Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Quitting the Nairobi Trio

Rate this book
The author of Slackjaw chronicles six months spent by the author in a Minneapolis psychiatric ward following another failed suicide attempt, during which he observes the failings of modern mental health practices and shares the insights of fellow patients. Reprint.

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2006

3 people are currently reading
143 people want to read

About the author

Jim Knipfel

14 books39 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
85 (27%)
4 stars
119 (39%)
3 stars
87 (28%)
2 stars
13 (4%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
386 reviews2 followers
February 23, 2017
I found this book while browsing in a bookstore and was intrigued. I had never heard of the author, but bought it on an impulse. I very much enjoyed reading this memoir about the author's stay in a mental hospital in the late 1980s. He is a keen observer and very reflective, raising interesting issues particularly about what "madness" or "insanity" is and also what care he was actually provided. His clear description of his psychotic break are also fascinating - like a very clear description of a dream, actually. I found it easy to read and compelling. Interesting to read about an experience I probably will never have. Looking forward to reading his first memoir, Slackjaw.
Profile Image for Bob Schnell.
641 reviews13 followers
July 24, 2025
As a fan of Ernie Kovacs and author Jim Knipfel I knew I'd get around to this book eventually. I'm glad I finally did. "Quitting the Nairobi Trio" is a grim, yet humorous, memoir that details Knipfel's stay in a locked mental ward after another failed suicide attempt. Although not as gruesome as other tales of such institutions, the daily routine with occasional interruptions of spasmodic violent or erratic behavior, and the author's periodic hallucinations, describe one of Dante's circles of Hell.

The story was so engrossing that I forgot to wonder where the Nairobi Trio fit in. That question is answered near the end of the book. The chapter "Mi, So, La" did such an excellent job of pulling it all together that I found myself humming "Solfeggio." Well worth the wait.
Profile Image for S. Wilson.
Author 8 books14 followers
May 9, 2019
For me, the most effective aspect of Quitting the Nairobi Trio - a personal account of author Jim Knipfel's experiences in a psych ward after a failed suicide attempt - is that Knipfel restricts descriptions of these experiences (including delusions and hallucinations) to how he perceived them at the time that they occurred. This not only goes a long way towards illustrating his true state of mind at the time, but makes it easier read the emotional turmoil behind the analytical tendencies of mental illness as filtered through the mind of an intellectually curious student of philosophy. self-reflection cannot occur without self-deprecation, and Knipfel does not shy away from this important element. Above all else, Knipfel's accounts of this period of his life is handled with a dark yet ultimately optimistic humor that loses touch with humanity, and an end to the story that does not pretend to be an end to the story.
Profile Image for W.B..
Author 4 books129 followers
August 26, 2008
This book is grim but funny. I like this guy.
Profile Image for Kaye.
1,732 reviews112 followers
April 17, 2021
This book deserves a place alongside other mental health classics; The Eden Express, Brain on Fire, and the fictionalized (but based on family experience) Challenger Deep, which is a young adult book. Jim Knipfel is a funny, and sharp writer. He is a person who seems to embrace humility while still critically looking at the world around him. I loved every page. I highly recommend his book on becoming blind (these events take place before that in his timeline) which is called Slackjaw.
Profile Image for Anthony O’Brien.
66 reviews2 followers
Read
January 7, 2021
Interesting to a point. Memoir of a 6 month stint in a US psychiatric ward. Jim Knipfel says he enjoyed it but it’s hard to see how. The nurses are truly awful, there are no characters to empathise with. There are sections on Lacan that seem like they are supposed to be interesting but they are not.
Profile Image for livestreamsuicide.
70 reviews
January 14, 2024
Dachte am Anfang das wäre so ein Comedyscheiß und ich würde das Buch eh nicht mögen, habs nur wegen dem Namen genommen. Tatsächlich ist dieses Buch aber total gut. Wie die Welt damals war ist auch spannend zu lesen, und die Art der Geschichtenerzählung ist wirklich cool.
Profile Image for Brad.
834 reviews
April 10, 2014
'Twas a quick and painless read with an eccentric and (mostly) affable narrator relating some humorous catch-22s, but:

(1) It wasn't nearly as funny as the quotes on the front and back covers suggest. There's no denying the guy has some unusual viewpoints, but I wouldn't say I laughed more times than I could count on one hand. (Of course, humor is different for everyone, blah blah.) I found It's Kind of a Funny Story, Ned Vizzini's fictionalization of his own stay in a mental health facility, much funnier...and, really, better in every possible way.

(2) The other people in the psych ward were dehumanized by the writing. This was the most difficult thing for me to forgive about the book. I get that calling them "nutjobs" and such is part of the author's style (which was sometimes used to be self-deprecating), but it often felt like he was simply having fun at the other patients' expense. This rarely amounted to more than documenting their behavior, with no artistic or creative spin. Yes, most of the characters silently followed their same routines day after day--some of them unresponsive to whatever else is happened around them--but, the way Knipfel writes it, he acted very much in the same way. If he were more convincing in the moments he turns the critical eye on himself--he does, but usual with a less-than-profound "Yeah, I'm a lunatic and a freak. So what?" attitude--this would be easier to forgive.

(3) The narrator doesn't seem to grow or change.

Other than these, I can't say the recurring sections where Knipfel recounts his hallucinated experiences were entertaining. As a sober person reading them, the detail and number of pages they were given was unrewarding.

33 reviews1 follower
July 19, 2007
I've wanted to read this one for a while because I like Knipfel and I love the title. In fact, I think I had heard of this book and loved the title before I read any of Knipfel's books. (The title refers to a rather surreal skit from the old Ernie Kovacs show -- though I'm not old enough to have seen the show when it was on the air, I've seen clips and tapes of some of the old programs.) Knipfel is someone who's had enough health problems for several people, and this memoir deals with his mental health problems some years back. He has a singular worldview which is hard to describe; through his memoirs, he always seems a bit fragile and unearthly, like he's visiting from elsewhere. I got to meet him briefly at BEA (Book Expo America) this year and he seems rather sweet and meek. He signed a galley of Noogie's Turn to Shine for me, and I'm looking forward to reading that -- my old boss was his editor, and I read an early manuscript. That one's fiction, and I'll report on it once I've read it. But I'm a big fan of his memoirs (the others are Slackjaw and Ruining it for the Rest of Us).
Profile Image for Derek Davis.
Author 4 books30 followers
January 22, 2011
Jim's an old pal, still my best (male) friend, so I may be given to a tilt in his favor. So this is the only one of his books (his second) that I'll review, because I think it's just plain brilliant.

Hewing closest to his own life (even closer than "Slackjaw," I think), it chronicles the time he served in a mental institution--how it was spent, why it was spent, who it was spent with and how things worked (or mostly didn't). It's markedly different from any other nuthouse book I've read: There's no fulmination against the evil overlords (who often deserve it), no self-pity, no sense of a redeeming turnaround in his life. It's simply the tale of what happened, told with an eagle eye for detail, a wealth of Jim's unique black humor and an underlying sympathy for the human condition, even when he most condemns it. The book also contains what I think is the most fascinating presentation of a long, involved hallucination that's even been put to print. It's Jim to the core.
Profile Image for Ryan.
72 reviews
April 18, 2008
i loved this book. knipfel has had a fascinating life, and his readers are blessed with his storytelling skills. he writes with this beautiful, simple austerity that allows the crazy events to shine. also, it seems like he manipulates the subtext of the book as it progresses to correspond with the changes he underwent while in the ward.
Profile Image for Mrs. Musrum's Mum Keleher.
61 reviews4 followers
September 4, 2009
Knipfel has a very clear prose style and is dryly funny. The story of his last suicide attempt that resulted in a psychotic break and several months in a mental hospital in the 1980's. It's NOT "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" or "The Bell Jar". He's not especially tormented by insanity or being in the hospital, but by his isolation from other people and the world. I enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Bill Davis.
16 reviews1 follower
December 9, 2010
A Crazy good read, excuse the pun. I applaud Knipfel's recovery and his courage to write the story of his mental illness and time spent in the pysch ward. It was well-written narrative, including the parts where he describes (as the reader is forewarned) his hallucinations. Sad, funny, interesting. Read it in two days.
Profile Image for Tom Zilla.
172 reviews7 followers
December 18, 2020
At first seemed like your typical trapped in a mental hospital book but unlike the majority of those stories, he actually got something valuable out of his experience there-though probably not in a way you might expect.
Profile Image for Sarah.
7 reviews
August 29, 2007
A riveting look into the life of a schizophrenic, which helps in my line of work. I like memoirs, it was well written, the author is likable, I'll probably read it again some day.
Profile Image for Elyssa.
831 reviews
October 30, 2007
I read this after reading Jim Knipfel's hilarious book, Slackjaw. This book isn't as good, but I did enjoy the humorous retelling of his suicide attempt and hospitalization.
Profile Image for Chadwick.
306 reviews4 followers
February 28, 2008
This is one of my favorite memoirs. A punch-inna-face chronicle of a winter spent in the bug hatch. Books like this make you realize how thin is the line between sane and insane.
24 reviews
January 25, 2009
A good book regarding the author's stay at a mental institution. Knipfel's prose makes the details all the more alluring.
Profile Image for Meghan Kelly.
Author 151 books13 followers
February 28, 2011
I read this years ago and it is still one of my favorite books. The prose is clean and the humor dark and dry. It's a fascinating look into 'crazy'.
Profile Image for Gladys.
1 review21 followers
May 21, 2013
The author clearly has a talent for making the mundane amusing.
48 reviews5 followers
January 17, 2009
A little bit different take on being sane inside an asylum.
Profile Image for Lori.
460 reviews1 follower
June 9, 2013
Strong writing about one man's experience in a mental hospital.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.