Brilliant!
5 stars
Hot on the heels of another classic of 'women's mental health' fiction - The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath which I read and reviewed two weeks ago - I was excited to spot a disintegrating Virago edition of The Yellow Wallpaper on the Rowcroft Hospice charity book table in Torquay Indoor Market. I had read discussions of this story on the Goodreads-Bookcrossing Decade Challenge forums last year, but had not previously read the work itself.
At only twenty-eight pages, The Yellow Wallpaper is a quick read and a strangely powerful one. I was horrified at the thought of this woman who seemed obviously to be suffering post-natal depression being effectively shut away in solitary confinement. And this was considered a cure! Her patronising husband angered me intensely although I know that such ignorant attitudes were the norm until relatively recently. Being aware of the truthful basis to the story only …
Hot on the heels of another classic of 'women's mental health' fiction - The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath which I read and reviewed two weeks ago - I was excited to spot a disintegrating Virago edition of The Yellow Wallpaper on the Rowcroft Hospice charity book table in Torquay Indoor Market. I had read discussions of this story on the Goodreads-Bookcrossing Decade Challenge forums last year, but had not previously read the work itself.
At only twenty-eight pages, The Yellow Wallpaper is a quick read and a strangely powerful one. I was horrified at the thought of this woman who seemed obviously to be suffering post-natal depression being effectively shut away in solitary confinement. And this was considered a cure! Her patronising husband angered me intensely although I know that such ignorant attitudes were the norm until relatively recently. Being aware of the truthful basis to the story only increases its atmosphere and I loved how Gilman paces her reveal for maximum impact. I think The Yellow Wallpaper is a deserved classic on several fronts: as a short horror story, as feminist literature, and as a compelling evocation of mental breakdown.
