⇒ Libro I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Joanne Greenberg 9780451160317 Books

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Joanne Greenberg 9780451160317 Books

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I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Joanne Greenberg 9780451160317 Books

This book is not a book for entertainment, unless you are into mental illness and being inside a psychiatric hospital in the mid-to-late 1940s or early 1950s. You won't find anything about the horrible conditions of the hospital nor will you find the patients to be anything less than human beings with real problems that seemingly have no resolutions.

The main character is a high-school girl by the name of Deborah Blau. She has created the world of Yr in her head and lives between here, meaning the world most of us live in, and there. "There" being Yr. She has created gods in Yr, a few of them she can call friends. There is another language she speaks that is of Yr origin. There is a system of justice and punishment. She is the only one who knows of this place until she slowly lets in Dr. Fried, whom she refers to as Furii.

The book follows Deborah's relationships with her doctor, other patients, friends, and family. It vividly describes Yr and how she feels when she is there and what drives her to go there. Ultimately, it tells the story of living with schizophrenia and the struggle of a young woman to cope with and overcome the condition.

This is a hard read, one of the hardest I've ever read. I would go as far as to say it is arduous. The book has a copyright of 1964 and some of the words are hard to understand because nobody uses them anymore. The story sometimes gets a little dry, but you can't help but cheer for Deborah for every victory she has. Likewise, it's sad when she has setbacks.

It's worth the time it took to read. I can't say I particularly enjoyed it, but I did learn a lot and it renewed my respect for the mentally ill and the doctors who care for them. Sometimes it's good to get a refresher and a new appreciation.


Tags : I Never Promised You a Rose Garden [Joanne Greenberg] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Deborah, a mentally ill, but perceptive, teenager suffering from schizophrenia, struggles to overcome her illness and rejoin the real world with the help of her hospital psychiatrist. Reissue.,Joanne Greenberg,I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,Signet,0451160312,Literary,Mentally ill;Fiction.,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction Literary,General,Mentally ill,Modern fiction,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12)

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Joanne Greenberg 9780451160317 Books Reviews

I read this book in high school, and many years later had a hankering to read it again. The writing is very good; the story is well laid out and executed. All these years later, I would say that her portrayal of this mentally ill teenager is spot-on. I was saddened to see that the family reactions portrayed in this novel are also, in large part, valid as well. I very much enjoyed reading this book again. I think it would be super if it made the rounds again today --- very enlightening to those who don't experience these type of problems.
The "plot" for this book follows the course of events that depict a person struggling with a form of mental illness. It is not constructed as a fictional book meant to keep you interested by plot twists and turns. Rather, it gives a real perspective on how someone can struggle with their issue but find a way to deal with it using the help of a competent psychiatrist. For a peak into that world, this book is now a classic.
The psychological insight with which this book is written, with which the doctor helps Deborah, the patient, is fascinating. You have to pay attention to each word because there is not a word wasted in this beautiful story. This story is also for the ‘so-called mentally well’. The story depicts the mystery of the mind in all its vulnerability. It’s a mystery unraveled for all those who want to pay attention. And, I loved the ending. It was very honest.
I read this book years ago as a student nurse, again during my psychiatric rotation, again after I started working on a psychiatric unit. So this is my fourth read. There is something new each time - can I say more.
This book is a classic. I'm reading it for the third time. I decided not to see the movie, as the written story is so beautifully told. It is a masterpiece. I will write a longer review when I finish.

For those who don't know, this third-person story is autobiographical, written initially under the pseudonym Hannah Green. It tells the author's story of her struggle with schizophrenia. Her real name is Joanne Greenberg, and Joanne was recently the subject of Daniel Mackler's documentary, "Take These Broken Wings." "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" tells how she was successfully treated by Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, who took time from her lectures and writing and to treat this 16-year-old girl. Fromm-Reichmann's biography by Gail Hornstein is titled "To Redeem One Person is to Save the World."
This is an excellent book about a self-destructive schizophrenic young woman placed in a mental institution by her parents. It is set in the 1950's, and really provides insight into how primitive mental treatment was in those days.

The book is co-written by the patient and her psychiatrist, so you can see the therapy from the perspective of both people. The hallucinations and slipping in and out of reality are well-documented.

The patient's psychiatrist, through talk therapy which takes years, is able to help the patient integrate into society. The psychiatrist's colleagues consider the patient's situation hopeless, so they discourage the continued therapy.

Like "cutters" today the patient likes to burn herself with cigarettes. Many of the staff smoked on the psychiatric ward, and they were always leaving smoldering cigarettes behind even though they knew the patient would use them to burn herself, leaving infected sores on both arms. When management banned smoking on the ward, the staff members became angry at the patient.
Lots of mental illness in my family; some schizoid affective cousins, a bipolar aunt, a major depressive grandmother...this disease is no joke and the stigma attached to it sickens me. This book comes directly from the author's experiences with schizophrenia as an adolescent and her slow, difficult descent from hellish madness. I read this originally as a teen and didn't comprehend it, although I knew it somehow registered with the experiences I had with family members. Re-reading it in my 50s it all makes sense...highly, highly recommended for anyone who has mental illness, loves someone with mental illness, has mental illness of any sort in their family or among their friends. Compassion is needed to help this disease.
This book is not a book for entertainment, unless you are into mental illness and being inside a psychiatric hospital in the mid-to-late 1940s or early 1950s. You won't find anything about the horrible conditions of the hospital nor will you find the patients to be anything less than human beings with real problems that seemingly have no resolutions.

The main character is a high-school girl by the name of Deborah Blau. She has created the world of Yr in her head and lives between here, meaning the world most of us live in, and there. "There" being Yr. She has created gods in Yr, a few of them she can call friends. There is another language she speaks that is of Yr origin. There is a system of justice and punishment. She is the only one who knows of this place until she slowly lets in Dr. Fried, whom she refers to as Furii.

The book follows Deborah's relationships with her doctor, other patients, friends, and family. It vividly describes Yr and how she feels when she is there and what drives her to go there. Ultimately, it tells the story of living with schizophrenia and the struggle of a young woman to cope with and overcome the condition.

This is a hard read, one of the hardest I've ever read. I would go as far as to say it is arduous. The book has a copyright of 1964 and some of the words are hard to understand because nobody uses them anymore. The story sometimes gets a little dry, but you can't help but cheer for Deborah for every victory she has. Likewise, it's sad when she has setbacks.

It's worth the time it took to read. I can't say I particularly enjoyed it, but I did learn a lot and it renewed my respect for the mentally ill and the doctors who care for them. Sometimes it's good to get a refresher and a new appreciation.