Quiet-Crazy: A Novel

by Joyce Durham Barrett

The sheriff has come to "put away" Elizabeth Miller--to take her to the state mental hospital. "Well, I may be crazy," Elizabeth tells us, "but I know I'm not wild-crazy, just maybe quiet-crazy, and I don't know which one is worse." For someone about to be penned up with the "crazy folks," you wouldn't think she'd be so calm and analytical. But Elizabeth Miller knows that her trip to the asylum is her last chance at an independent life, her last chance at getting away from Angela--the little dead girl inside her who won't die, who threatens to take over her life. In the hospital, she will find beauty and terror, but most of all, she will find her own inner strength--the strength to heal herself and to face the family and small town she has had to flee. Joyce Durham Barrett's debut novel is the uplifting story of one woman who triuimphs of a terrible past and wakes up to find the world as an adult: ready to embrace it in all its complications, its many shades of meaning and uncertainty, its degrees of good and bad, its wild, wonderful, terrifying, thrilling reality.

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published September 1, 1993

Reviews

[Merceda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting going through Elizabeth/Angela's therapy. Her mom was a bit of a nut-job, constantly bringing out Angela's belongings to people who dropped by to show them her dead girl's belongings. And Elizabeth took on Angela as the perfect girl, and became more Angela than she was Elizabeth. Finally, we got to the part where Elizabeth explained what her mom made her do during her childhood. Made her suck on her breasts until Elizabeth was 6 years old, so she was scared that she might become gay because of her mom's forced behavior. But, after several months at Nathan, and working through a boatload of issues, she could go home, live with her Aunt Lola and go to college and become the true person she was meant to be.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very intriguing and kept me wondering from the beginning what the reason was that the main character had become quiet crazy. Although I was not fully satisfied with getting the full story, I still enjoyed the book and think of it as a very deep inner journey of this main person. I don't know if I would recommend this book, but whoever picks it up won't have a boring read. I think it just depends on your taste.

[Danielle Carrico · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an incredibly slow read for me. It was slow getting started, and there was not much action. It read almost like a diary and I often found myself having to reread passages because I would simply zone out. The language and style that was used took some getting used to and was at first difficult to follow.