Danvers State: Memoirs Of A Nurse In The Asylum

by Barbara Stilwell

Danvers State gives an insider's view of what really went on at the state run insane asylum. The book provides details about the facility's dark past and the melancholy lives of her inhabitants. It brings to light the harsh treatment of mental illness in decades past.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Mental Health

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Chris Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was constructed well and very interesting, although, I found some repetitive sections that the editor missed. It was apparent that the book was written by a retired nurse without professional writing skills. However, this gave it authenticity to the author’s first-hand accounts that would not have been from an author who was only documenting facts. Conditions and practices that are unbelievable become real by reading the nurse’s background story that is threaded throughout the book. How life was during that time period helped explained logically why things were done and how deportable conditions could be accepted as normal. The author insider’s view gave an understanding of the staff who worked in the asylums, as well. It is worth reading.

Warning: This book is informative and the subject matter is not pleasant. If you are sensitive by nature, you might find the subject matter extremely disturbing and depressing.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe I'm biased here, but I loved this book! First off, my mom isn't a seasoned author. The whole reason this book was written was to fulfill my grandmother's dying wish. She would relay stories to my mother, who would then type them up. It may have included a lot of background unrelated to Danvers, but my grandmother did lead quite an interesting life! If you take the time to really read carefully and visualize the scenarios, then you'll be able to gain a greater appreciation for the work that was done here.

[Deena Scintilla]

I'm not sure I'll finish this because the author rambles so much. She'll be talking about one thing and then jump back to something she's already covered that is unrelated to where she was "going".
I had higher hopes for this because the subject matter is familiar to me since I worked in a state hosp in the early 70's.

[CTEP]

This month I read Cracked by Dr. Drew Pinsky and Danver’s State by Angelina Szot and Barbara Stilwell. Both books were surprisingly similar and told first hand accounts of working with individuals who find it difficult to function in the outside world due to mental illness or chemical dependency. The first hand accounts in Cracked took place in a modern day chemical detox ward, while the accounts in Danver’s State took place in a mental asylum in the 1950’s. In Danver’s State it was really interesting to read how much treatment has changed over the years for patients in mental institutes, shock treatment used to be a routine practice, and people could be sent to mental institutes against their will on heresy that they had a mental illness, even if they found themselves to be a perfectly functioning individual. Society’s view towards mental illness has definitely evolved a lot in the last 60 years, back in the 60’s there was very little emphasis on treating mental illness, asylums were basically used as a place to put people who couldn’t function normally in society.

These books relate directly to my AmeriCorps experience because I often work with people suffering from various kinds of mental illness and chemical dependency. Reading Cracked gave me new insights into the extreme difficulties people detoxing from powerful chemicals face, while Danver’s State gave me a greater appreciation for how much society’s view towards people suffering from mental illness has improved in the last half century.

I would definitely recommend that AmeriCorps members read either of these two books. Cracked was fascinating and entertaining, and Danver’s State was packed full of interesting historical tidbits about mental asylums from the 1950’s. Both books gave me a new understanding of what it’s like to suffer from a chemical addiction and a mental illness, which will sure to be invaluable the next time I’m interacting with someone who is that situation.

[Spooky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read. A retelling of what life and work was like at Danvers State Mental Hospital in the 50's and 60's. This book feels like sitting at the Thanksgiving table and hearing your grandmother recount her very cool and unusual job at the asylum, tangents and all. I would have LOVED to have that kind of grandma.
Yes, there are redundancies and the book is clearly not professionally written or edited but these candid glimpses into Danvers are few and far between. To all the Danvers obsessives, this is a lovely little addition to your collection.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been fascinated with Danvers State Hospital for years. It was really interesting to read stories from someone who worked there about the inner workings of the place.

[Michelle E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but could have used more editing.

[Jeannie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really hate to knock this book because at the end I found out the author was age 78 at the time she wrote it.BUT I must be honest.

I have had this book on my wishlist for such a long time and finally got a like new copy recently. Wish I hadn't..it was nothing like it was hyped up to be..mainly ramblings that went nowhere. She would say one thing in one chapter (which by the way are very short) and then in another chapter repeat the same story. It was SO repetitive and got old very quickly. Not much info on the asylum or the patients, I found it to be more about her working there, which she never went into deep detail about, just the same thing over and over. Like most of our jobs, pretty dull stuff, I kept waiting to hear something interesting other than what she shared. I think if a proper author had taken the time to have her tell her stories that so much more could have been done with this story and this book. I was hugely disappointed in it. If you are wanting to know about what happened in this asylum (and I know a lot went on there) this is NOT the book to read to find out.

[Abby Mace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm currently reading this book, and I really don't like it. Its not well written, I have found grammatical errors in it. Its kinda sad when a dyslexic catches the errors and asks their dad if the author made the mistake or I did, and it turns out the author did. This book also lacks detail of the hospital, and the patients. I was really looking forward to reading this book, and I will finish it. Its really not what I was expecting, and I'm surprised the grammatical errors did not corrected by the editor. The pictures in the middle also do not help with this book. They were taken after the hospital closed, and only one of them is half decent to see what the building looked like. This book could have been so much better with more information about the actual hospital, and less about this one persons story. In addition for such a short little book, it is way too receptive, and jumpy.

[Samantha Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to read about her life as a nurse inside Danvers but I wish it would have explained certain things better.

It was refreshing to read differen't view points on the way certain things were run inside an asylum. Previous books I've read on other hospitals all seem to say the same thing.

Still good though and I would recommend it for anyone who wants to know more about Danvers.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was poorly written and lacked all of the details that I expected from a memoir of this nature. The font size was huge and a few pages were blank..I felt that the author was cheating and trying to make the book seem longer! I found spelling errors, extra spaces.. the random photos in the middle of the book took up a few extra pages.

I've read three books about asylums and none of them were really memorable for me...I have yet to read an awesome asylum book :-X

[Ana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as interesting as the book on the Willard Asylum, this book is written by a former nurse and it mostly chronicles her personal life and family, how she started at Danvers State, etc. Not enough detail about the actual patients, but Szot worked there for quite a while and saw the changes in the system over her many years at Danvers State.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read some of the other reviews, and I agree that more in-depth insight to patient and staff life at Danvers State would have been interesting. On the other hand, Szot gives a personal view about what it was like to be a woman working in a demanding environment in the 1950's / 60's.

[Ronnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find the subject of old state mental hospitals fascinating, which is why I bought this book. I was able to read this in one night. It was well written, but lacked very many details. I am now on the search for another similar book which I will post when I find one !!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be interesting but definitely lacking on the stuff I really wanted to know about .

[Kels · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was utterly amazing. I've never read a better memoir.