Reviews for Maladies of the Mind |
This novel’s exploration of the ways we touch each other’s lives makes a wonderful story that just about any reader will enjoy. Sooner or later, everyone seeks redemption and, sometimes, the road to it begins by helping someone else. This idea is the centerpiece of Vaughan’s novel. While Maladies of the Mind seems like a mystery, the story is really a character study. From her French background to her persistent curiosity, Zoé is a fresh and relatable, but imperfect, character. For some authors, that might be enough, but Vaughan gives almost every character the same attention. Even secondary characters, homeless people at Saint Cecilia’s who interact with Zoé, have an individual depth and a unique voice. Vaughan can clearly wield the tools of her craft into exquisite storytelling. Dialogue is about connection, which ultimately fits with the themes of Maladies of the Mind. It shows that, through connection—whether it is to family, friends, colleagues, or even people we meet in death—the life we save must be none other than our own.
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Thanks to an unyielding protagonist, a surprisingly upbeat story of death and suicide. In Vaughan’s Maladies of the Mind (drama), a Canadian woman’s determination to learn what would lead to a person’s suicide turns into a full-blown obsession. The novel begins with Zoé at a crime scene, an introduction to a fascinating protagonist. Zoé LeBlanc, Administrative Assistant at a morgue, is assisting at the autopsy of Cheska Murphy, who left behind a note which seems to confirm a suicide. Zoé is naturally inquisitive and obsessed with death, suitable attributes for a pseudo-investigator. Although there’s no real suggestion that Cheska’s death is murder, there’s plenty of mystery surrounding the suicide to make readers, like Zoé, relentlessly curious. Zoé becomes more endearing the more readers learn about her.
An entertaining story that explores psychological and emotional illness with compassion and insight.
Janet Barkhouse, B.A. (Hon. English); M.A. (English); B.Ed—former high-school English teacher in Nova Scotia. Wrote English curriculum for Province of Nova Scotia. Writers' Council, Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia.
Janet Barkhouse, B.A. (Hon. English); M.A. (English); B.Ed—former high-school English teacher in Nova Scotia. Wrote English curriculum for Province of Nova Scotia. Writers' Council, Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia.
This is a great book for anyone who likes to read about human nature and the functions of the brain and the body.
It's a nice mix between fact and fiction - the reader follows the lives of a variety of characters while gaining knowledge and learning from the author's frequent insertion of medical facts and interesting trivia. I can even go as far as saying that the book was personally therapeutic in a sense, because I could not help but examine my own views and insights on life's purpose, spirituality, friendship, love, grief, and underlying core issues and blindspots.
Despite some dark themes throughout the novel, the ending was uplifting and inspiring; providing a message on how to live life to the fullest despite its ups and downs. Angeline Vaughan. Registered Clinical Counsellor, MA, RCC
It's a nice mix between fact and fiction - the reader follows the lives of a variety of characters while gaining knowledge and learning from the author's frequent insertion of medical facts and interesting trivia. I can even go as far as saying that the book was personally therapeutic in a sense, because I could not help but examine my own views and insights on life's purpose, spirituality, friendship, love, grief, and underlying core issues and blindspots.
Despite some dark themes throughout the novel, the ending was uplifting and inspiring; providing a message on how to live life to the fullest despite its ups and downs. Angeline Vaughan. Registered Clinical Counsellor, MA, RCC
To read reviews for Betty Vaughan's previous book, I'll Buy You an Ox, click here.
