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Discovering Sanity
On the day of her Quinceañera party, Juana Cheyez lights the event hall on fire in an attempt to wipe out her entire family, including her infant son, Ignacio. Seven years later, Ignacio, raised by his Abuela Maria, discovers the evidence of his mother's breakdown and crime on a hidden videotape of the party. Consumed by the tape and desperate to understand his mother's actions, Ignacio concocts a daring plan in the years that follow. He decides to fake his own insanity in the hope that he will be committed to an institution so he can find his mother, long lost in New York's system of prisons, hospitals, and asylums. Ignacio's plan works, perhaps, a bit too well, and he finds himself admitted to a facility upstate, a renovated mansion on a vineyard whose residents include sex maniacs and Bible thumpers, an orderly obsessed with lip balm, and a pair of elderly hypermanic German twins. Welcome to Northern Lights Behavioral Rehabilitation Center. We hope you enjoy your stay.
- GenresFiction
308 pages, Paperback
First published June 11, 2018
7 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 15, 2021
Read 19.0%. I'm not even sure what a "Southern gay accent" is, but that's my exit point. Tired of the cliches and over complicated explanations anyway.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 8, 2018
[I got this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review]
A truly fascinating character study of mental health. The characters and their stories are unique, and so brilliantly crafted.
Northern Lights is a mental health facility but that isn't at the core of the book. The real heart of the story comes from the characters and their relationships with themselves and others at Northern Lights.
A truly fascinating character study of mental health. The characters and their stories are unique, and so brilliantly crafted.
Northern Lights is a mental health facility but that isn't at the core of the book. The real heart of the story comes from the characters and their relationships with themselves and others at Northern Lights.
May 28, 2015
Every reason to read Emma Janson’s Discovering Sanity is summed up in the following line of dialogue: “Sometimes people just need free fish.” This line, spoken by Sam Jenkins, one of the residents of Northern Lights Behavioral Rehabilitation Center in the days before his admittance, speaks to the humor and warmth infused in every page of this novel. It speaks to the way everyone—in the novel, in life—has their own struggles, whether with mental illness, addictive behavior, family difficulties, unspeakable loss, and heartbreak. And we all need a little humor, warmth, and care at those times—free fish.
The center of the plot is Ignacio Cheyez and his fractured relationship with his mother, Juana, who tried to kill him along with the rest of her family by setting fire to her fifteenth birthday party. Found not guilty by reason of insanity, she disappears into The System for most of Ignacio’s life, which drives him to cultivate his own façade of instability so he can follow her into The System and perhaps reunite with her. Of course, the longer Ignacio fakes his illness, the more the lines between sanity and insanity blur for him, which calls into question the real nature of sanity in the first place.
But the most entertaining draw in this novel is the cast of characters that populate the Northern Lights facility—part hospital, part vineyard—where Ignacio ends up for extended treatment. Each resident has a story that blends heart-wrenching tragedy with absurd dark comedy. The aforementioned Sam Jenkins, church choir director and procurer of free fish, suffers an injury while rescuing a little girl from a house fire. The resulting split personality (or dissociative identity disorder) turn him into a part-time God-fearing small town hero and part-time gangsta. His alter ego is in love with Belinda, a classic good-girl turned bad by a doomed college love affair. Belinda’s sexual antics put her in constant conflict with the religiously devout Maggie, who likes to eat paperclips and spare change. And the manic German twins, Hilda and Ute Schmidt, have to be seen firsthand to be believed.
Once Ignacio’s back story is fully laid out—in a wonderfully friendly prose style that feels like the conversational re-telling of neighborhood gossip and legend—and he arrives at Northern Lights, much of the plot centers around the romantic and sexual lives of the facility’s residents. Some of the scenes and descriptions get detailed, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you may want to look elsewhere. But these moments are not simply gratuitous. They speak to the very basic instincts for love and human contact that drive all of us, whether we like to admit it or not. Without giving away too many of the twists that result from the complicated relationships between all the characters, their interactions weave an intricate web that eventually draw the reader into the lives of these characters in way that will have us questioning our own grasp on reality and sanity. It’s all definitely worth spending some time with this colorful cast in the vineyard.
The center of the plot is Ignacio Cheyez and his fractured relationship with his mother, Juana, who tried to kill him along with the rest of her family by setting fire to her fifteenth birthday party. Found not guilty by reason of insanity, she disappears into The System for most of Ignacio’s life, which drives him to cultivate his own façade of instability so he can follow her into The System and perhaps reunite with her. Of course, the longer Ignacio fakes his illness, the more the lines between sanity and insanity blur for him, which calls into question the real nature of sanity in the first place.
But the most entertaining draw in this novel is the cast of characters that populate the Northern Lights facility—part hospital, part vineyard—where Ignacio ends up for extended treatment. Each resident has a story that blends heart-wrenching tragedy with absurd dark comedy. The aforementioned Sam Jenkins, church choir director and procurer of free fish, suffers an injury while rescuing a little girl from a house fire. The resulting split personality (or dissociative identity disorder) turn him into a part-time God-fearing small town hero and part-time gangsta. His alter ego is in love with Belinda, a classic good-girl turned bad by a doomed college love affair. Belinda’s sexual antics put her in constant conflict with the religiously devout Maggie, who likes to eat paperclips and spare change. And the manic German twins, Hilda and Ute Schmidt, have to be seen firsthand to be believed.
Once Ignacio’s back story is fully laid out—in a wonderfully friendly prose style that feels like the conversational re-telling of neighborhood gossip and legend—and he arrives at Northern Lights, much of the plot centers around the romantic and sexual lives of the facility’s residents. Some of the scenes and descriptions get detailed, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you may want to look elsewhere. But these moments are not simply gratuitous. They speak to the very basic instincts for love and human contact that drive all of us, whether we like to admit it or not. Without giving away too many of the twists that result from the complicated relationships between all the characters, their interactions weave an intricate web that eventually draw the reader into the lives of these characters in way that will have us questioning our own grasp on reality and sanity. It’s all definitely worth spending some time with this colorful cast in the vineyard.
January 14, 2020
What a roller coaster ride! There were surprises at every turn. Just when you think you've totally got things figured out... Nope! I cannot count the times I said "Whaaaat?!"
I couldn't put this book down. I had to find out what these characters were up to next.
Having written a college paper in the past on disassociative identity disorder, I can say this author did her homework. She portrayed her characters with just enough detail for the lay-person to grasp what this illness might be like for some. Great job!
I couldn't put this book down. I had to find out what these characters were up to next.
Having written a college paper in the past on disassociative identity disorder, I can say this author did her homework. She portrayed her characters with just enough detail for the lay-person to grasp what this illness might be like for some. Great job!
August 14, 2018
I received this book from Netgalley, the publisher, and author for an honest review.
When I finished the book I sat there and thought, " What the heck did I just read? I believe I just went insane. " There were so many twist and turns I would recommend buckling up cause I guarantee it will be a bumpy ride.
The characters were the heart of the story and the mystery is keeping up with them, as you figure out who they are. Even if there is constant change in their life mentally.
As a warning, there are some very graphic scenes in this story, and some trigger points. The author did a fantastic job at describing the instability of mental illness and the vulnerability living with an illness brings.
When I finished the book I sat there and thought, " What the heck did I just read? I believe I just went insane. " There were so many twist and turns I would recommend buckling up cause I guarantee it will be a bumpy ride.
The characters were the heart of the story and the mystery is keeping up with them, as you figure out who they are. Even if there is constant change in their life mentally.
As a warning, there are some very graphic scenes in this story, and some trigger points. The author did a fantastic job at describing the instability of mental illness and the vulnerability living with an illness brings.
December 10, 2019
WOW...
It's been a long time since I've been this engrossed...This book was amazingly written. I was thrown into every emotion. Thank you!!!
It's been a long time since I've been this engrossed...This book was amazingly written. I was thrown into every emotion. Thank you!!!
kindle
June 9, 2018This book was extremely well written. The author's writing made the relationships between the characters and those at the facility, Northern Lights, that they opened realistic. I found this to be one of the best novels about mental health that I have read in a long time.
June 14, 2018
This may be the funniest, most bizarre, and insane story of a mental health facility dedicated to treating the very small subset of the population that suffer from a devastating mental illness.
Attached to a vineyard, the fictional Northern Lights mental health facility allows its residents to develop and refine themselves over time. Much as it takes a long time for grapes to become wine, so, too, does it take time to delve into the depths one the human psyche.
I read this book with my jaw dropping ever wider with each page and as each new escapade unfolded. Clearly, not every reader will enjoy Discovering Sanity as much as I did. But for those with a sense that life is quite frequently bizarre and the willingness to leap into an alternate reality - well, they are in for a rare treat.
I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I look forward to reading other books by Emma Janson.
Attached to a vineyard, the fictional Northern Lights mental health facility allows its residents to develop and refine themselves over time. Much as it takes a long time for grapes to become wine, so, too, does it take time to delve into the depths one the human psyche.
I read this book with my jaw dropping ever wider with each page and as each new escapade unfolded. Clearly, not every reader will enjoy Discovering Sanity as much as I did. But for those with a sense that life is quite frequently bizarre and the willingness to leap into an alternate reality - well, they are in for a rare treat.
I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I look forward to reading other books by Emma Janson.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews