What a Piece of Work

by Dorothy Porter

As the new Superintendent at Callan Park Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Peter Cyren must perform medical alchemy--turn diseased minds into healthy ones. But in the case of his own soul, this sacred process works irrevocably in reverse.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Australia, Mental Health, Novels, Psychology, 20th Century

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Eminent Australian poet. A rare proponent of the verse novel. Winner of The Age Book of the Year for poetry, and the National Book Council Award, for her verse novel The Monkey's Mask. She was awarded the Christopher Brennan Award for lifetime achievement in poetry in 2001. Died of breast cancer, 2008.

Reviews

[Kirsty Leishman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a portrait of a bad psychiatrist. He exploits his patients, conducts experimental therapy, and, all in all, What A Piece Of Work charges the psychiatrist to 'heal thyself'.

Dr Peter Cyren smokes cigarettes while on duty, so perhaps the doctor's god-complex belongs to another era, along with the critical R.D Laing anti-psychiatry perspective held by his lover, Fay.

Perhaps if I'd read What A Piece Of Work when it was first published in 1999, before literature and television had offered more complex portraits of psychiatrists and their methods, I would have appreciated the narrative and characterisation of Porter's verse novel more; as it is, for me, it draws upon untenable stereotypes and misrepresentations of treatment--especially electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

That said, Porter's portraits of Peter's patients, Frank and Penny-Jenny, are true and compassionate, and give rise to the very best verse.

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again Dorothy Porter took me on a journey of love and hell - that which is reality

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just got back from having finished the book in the now-partially-abandoned Callan Park Hospital for the Insane, which just so happens to be up the road from me. It's positively gorgeous now, albeit smeared with graffiti. (Though it was pretty cool graffiti, so that's not necessarily a bad thing.)

It was pretty interesting to read the book on site. The place already had a creepy enough atmosphere without the imagined past adding to it, not to mention the weirdness of actually looking at the "sandstone towers" the book was currently describing. Anyway, I'm not actually talking about the book itself yet, so I feel like I should do that.

First of all, Dorothy Porter's style is. It's just. Totally consuming. Since I began the book, I've been repeatedly asked if I was okay. I didn't really know why, until someone told me I looked "pensive". (Another's word was "whimsical".) That was when I realised that the way I thought, while reading the book, had actually managed to change in accordance to her style, thus affecting my expressions... If that makes sense, which it probably doesn't. Anyway. I actually remember experiencing the same thing with El Dorado, and The Bee Hut. The way she writes is very... fresh, I guess? It's new, anyway, and very modern in style - in a good way. It was lyrical, in fact. That's a good word for it, I think. (Also, it's very inspiring. I swear I wrote like 16 poems while I was reading it, not that they're probably any good.)

I really liked the narrative, too. It was dark, and wiry, but not really over complicated. The main character was a bit unlikeable, but I couldn't say I disliked him; if for any other reason than the fact that I just spent 276 pages situated inside his head. (Her style was very good at that.)

It was, however, a little bit messy... That was probably to replicate the disjointedness of the situation, which it definitely did, but it just sort of made my head hurt a little more than anything else. That's the only real negative, I think. Other than that, it was extremely well done. Yippee.

[Rhiannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

what can you say about Dorothy Porter? such a fabulous writer! my favourite book of hers is still Wild Surmise.

[Julie Dickson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary
What a Piece of Work by Dorothy Porter is a novel written in verse about a psychiatrist and his work and relationships.
Dr Peter Cyren is the Superintendent at Callan Park Psychiatric Hospital in Sydney, Australia. He tries to cure mad minds at work, while ignoring his own mind which needs to be cured.
The novel explores Peter's relationships with patients, and his romantic relationships outside of work. It flashes back to his relationship with his mother in his childhood, the root of all his problems.
Darkness is slowly taking over Peter's mind, making him unreliable and untrustworthy as a narrator.

Review
The novel was a bit boring and hard to follow at times. I found it hard to get fully invested in Peter, the main character.
It was hard to connect with Peter. He didn't have a very likeable personality, and he had traits of a byronic hero. I sympathised with him a little, due to his loneliness and past. However, it was hard to fully sympathise with him due to his attitude and unlikeable personality.
It was interesting seeing how Peter's mind got darker and darker.
It felt like there wasn't a lot of plot, just analysing Peter's relationship with the other characters. Peter was lost with his life and felt like his life had no purpose anymore, and this was reflected in the plot and writing.
At times, I got confused between Fay and Tamara and mixed them up.
I liked the verse and thought it was a good format for the story to be written in.
I recommend this book for anyone who's 15 years and older, and wants to read a verse novel about a psychiatrist and his relationships.

[Dani Ringrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was on the fence about this until halfway through and readers were dragged further into the darkness. Still believe verse novels are probably the hardest form of fiction to write. Fortunately, this novel isn't a gimmick - the story itself is what makes it. I've marked it as unreliable narrator, but I feel narcissistic and untrustworthy fits far better. Elements of the play "Cosi" came to mind in some places.

"Lighting a trembling man's cigarette / can be an act of delicate intimacy / holding his hand steady / his eyes and yours / on the flaring match / between you."
"...it's my inner voice / oh god, it's shrieking / that wants you shredded / that wants you sliced through / it's my inner voice / not your kind doctor / who's really fucking you."

[Travis English · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I liked this more. Too opaque.

This is a book in verse, or, as she called them a "verse novel".

But, it is free verse. There's no meter. There's no rhyme. So, it's more like reading paragraphs that are broken up with line breaks.

And, for all that, the story is rather opaque. The reader is supposed to figure out what's happening being the narration. Why not just use your poetic language and tell me, outright, WTF is happening?

So, I was less than impressed. I've other "verse novels" that do a better job.

[Bunty Bou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although dark and twisting, Porter painted the pictures almost perfectly with her poems. Dr. Peter is mental in his own little ways, yet, as a reader, I seek to understand him through his colors and paints.

[Susan Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dorothy Porter is a master of the verse novel. Loved the poetry in this. It was dark and grim, exploring the abuse of power in psychiatry (set decades ago but some of the dynamics would still prevail in some form in some places) and how the impacts of childhood abuse are far-reaching.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh holy shit.
That was, like all of Dorothy Porter’s stuff I’ve read, amazingly written.
But Peter was??? So messed up and uhh a bit vile I kinda want to crawl out of my skin.
But that was??? !!!

[John]

yes always a good read is Ms Porter

[Billie Roseanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy and brilliant

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dorothy Porter writes books that are nothing like anything else I’ve ever read. So dark, so intense, so clever. The protagonist is awful, but that’s the point I guess.

[Benjamin Farr · Rating 2 out of 5]

2½ stars

A dark novel of sex, death and psychology set in and around the asylum in Callan Park (Sydney) during the 1960s.

[Alisha Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting conceptually, some of the poetry was really unique, but I found it all a bit disturbing with not much to say.

[Trinity Cates · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read.

[Gerhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dorothy Porter's verse novel introduces the reader to Dr Peter Cyren, the new superintendent at Callan Park Psychiatric Hospital. As the author leads us with consummate skill and insight ever deeper into this enigmatic man's damaged psyche, it becomes disturbingly clear that his good intentions can never be a match for the baser instincts rooted in a scarred childhood.

Porter is an accomplished wordsmith, constantly conjuring up edgy, nostalgic and sensual images in precise poetical constructions.

Describing a summer's day in Sydney and the resultant longing for a long-lost youth:

"The Harbour glitters
a warm breeze curls
around my chest

my body feels
in love with itself

a briny fresh smell
comes of the water
slap 'n' tickling the wharf

my body remembers
summer holidays
and happy smudgy toes
wriggling in the water."

Dr Cyren on taking notes while interviewing inmates:

"While my patients talk
I take notes

and sometimes scribbling
to the spilling
of the richly manic
my pen grows wings
like a little Hermes
around its nib

And the words fly"

A highly original novel, well worth seeking out.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I am officially a fan. Porter specializes in verse novels, and they deftly move between humor and well, not tragedy, but certainly some dark vision. I am again amazed at Porter's ability to integrate a self standing poem into a string of the same to complete a novel. Of the three I have thus far, this one may be the most bleak. It also may be my favorite. But then, but I don't have to choose. . . The subject matter might have swayed me: a psychiatrist takes over a state mental institution with grand hopes that in five years he will have turned matters around, and if not cured and freed the patients, at least made their lives acceptable. His ex-wife, a Freudian, has her doubts about chemical rejuvenation and electro and chemical shock treatment, however. Porter realizes the males in this exquisitely.

Even better on second read! I am jealous of her ability to convey plot by seemingly disconnected segments.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Dorothy Porter's style of writing, and I love the pace of a verse novel.
I enjoyed 'What a Piece of Work' even though I didn't like the main character (but I suppose that is the point).
This story is dark, sexual and disturbing.
Set in a Psychiatric Hospital, all I can say is that I feel sorry for the patients.
I give this book three and a half stars.

[Safia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read. Being placed in the narrator's complex mind worked extremely well in verse, though sometimes difficult to follow. Overall, well written and thought-provoking, with many references to the senses, smell in particular. The idea of a novel written verse to me, was more effective than The Monkey's Mask.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the same time delightful and disturbing. Porter was a master of the verse novel. This one concerns a doctor who’s been put in charge of a large mental hospital. The patients as well as the doctor have problems.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love her style. a novel in verse. why are there not more of these?

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very unusual read.

[Pip Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like a corroded novel. The use of verse works perfectly - she never gives in to florid writing, but strips her story back to its pulse.