27. Girl in Need of a Tourniquet - Merri Lisa Johnson


This is the first book I've read in a while that I find hard to articulate how I feel about. I didn't hate it - it was honest and interesting but it was difficult and exhausting to read and I didn't exactly enjoy the experience of reading it.

Merrri Johnson has, as the title suggests, borderline personality disorder. The book is written to reflect her mental state at the time and it does this very convincingly. The story is up and down and all over the place which although illustrates the point of the issue, makes it so difficult to read and enjoy. Johnson uses poetry, song lyrics and other devices alongside her prose in order to attempt to illustrate and explain her feelings in the situations which I find to be a nice touch. She talks about and describes her relationships, both with her mother and sisters, as well as romantically. She showed how quickly and easily she falls in love but also how fast she can turn against them and herself.

One issue I do have is that I don't really feel like I understand BPD any better than I did when I started out. Yes, I now have a window into the mind of someone dealing with the condition but scientifically and from a more medicinal perspective, I don't feel I've gained any real clarity on the matter. It's not that Johnson doesn't discuss it but I just feel it maybe wasn't in the most successful way.

As I've said before I'm always interested in books of this nature which deal with mental health issues so it was a worthwhile read for me but not one I would read again or necessarily recommend.

No comments:

Post a Comment