These are five books that helped me see perspective through times in which I had uncertainty about how my life would pan out, I hope these help you add perspective too!
- The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
One of the most notable books in modern fiction, Plath discusses the experiences of the character Esther Greenwood and her tribulations of being a woman from a lower socioeconomic background, gaining an internship in New York to write for a magazine. Though she feels like she should be happy about her achievements in life, she still feels inadequate, due to her struggles with untreated depression. The book takes an unfortunate but foreseen turn when she decides to take her own life, but fortunately, the attempt is unsuccessful, found by her family she is taken to a hospital, where she is moved to a mental health facility.
The methods used on Esther Greenwood are feral and unorthodox in modern times, including painful and incorrect shock techniques. Through the treatments, she expresses feelings of improved health and wellness, which feels sinister and cruel as she now has a lost sense of autonomy.
Through reading the novel I felt a sense of happiness about the improvement of attitudes towards mental health and how people are now treated for it, but remorse for those that had endured inhumane and bestial ideas of treatment.
I will warn this book can be quite triggering if you are dealing with a lot of the feelings and sentiments that Plath discusses, especially as it is noted that she unfortunately took her own life a few weeks after the book was published, I do feel as though it is a good read to reflect the positives of modern attitudes to better mental health and more efficient support systems to depend on.
2. A Streetcar Named Desire- Tennessee Williams
Williams had created a drama that captured the heart of the world, with amazing writing and incredible performances on stage. Williams writes about typical life in New Orleans, a Huband (Stanley), a wife (Stella), and an expectant child. Which is disturbed by Blanche, Stella’s sister coming to stay after she has lost the family home ‘Belle reeves. Stanley is instantly suspicious of Blanche and her behaviour, which leads him to constantly interrogate her, and belittle her, which adds to her declining mental health.
As the play goes on, we see that Blanche seems to be dealing with some undiagnosed mental health disorders as she finds herself creating new realities for herself. Later Blanche tragically loses her husband at 16 due to his suicide which she witnesses, triggering her lost sense of reality.
Williams discusses topics such as fragile masculinity, domestic violence, rape, and assault. The play is only around 150 pages long, yet Williams can captivate the audience and understand the severity of Blanche’s ever worsening condition, which leaves us to feel the urge to save Blanche from her struggles.
I think this a perfect short read, and a reflection on how certain dominant/ hegemonic ideologies have been phased out of society allowing people to get adequate help, as well as leave situations that endanger their lives.
3. On Earth, We are Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Voung
Only released in 2019 Voung has crafted a masterpiece touching on topics such as addiction, depression, grief, immigration, and queer issues. Voung allows us to view the journey of the main character little Dog, a name given to him by his grandmother Lan, as a means of protection. We see the struggles of growing up in America as the child of an immigrant in what feels like the enemy country after the war. These feelings are understood by many first-generation immigrants around the world and are highlighted when talking about the issues with his mother and the pain Little Dog watches her endure due to years of physical labor that slowly deteriorates her body.
We also see the struggle of Trevor, Little Dog’s lover, and his delusion around his sexual identity, showing the struggle around men’s identity and the perception of what being ‘gay’ is and the connotations around the word especially in young men.
We see how mental health and the traumas of life plague people and absolutely destroy people’s lives, unfortunately, Trevor’s life ends in an overdose that leaves Little Dog feeling even more displaced.
A book that depicts life and all the pain that can come from it, Voung allows the audience to have some hope about the future and the realistic expectations of life and how things must change and progress.
4. The Midnight Library- Matt Haig
The Midnight Library is a book that everyone should read when they need a pick-me-up. It is a book that a lot of people can resonate with especially if you have struggled with mental health can relate to. It follows the story of a woman who commits suicide, with a slight twist, she ends up in the midnight library, a place in which people go, to have a second chance at life. She is greeted by her old school librarian and is asked to read through her big life of regrets.
Through doing this she is opened to being able to take any book off the shelf and try on the different outcomes of her life if she had chosen different routes, one in which she works in Greenland studying glaciers, one in which she is an Olympic swimmer and even an international pop star. She then finds that her life her root life is the best life no matter how difficult it feels.
Though it can feel cheesy light-hearted, and predictable at times Haig does present a point that I feel that we need to hear. What we have in life currently no matter how hard it is, is the life for you, there is no point regretting your actions and choices!
5. Milk Fed- Melissa Brooder
Milk Fed is Melissa Brooder’s second novel, it explores the main character Rachel, who is calorie-obsessed and struggles with her self-image. The book follows through her journey which is focused on not improving her relationship to food or cutting off her toxic and abusive mother. But instead to try and ‘fix’ herself without being able to take responsibility or accountability for any of her actions. Then she meets Miriam, an orthodox Jewish woman she falls in love with one day at a frozen yogurt shop, this leads to a secret affair between to two, even leading to Rachel meeting Miriam’s family.
Brooder doesn’t shy away from anything in this novel, Rachel goes on to slide to the opposite of the scale in which we see her eating nonstop, even when she is full, this tipping of the scale is detrimental, but it also points out that doing better is never a quick fix and it a long journey to keep going, swinging scales is never the option. We also see Brooder, talk on issues such as how Jewish people feel about the Israeli government and issues that surround Jewish communities.
Unfortunately, Miriam’s parents find out about the romance and force Miriam into marriage and out of her relationship with Rachel, which leaves Rachel to move on, she doesn’t seem to develop as a character and still holds on to her negative mindset about her own self-perception, the book leaves us as the audience to figure out why Rachel doesn’t seem to want to improve on her life though she is depressed and struggles through each day. She makes the necessary steps to improve her life but without any of the work that it takes, rejecting advice, the book makes a sentiment on how to change and develop your life you must be willing to be able to balance the scale and to make the effort to improve your life.
I hope you enjoy it, and I hope that if you’re going through anything that you can see you will grow through it and be a healthier person on the other side!