The Comforts Of Madness

by Paul Sayer

"Paul Sayer has written a singular and compelling novel of the imagination which inhabits the twilight world of the catatonic. Last year it won England's most prestigious literary prize - the Whitbread Book of the Year."

Genres: Fiction, Psychology, Mental Health, Novels, Mental Illness, British Literature

Hardcover

First published July 4, 1988

About the author

Paul Sayer is an author and former psychiatric nurse. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Sayer

Reviews

[Claire Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3.5 stars. Very quick, very short - a novella really. I liked how it was often unclear what was happening to Peter, the narrator. Peter is in a catatonic state after a childhood trauma and while he is aware of everything going on around him is either unable or chooses not to enter back into the world. Peter has to piece together where he is being taken, what plans people have for him and we have to do the same. And generally it is all bad, although Peter seems removed from all his pain and suffering - unsurprisingly. But that distance, also distanced me, aside from the very end when he gets his first proper visitor.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been sitting on my bookshelf for years and i have never read it. A very moving book..touches a nerve somewhere.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contrary to what I had long been pleased to imagine he was not blind. Merely indolent. — Samuel Beckett, ‘Enough’

This book has been compared to Kafka’a ‘The Hunger Artist’ (The Sunday Times) and Camus’ The Outsider (The Times) and I can see where those reviewers are coming from but it was Kirkus Review that encapsulated my own thoughts when it said: “[I]t would take the skills of a Beckett to dramatise successfully a state as inert as Peter's” because as I began reading this the tone and timbre (of the voice in my head) immediately called to mind many of Beckett’s less… I want to write “ert” as an antonym of “inert” but let’s go with “animated”… and vocal characters particularly the likes of the bedridden Malone and especially the disembodied and jarbound narrator of The Unnamable, neither of whom utter a word aloud despite, at the same time, never shutting up and then, of course, there are many instances of closed-space texts and “skullscapes” in his short prose works and, too, let us not forget the wheelchairs in which Mr Kelly (Murphy), Nagg (Endgame) and B (from Rough for Theatre I) are confined.

Peter, the protagonist of Sayer’s novel, will also remind many of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly whose main character can only communicate by blinking his left eye. Locked-in syndrome, which is what Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered from, is a result of damage to the upper portions of the brain whilst leaving the lower portions unaffected and there are a number of reasons why that can happen, for example, strokes, poisons or traumatic brain injury. We never get to see inside Peter’s file but reading between the lines it seems more likely he’s simply lost the will to go on (and yet he goes on). He hadn’t spoken since birth but, again, we never learn if can speak. His paralysis, which sets in in his early teens, may actually be an extreme case of conversion disorder but I don’t think we really need to know the whys and wherefores; indeed it would ruin the book if we knew too much. Do you, for example, really need to know what’s wrong with Sheldon Cooper to appreciate The Big Bang Theory? It’s the same here. It’s the poetry of the situation that fascinates; Peter, like the man in The End, lacks “the courage to end or the strength to go on.” The themes examined in The Comforts of Madness are ones Beckett returned to again and again over his entire writing career and so it’s unfair to compare the two authors—few authors can hold their own when compared with Beckett—but where, for me, Sayer takes a wrong turn (the opening is pretty damn strong) is when the story appears; two stories really, the what’s happening to Peter right now and his backstory.

The thing is Peter isn’t mad, mad as in crazy. His choice (let us imagine it was a choice albeit most likely a subconscious one), is a rational one. Granted not one most people would’ve made—most sensible people growing up like Peter (his parents are both right pieces of work) would, as his sister does, run away rather than opt out—but what if you could? The most well-known example of conversion disorder used to be known as “hysterical blindness” and who among us hasn’t wanted to bury his or her head in the sand from time to time? Perversely the one thing Peter does retain is his sight.

The thing, for me, that Peter lacks is Belacqua’s “indolent self-absorption.” He is determinedly immobile, content to be manhandled, wheeled around by anyone who can be bothered—

They put me in a wheelchair, naturally, for how else, if you were so inclined, would you shift a creature like me? They had long ago, it seemed, given up the pretence of trying to rehabilitate me, struggling daily to try and get me to bear my own weight, feed myself, wipe my own arse. No one seemed more than superficially bothered, and I was happy to have it that way. It seemed as if they had contented themselves with the fact that I still lived, somehow, in spite of my thanatophile appearance and demeanour. So I was carted around in a wheelchair, naturally. Easier. For all concerned.

—but, and this I fear is for the readers’ benefit, he takes too much interest in the goings-on around him rather than dwelling on, or even living in, the past; here I’m thinking specifically of a play like A Piece of Monologue where the actor spends the whole play staring at a wall. Peter also is more lucid, articulate and, frankly, intelligent than I would’ve expected. He feigns disinterest but, like the partially-interred Winnie in Happy Days, he has a lot to say about what little of the world he gets to see. It would’ve been better, I think, if, rather than following Peter around for several weeks we only got to spend a few hours with him in real time, preferably his final hours, as he reviews the important events of his life.

Although Beckett never worked in a mental hospital he was well aware of how asylums were run—he visited Bethlem Royal Hospital and Newcastle Sanatorium—and he references them often most notably in Murphy, Malone Dies and ‘First Love’. Sayer, on the other hand, did work as a staff nurse in a psychiatric hospital and that experience brings a level of realism here (think One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) to counter the “real to them” worlds the inmates inhabit.

On the other hand penitentiaries and criminals are rarely found in Beckett’s work although many of his characters believe they have been captured and incarcerated for crimes they don’t understand or did not commit. This is something Peter shares. In the opening chapter the man in next bed attempts suicide—Peter believes him dead—and he is immediately filled with the fear that he’ll be blamed for what’s happened which makes us wonder if he can move and is only pretending. What will happen if he’s found out? Where will he go? Will he wind up like the man in The End curled up in the bottom of a boat wallowing in “visions”, hallucinations for want of a better word, and “so indolent and weak” he cannot even find the strength to get out of the boat to relieve himself? But wait, replace the boat with a nice warm hospital bed and that’s exactly where Peter realises he’s going to come to his end:

I lose track of the seasons. There seems no point in trying to pin them down. Once I must have thought it worthwhile from the point of view of my own comfort perhaps, but now it seems a quite futile exercise. Every day is just the same as the last, my limbs, all parts of me, becoming more wasted. And my sight, periodically, seems to be failing. The moving shapes in front of me become formless, colourless and hazy, hissing, if that’s the way I can describe a shape. Sometimes, if there’s a sudden noise—a window being broken by one of the patients, or an unusually high-pitched scream—then my sight becomes clear momentarily, though it’s never for long. I confess that I no longer care much about my sight. I no longer care about anything I suppose. The day will come, my last day, and I sense it’s not far away, not far away at all . . .

The one character in the book I struggled with was the Major. He’s not badly-written but he is clichéd—think Major Gowan in Fawlty Towers or Major Benjy in the Mapp and Lucia novels—and the thing about madmen is there’re so many options out there; why pick such an easy target? (Full disclosure by the way: I have a similarly stereotypical military man in my own first novel who I’d love to replace.)

Bottom line then: This is actually a decent novel—it won the Whitbread Book of the Year award in 1988, the same year as Rushie received his Whitbread Award for The Satanic Verses and we all know which one people remember—but, unlike Beckett, is not a hard read and it’s a helluva lot shorter than The Satanic Verses. It asks interesting questions and leaves us to ponder them without making us feel we’ve been short-changed. That earns him an extra star.

[Spence · Rating 1 out of 5]

What is the point?

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

THE COMFORT OF MADNESS is a strange, bleak and dark novel. I do think it is skilfully written. I work in a mental health home as a support worker and I sometimes saw slight glimpses of the residents at my home when reading about Peter's experience in this novel. It shows the ignorance of some people towards mental illness. I completely agree with what Perry said in his review which was:
'Sayer worked as staff nurse in a psychiatric hospital so he no doubt bases much of what he writes on first hand testimony. This being the case, his experiences must have left him with a poor view of both doctors and patients because neither seem to driven by the right motives: the doctors seem more concerned with funding and results, which may not be much of a surprise, whilst the narrator appears to be hood-winking the world to some degree, thereafter wasting everyones attempts to assist him.'

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Comforts of Madness is a short book but one that left an impression on me. I am training to be a mental health nurse and I think The Comforts of Madness should be essential reading for anyone going into psychiatry. The story is a bleak one with veins of futility running all the way through, especially in regards to Peter's condition. Health "professionals" of amoral discipline, focus on the importance of "curing", "fixing" Peter, whilst others simply ignore him; all dehumanise him to an uncomfortable degree. The book is, in many ways, a guide for how not to work within mental health services. As a reader, you get to know Peter through his thoughts and memories, better than anyone else within the story. The accounts of his childhood and the trauma which led up to his catatonic state are gripping to read and overall the book is very well written and psychologically engaging.

[Graeme · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the internal thoughts of a catatonic mental patient. His observations, paranoia, and eventually his memories.
The patient has amnesia for the first two thirds of the novel. Eventually, after an extreme treatment, he gets his memories back. Once we know these we see how he ended up in such a state, although he is far from cured. His condition of anything gets worse as his resolve strengthens.
His paralysis, incontinence and muteness has no physical cause. It is his defence mechanism. He no longer partakes in the world and has removed himself from it.
If you like stories about madness, and do not mind some petentially disturbing scenes, it's a good book. A believable account of what it must be like to be so broken by life.

[Karina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this in 1988, 1989 when i was too young to get this. I remember I was attracted by the title.

Now I thought it creative and disturbing. Clever but not really enjoyable. Then again, isn’t that the whole point of literature? I wonder.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply brilliant.

[Antonio Gallo · Rating 3 out of 5]

La prima edizione di "The Comforts of Madness" di Paul Sayer è stata pubblicata nel 1988. Questo romanzo ha ottenuto un notevole riconoscimento, vincendo il Whitbread Award per il miglior romanzo d'esordio e il premio per il libro dell'anno nello stesso anno. Sayer ha scritto il libro mentre lavorava come infermiere psichiatrico, e la sua esperienza ha influenzato profondamente la narrazione, che offre una prospettiva unica sulla vita di un paziente catatonico. Non potevo non comprare questo libro, per una esperienza condivisa.

"The Comforts of Madness" di Paul Sayer è un romanzo che esplora le complessità della vita e della mente umana attraverso la storia di un giovane uomo, il cui percorso di vita è segnato da esperienze di isolamento e malattia mentale.

Il protagonista, un giovane che vive in una casa di cura, affronta le sue paure e le sue ansie mentre cerca di trovare un senso alla sua esistenza. La narrazione si sviluppa in un ambiente chiuso, dove i confini tra realtà e follia si sfumano, permettendo al lettore di immergersi profondamente nei pensieri e nelle emozioni del protagonista. Sayer utilizza uno stile di scrittura evocativo e incisivo, che riesce a catturare l'attenzione del lettore fin dalle prime pagine.

Uno dei temi centrali del libro è la solitudine. Il protagonista si sente alienato non solo dalla società esterna, ma anche dai suoi stessi pensieri. La casa di cura diventa un microcosmo in cui si riflettono le dinamiche delle relazioni umane e le lotte interiori. Sayer affronta anche il tema della malattia mentale, descrivendo con sensibilità le sfide quotidiane che i personaggi devono affrontare.

La prosa di Sayer è caratterizzata da una profondità psicologica e da una ricca descrizione sensoriale. Le immagini evocative e i dialoghi incisivi contribuiscono a creare un'atmosfera immersiva. L'autore riesce a trasmettere l'intensità delle emozioni del protagonista, facendo sentire il lettore parte della sua esperienza.

"The Comforts of Madness" è un'opera potente che invita a riflettere sulle fragilità umane e sulla ricerca di connessione in un mondo spesso ostile. Sayer offre una narrazione toccante che rimane impressa nella mente del lettore, rendendo questo romanzo non solo una lettura coinvolgente, ma anche un'importante meditazione sulla condizione umana. Consigliato a chiunque sia interessato a esplorare le complessità della mente e dell'animo umano.

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Nel romanzo "The Comforts of Madness" di Paul Sayer, diversi elementi emergono con forza e contribuiscono a rendere l'opera memorabile e profonda. Ecco alcuni degli aspetti che colpiscono maggiormente:

1. Profondità Psicologica
La rappresentazione della mente umana è uno degli elementi più affascinanti del libro. Sayer riesce a esplorare le complessità delle emozioni e dei pensieri del protagonista, offrendo una visione intima delle sue lotte interiori. La narrazione permette al lettore di comprendere le sfide quotidiane legate alla malattia mentale, creando un legame empatico con il personaggio.

2. Atmosfera Intensa
L'ambientazione della casa di cura è descritta in modo così vivido che diventa quasi un personaggio a sé stante. L'atmosfera è carica di tensione e solitudine, riflettendo i sentimenti di isolamento del protagonista. Sayer utilizza dettagli sensoriali per far sentire il lettore immerso in questo spazio claustrofobico, accentuando la sensazione di impotenza e vulnerabilità.

3. Relazioni Interpersonali
Le dinamiche tra i personaggi sono complesse e ben sviluppate. Le interazioni tra il protagonista e gli altri pazienti, così come con il personale della casa di cura, rivelano le diverse sfaccettature della condizione umana. Queste relazioni offrono spunti di riflessione sulle connessioni umane e sulla ricerca di comprensione in un contesto difficile.

4. Stile Narrativo
Lo stile di scrittura di Sayer è evocativo e poetico. La sua capacità di utilizzare il linguaggio per esprimere emozioni profonde è notevole. Frasi ben costruite e immagini potenti arricchiscono la narrazione, rendendo la lettura non solo coinvolgente ma anche esteticamente appagante.

5. Riflessione sulla Follia
Il libro invita a riflettere su cosa significhi essere "normali" e su come la società percepisca la follia. Sayer mette in discussione le convenzioni sociali e offre una prospettiva alternativa sulla malattia mentale, sfumando i confini tra normalità e anormalità.

"The Comforts of Madness" colpisce per la sua profondità emotiva, l'atmosfera intensa, le relazioni complesse tra i personaggi, lo stile evocativo e le riflessioni provocatorie sulla follia. Questi elementi si intrecciano per creare un'opera che non solo intrattiene, ma invita anche a una profonda introspezione sulla condizione umana.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very dark and strange novella. Written as a narration by Peter a catatonic patient in an a mental hospital and later asylum.
The book is basically about Peter a patient in a mental hospital who cannot do anything for himself but can understand everything that’s going on.
The book is clever as in parts I felt sorry for his treatment especially when taken from the hospital to the asylum to be “cured”. However there’s parts that really make me dislike him when he‘a talking about his incontinence and using it to try and get back at people at least that’s how I read it. But then I can understand why he would do it.
The book just kind of ends with no real conclusion which is the reason for the lower marking.

[Vicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this short book. Peter the patient locked in a catatonic state narrates this book through his inner world - his description of others paint the picture of life inside of the various mental institutions he is moved around to.
Transported back to his childhood in one chapter we can see why neglect and troubled others' result in his failure to thrive and ultimately he shuts down.
Many want to help him, perhaps for their own kudos - but met with an uncommunicative patient many also switch off from him.

[Shannon Padley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel as though to be a 3 star book minimum I need to, as a reader, feel the need to pick up and continue reading and in general the writing was spotty. It was grotesquely beautiful but equally too much for what it was trying to achieve, I felt as though I was learning about bodily fluids more than the character himself and there was a mass of unimportant description and story that I feel would've been better to skip out on. The book itself wasn't awful and I did learn something from it but it wasn't the best thing I've ever read in my life.

[Annmarie Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving

When an author is capable of touching the reader in the way this one does, it seems the very reason we write and read these kinds if tales.
This kind of read brings about a great deal of self reflection on our own lives, as well our own mortality and our fear or acceptance of that as a human being--at least this is what it did for me.
Thank you for this, Paul Sayer.

[myrainbowblood · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Then there were other times when I would be listening to the wind at its height, absorbing it, feeling myself rise above the thin outline of my body, rolling away from it, sharing with delight the wind's violence on our home and the earth, making an ally of it, a universal companion, trusting it the way I would trust a cancer, if I had one."

[Steffen Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing like the description. A dark and creepy read--excellent. Minus one star for the short length.

[Mckochan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just so sad.

[Primaaa🤎🏛 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️'s

[J.R. Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

The British "No Longer Human", a deeply sad and very effective.
Short read, recommend it.

[Ruth Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a child. Was rewatching awakenings and remembered this. Definitely due for a reread as I haven't read since I was about 13.

[Trudy Ackerblade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting, guided tour through madness.

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rather odd book told completely from the perspective of a catatonic man.

[Christopher Walthorne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sad story, but one that doesn’t really amount to much in the end.

[Robert Day · Rating 1 out of 5]

I salute the insight and imagination and all a that, but it's a bit depressing, innit.

[Elcin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't tell if I'm supposed to sympathise with the narrator. I really hope I'm not because I found him borderline revolting

[Talikha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paul Sayer. Hullumeelsuse mõnud. LR, 1997/14-15.

Teos on ülesehitatud pigem tavapäratule mina-jutustaja perspektiivile. Mina-jutustaja ja üksiti sündmuste keskel olevaks protagonistiks on Peter, kelle keha on liikumatu, kuid hing sees ergas, küüniline, ükskõikne. Ta ei saa rääkida - kuigi paljud leiavad ta olevat simulandi ning sunnivad teda "räägi nüüd ometi midagi!". Lugejana tean, mis ta sees reaalselt toimub, kuid kõrvaltegelaste jaoks ei ole see niivõrd ilmne. Nad teavad vaistlikult, et "ta on seal sees olemas", vahel kahtlustavad temast ka kõige alatumat ja salakavalamat petturit. Peter "seal sees" on aga skeptiline, ta soovib vaid rahu ja üksiolemist, kohati väljendab ta kibestumust. See on kehasse vangistatud hinge traagika, kogu oma täielises ükskõiksuses. "Ma ei suutnud mõelda mitte millestki, ma olin eimiski, eimiskisse laskunud eimiski, omaenda unenägu, ei midagi enamat. Isegi mitte seda." (lk 53) "Ma ei hooli õieti mitte millestki. Saabub päev, mu viimne päev, ja ma tunnen, et see ei ole kaugel, üldse mitte kaugel..." (102). Huvitav on see, et juba esimestel lehekülgedel saame aimu tema lootusetust olukorrast, kuid mingil põhjusel nagu ei tahaks tema keha surra, see on kui kiuste elujõuline - olgugi, et sealsamas ka luine, lihasteta, liikumatu, kokkutõmbunud. Olgu öeldud, et tegevuspaikadeks on psühhiaatrilised asutused ja autor on ise töötanud psühhiaatriahaiglas sanitarina. Protagonist mõistab selgelt, mis tema ümber toimub - ta ei ole loll - kuid ta ei saa sellele ümbrusele vastata, sellele reageerida. Ainus, mida ta teha saab, on jälgida, mida temaga tehakse või mida tehakse tema ümber. Mõnigi kord tekib tal mure oma silmanägemise pärast, sest see on ainuke, mis talle on jäänud. Umbes nagu katatoonne autism.

Oma mina-jutustaja perspektiivi huvitavuse poolest on teos mõneti sarnane Mark Haddon'i "Kentsakas juhtum koeraga öisel ajal", kus peategelase silme läbi antakse ülevaade ümbritsevast maailmast ja tema tajumise erilisusest. Peategelaseks on Christopher Boone, Aspergeri sündroomi (s.o autismi erivormi) all kannatav 15. aastane poiss, kes hakkab lahendama ühe koera mõrva. Christopher "teab väga palju matemaatikast ja loogikast, kuid väga vähe inimestest ja eriti nende tunnetest. Ta armastab nimekirju, seaduspärasusi ja tõde. Ta vihkab kollast ja pruuni värvi, ega taha, et teda puudutataks." Soovitan lugeda.

[fati · Rating 4 out of 5]

aku termasuk orang yang tak terlalu suka membaca sebuah buku yang lagi ngetrend dibaca banyak orang. jadi, buruknya, saat berada di tengah-tengah mereka, aku suka blank :P
btw, buku ini mungkin akan sulit ditemukan di toko-toko buku saat ini. aku juga ga sengaja ketemu dan langsung kepingin baca. di sela-sela membaca buku ini, aku tiba-tiba teringat seorang psikolog kawan Ayah pernah berkata begini,
”orang-orang di luar rumah sakit jiwa itu bahkan lebih gila dari yang ada di dalam rumah sakit jiwa.”
hehehe.....
lalu si psikolog kawan Ayah itu juga pernah berkelakar begini,
”coba lihat seorang penjual sayur. dulu, sebelum dia berjualan, dia pasti punya pikiran ingin punya uang yang banyak, maka ia kulakan sayur ini-itu, yang lalu dijualnya. nah, akhirnya dia dapat uang kan. dia sudah dapat uang kan. tapi, sudah dapat uang, lha kenapa uangnya kok dibelikan sayur lagi! gila kan? kalau uangnya habis dan gak dapat untung, bagaimana?!”
qeqeqe.....
jadi, siapa yang gila....?
selamat berburu dan membaca buku ini!

[Perry Whitford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slim, unusual insight into the mind of a catatonic mental patient, utterly withdrawn due to trauma and lack of will yet aware of everything external, fighting a long-term battle with the doctors and their methods to care for and cure him.

Sayer worked as a staff nurse in a psychiatric hospital, so he no doubt based much of what he writes on first hand testimony. This being the case, his experiences must have left him with a poor view of both doctors and patients, because neither here were driven by the right motives.

The doctors seemed more concerned with funding and results, which may not be much of a surprise, while the narrator appears to be hood-winking the world to some degree, therefore frustrating any attempts to assist him.

Interesting, but difficult to like, or even credit in some regards. Did Sayer have a useful point to make, or was he just after some vengeance on certain individuals?

[Tess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is quite an unusual novel - it was recommended to me by a university professor when I was researching my dissertation and I ended up writing about it in comparison to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Both novels explore the subject of mental illness within the confines of a psychiatric institution from the point of view of a mute protagonist but the contexts of the novels differed greatly. What I found particularly interesting was that despite gaining critical attention at the time (winning the Whitbread award) Comforts of Madness seemingly sunk without a trace. I found it thought-provoking and, at times, hard to read due to some dark subject matter and a bleakness which pervades the text. I do feel it is a relevant novel when looking at the depiction of mental illness in fiction. Not one that I see myself reading for a second time, however.

[Fita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Novel ini berisi monolog seseorang yang dianggap gila oleh lingkungannya.. bagaimana sang tokoh menceritakan setiap perlakuan yg ia dapat dari orang2 yg merawatnya di rumah sakit jiwa dimana ia dirawat dan menceritakan orang2 dan lingkungan yang terjadi di sekitarnya. Intinya bagaimana seorang yang gila memandang dunia sekitarnya dari sudut perspektif kegilaannya dengan kata lain novel ini bercerita ttg dunia dalam kaca mata orang gila. Pembaca akan dihadapkan pada dua kata antara waras dan gila atau normal dan abnormal. Bukankah sesuatu yang normal bisa jadi tidak normal dan sesuatu yang dianggap waras ternyata adalah kegilaan??!! Karena sesungguhnya hanya ada sehelai tipis pembatas antara sesuatu yang kita yakini dan tidak kita yakini.