The Caretakers

by Dariel Telfer

Dariel Telfer wrote THE CARETAKERS out of first-hand knowledge and passionate concern. She has herself worked in a large mental institution, been a witness to events such as those she so candidly describes.

Genres: Fiction, Psychiatry, Mental Illness

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

Reviews

[Cynthia Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author of this book worked at the state mental health hospital in Pueblo, CO in the 1950s and while this book is fiction, it is based on her experiences at the hospital. The book felt a little dated (written in 1959 so not surprising) but knowing what it based on made it very interesting. We think that mental health treatment is poor today but we have come a long way if the book is an accurate portrayal. Worthwhile read if you are interested in mental health or Pueblo, CO. Referred to in Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker.

[Joyous Song Little Leaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. A Peyton Place-esque story that has a mental institution as its setting. I read this book because it was mentioned in Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker. Of the novel he wrote that it is one of the few descriptions he found of life inside an institution for the mentally ill in the 50s-60s. The atmosphere of the novel begins on a hopeful note with young nurse Kathy about to start her placement at Canterbury, a last requirement before graduation. Kathy's nurse friend Althea shares her infatuation with one of the doctors with Kathy, who begins to think she is infatuated with the same doctor. Meanwhile the politics inside the institution include shifting romantic alliances and the tyranny some supervisors exercise over their underlings. The underlings put up with this for the sake of a job. In the background patients undergo shock therapy, a therapy that entails being bound in ice cold sheets for days, some are locked up and some are abused. The romantic angles drive the story, but the side stories are more compelling, as they feature the lowest level employees and their honest reactions to what they see. Overall I found this novel compelling, yet grim. I am glad I read it.

[Di · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Money. Of course. We spend it all for wars and pleasures or for covering up centuries of mistakes. We must have our cars, television sets, cosmetics, atom bombs, for everything under the sun but a comprehensive program of welfare. Poor Grandpa goes around peeking in somebody's bedroom window, so he gets stuck in a place like Canterbury, behind a locked door, to vegetate and die. And what about the spastic babies, the epileptics, the idiots? They can't be kept at home; they bother somebody. Somebody has to worry about them and train them and watch over them. It's too much fuss and bother, so turn them over to people who can be paid for taking care of them, people who'll lock them in and watch over them, all for a paycheck!"
- Elizabeth, page 211

[ReadingupwiththeRajs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting. Read much more like a twisted Mills and Boons novel than an insight into mental health care at the time. Although maybe it was both?

[Philip Tidman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hard-hitting novel set in an asylum for the insane the story focuses on a young psychiatrist’s attempts to introduce pioneering methods of therapy and the resistance of his nursing staff who are used to more traditional methods, such as restraining and padded cells.