex love because he loved her so very deeply. Awwww, isn't that the sweetest? So I assumed bad things were going to happen and was looking forward to an emotionally disturbing read about a dumb housewife and a hunky headcase but I was so bored I could barely get through it. The Warden (Daniel Crawford): He was the warden at Brookline when it was an asylum. His experiments focused on immortality and he was focused on spreading his "legacy". Insomma, un modo simpatico per associare, ad ogni malanno, un libro da leggere. Con l’indicazione di “Piccola farmacia letteraria” di libri ce n’erano diversi, ma io volevo “Follia” e non certo perché fumo, ma perché il titolo girava nella mia mente da un bel pezzo. But Stella's knowledge of Edgar's crime is no hindrance to the volcanic attraction that ensues--a passion that will consume Stella's sanity and destroy her and the lives of those around her. Si si lo so, non si dovrebbe mai simpatizzare per il cattivo del libro, ma siamo sicurissimi che sia stato solo lui quello colpevole? Siamo sicuri che Stella sia stata soltanto una vittima plagiata da una mente malata? Ci sono stati dei momenti di tensione, non lo nego, ma altri in cui ho creduto di aver sbagliato libro.

McGrath's Asylum is an elegant novel. Gothic and dark, it explores the nature of love and obsession as well as mental illness. The novel is, in many ways, timeless, and particularly, it was some time before I could have stated with any assurance the time period in which Asylum is set. Late 1950s, to be exact. Asylums: Essays on the Condition of the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates is a 1961 collection of four essays by the sociologist Erving Goffman. After experiencing the mental illness of person close to him first-hand (presumably his first wife who committed suicide in 1964) Goffman remarked this book would have been "very different" had he written it after the experience. [2] See also [ edit ] La sua identificazione con Edgar diventava ogni giorno più profonda. Mi disse che stava assumendo consapevolmente tutti i suoi gusti, le sue idee, i suoi sentimenti. Okay, I’m going to review this book from two different perspectives; as a social worker, and from a student.Accompagnare Stella in questo viaggio, fa sentire i capelli spettinati, l’alito gelido della notte sul collo e l’acutezza vivida di stelle che riempiono un cielo estivo pulsante, attonito, pieno di promesse malate.

Questo libro è ossessione; carne che si scuote di dosso le convenzioni per vestirsi di inganni, di violenze e di bugie. Ma anche di gelide indifferenza, di sotterfugi e fughe nella notte talvolta abnorme e poi improvvisamente claustrofobica.

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Dennis Heimline: Previous patient of Brookline Asylum who was a serial killer called the "Sculptor" because he posed his victims with ropes and wires. He was "cured" then disappeared after the asylum was shut down.

The brilliant interplay of the dialogue, and cast of characters, pulled me in, as well as the intricacies of the plot set up. Follia è un libro perturbante così come l’amore e le emozioni provate da Stella. La psiche dei personaggi è complessa, e trovo che nonostante sia difficile immedesimarsi ed empatizzare con loro, sia comunque possibile capirli, comprendere cos’hanno fatto e soprattutto perché lo hanno fatto.Abby Valdez: A girl Dan's age who is studying Art at the New Hampshire College Prep for the summer. She's described as being "petite, with large brown eyes and creamy olive skin". [3] She is Dan's love interest. Follia parla di un amore oscuro, passionale e violento; un sentimento deleterio, perturbante e folle. Cleave is narrating the novel, yes, but he is doing so after discussions with Stella, after something has apparently gone badly wrong, and the impending sense of doom only adds to the novel's complexity. Not that Asylum is a mystery. It isn't. Edgar murdered his wife. He escapes from the asylum. Stella goes to him. Nothing surprising here. When Edgar begins exhibiting erratic behavior, though, she runs. However, the story doesn't take the reader into the places you'd think it would. Stella is not repentant. Instead, she feels torn from her lover and sorrowful that she ever suspected his behavior. Willing, even after knowing the full extent of his crime, to go to him and be with him, and Cleave notes this:

Side note: Are all Stellas sexual beings ruled by their animal instincts and the urging of their loins? The primitive, debasing relationship between Stella and Edgar drew a strong parallel to another sexually-charged relationship tinted with domestic violence penned by Tennessee Williams and made forever famous by Marlon Brando. Peter è il principale narratore di questa storia; psichiatra da molti anni nella clinica dove ora si trova Max, ha in cura Edgar. Nonostante voglia apparire distaccato, freddo e professionale, più volte durante la narrazione si lascia andare, dando voce ai suoi sentimenti e alle sue ossessioni più intime: Stella ed Edgar. L’autore infatti non entra troppo nei dettagli della psicologia; per esempio, si limita ad accennare i meccanismi di difesa più noti come censura e rimozione, identificazione e annullamento, transfert e controtransfert fra medico e paziente.

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And I don’t read romance. Thankfully this wasn’t anything like a romance novel. No detailed descriptions of the acts I love to do, but don’t care to observe others doing. Instead it was a downward spiral of madness, cruelty, obsession and straight up narcissism. McGrath gets to the root of things all humans have experienced and gives nice space to philosophize. Doesn't bother me to know where a book's going. This one just didn't go to a place I was interested in. It all wraps up in perfect late 1940's film style (though it's set in 1959) and is a good book. It's just not a great book. Asylum is a New York Times bestselling young adult horror novel series by Madeleine Roux. [1] The series is composed of four novels, Asylum, Sanctum, Catacomb, and Escape from Asylum and three novellas: The Scarlets, The Bone Artists, and The Warden. Edgar Stark is Cleave's patient, and Edgar's intelligence fascinates the doctor. Edgar murdered his wife and brutalized her body after suspecting her of multiple infidelities for many years. Edgar feels completely justified in his actions, and Cleave counts Edgar one of his more interesting patients because of this. It is only when Cleave observes subtle changes in Stella that he suspects the impossible. When Edgar escapes from the facility, Max and Stella both come under scrutiny, leading to a chain of events that is both disturbing and engrossing. I studied psychology, I’ve been a social worker for the past 10 years. I know what grooming looks like, and Stella was being groomed by Edgar. He was emotionally abusive, and then later physically abusive. This was a relationship characterised by violence, and Stella was the victim. However, at times she is treated like she is responsible for Edgar’s actions. At one time the protagonist even asks why Stella didn’t see it and just leave? Seriously?! This review is going to be long enough, so I won’t go into the specifics around family violence…