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59th out of 90 books
—
19 voters
Halfway House
One day, Angie Voorster—diligent student, all-star swimmer and ivy-league bound high school senior—dives to the bottom of a pool and stays there. In that moment, everything the Voorster family believes they know about each other changes. Katharine Noel’s extraordinary debut illuminates the fault lines in one family’s relationships, as well as the complex emotional ties tha...more
Paperback, 384 pages
Published
February 8th 2007
by Grove Press
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Because of my own diagnosis of bipolar disorder, it is very hard for me to read books dealing with the issue and not be judgmental of the depictions. The result is that I had a hard time separating the fiction of the story from the actual reality of mental illness. If something is depicted in a way I don't feel is "right", it's extremely difficult for me to look past it. Unfortunately for me, there IS no objective reality when it comes to mental illness so I can't claim to be definitively right...more
An incredibly assured debut, "Halfway House" isn't, to my mind at least, the story of a teenage girl being diagnosed with bi-polar, as many reviewers have suggested. This to me utterly reduces this brilliantly observed chronicle of middle class suburban American family life.
It takes a very talented writer to be able to so acutely recognise and depict the minutae of relationships in such a real and compelling way.
One of Noel's greatest strengths is that she DOESN'T focus solely on the mental hea...more
It takes a very talented writer to be able to so acutely recognise and depict the minutae of relationships in such a real and compelling way.
One of Noel's greatest strengths is that she DOESN'T focus solely on the mental hea...more
Novel about how a teenage girl struggles with her mental illness (bipolar) and the effects it has on her family as well as her hopes and dreams for a sane life.
Jul 03, 2010
Theryn Fleming
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2000s,
fiction
Halfway House is the story of what happens to an "ordinary" family after the daughter develops a mental illness. (I say "ordinary," because I didn't find them that ordinary to begin with.) It's about how easily a seemingly perfect family unit can fall apart when one thing (albeit a big thing) changes. The writing is great; the descriptions are vivid and the characters do seem authentic. It felt like a world that had been percolating in someone's mind for a long time. Still... I never really foun...more
I decided to read this book when I saw a glowing review on the cover from Ann Packer (I am a big fan of Ann Packer). This novel did not disappoint.
Noel describes the repeated roller coaster rides that define the life of manic/depressives realistically and without undue sentiment. It seems that the book would be depressive, but it is just the opposite. It is insightful and captures the compassion and anguish that this girls family feels as it struggles to cope with her illness. The entire Voorste...more
Noel describes the repeated roller coaster rides that define the life of manic/depressives realistically and without undue sentiment. It seems that the book would be depressive, but it is just the opposite. It is insightful and captures the compassion and anguish that this girls family feels as it struggles to cope with her illness. The entire Voorste...more
This is a beautiful novel of a family's struggle with bi-polar disorder. Katharine Noel captures such real, intimate moments in her fiction, without stretching things out of proportion. Her depiction of mental illness - both the highs and the lows - was realistic, but the story is so much more than just how a girl deals with bi-polar disorder. It's a coming of age story, a relationship story, and a story of a family growing up. Each of the characters is developed into a whole person that you can...more
This book started out with such great promise. I even commented to some one that it made me feel the overwhelming sense of mania with the words rushing and colliding to get out. But then it started to drag a little and it took me a while to finish. It wasn't a book I'd stay up all night to read. Plus, it was an advance reading copy and uncorrected proof marked nit for resale (I guess that is why it was on clearance). There were a lot of spelling errors that stopped the flow if writing. Since I o...more
Angie Voorster has everything going for her: great grades, star of the swim team, a senior perched on the edge of budding greatness. But then she has a psychotic episode, one that spins her life out of control and undoes the fragile threads holding her family together.
This book traces the effects of manic-depressive disorder on not only the one diagnosed, but on the family of the one suffering from the mental instability. Mostly from chapter to chapter, the point of view shifts focus, and we ge...more
This book traces the effects of manic-depressive disorder on not only the one diagnosed, but on the family of the one suffering from the mental instability. Mostly from chapter to chapter, the point of view shifts focus, and we ge...more
The Voorsters are a typical American family. The patriarch, Pieter, is an immigrant from The Netherlands, but he found his home here while studying cello in college. Pieter never made it as a professional cello player, but he did manage to find true love with his professor's daughter Jordana, a beautiful woman fourteen years his junior. Together, they have two children. The youngest Luke is wandering, somewhat unsure of what he wants to do with his life. The oldest Angie is a talented Olympic-le...more
Dec 03, 2007
Jessica
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
the diagnosed, the diagnosers, and various other involved third parties
Shelves:
social-work-or-relevant,
crazy-ladies
This is not the kind of book I normally read unless I have to, and this was no exception (it was assigned -- incidentally -- by a person with severe psychological problems, but that's really not the point here).
Anyway, this was a surprisingly solid little (well, biggish) family drama, which begins when an overachieving teenager experiences a manic episode culminationg in in an apparent psychotic break in the middle of her swim meet. The oldest daughter of a mother who works at an abortion clinic...more
Anyway, this was a surprisingly solid little (well, biggish) family drama, which begins when an overachieving teenager experiences a manic episode culminationg in in an apparent psychotic break in the middle of her swim meet. The oldest daughter of a mother who works at an abortion clinic...more
This book was a poignant, raw, and hopeful at a family coping with a daughter with a severe mental illness. There were moments where I could really feel what the characters were experiencing and I could see why the family was being ripped apart at the seams. Noel chose to tell the story from multiple perspectives, which I liked, but did want to have more from Angie's perspective in terms of what she was experiencing.
Somewhat troubling....a young girl's struggle with bi-polar disorder and how it affects her family. Her illness takes a toll on each family member and they all cope in different ways and drift apart. I felt the characters were detailed and you felt like you knew them..I vacillated back and forth on which character I liked the best.
Simply AMAZING! In a world where people who have mental illnesses are thought of like a lunatic out of some Hollywood psycho killer movie, this book put a real prospective on how mental illness effects the main character but also puts the spot light on how her family deals with it too. Highly recommend it!
I'm surprised to see so many negative reviews of this book. While many people deemed it "too depressing," I didn't think so at all; to me, it was very real. It's the story of how a teenage daughter's mental illness affects her family. Told from a third-person point of view from each of the four family memebers, the writing is so full of intricate, nearly poetic details that I was saddened to leave these characters. To me, the story's focus was that no relationship is perfect--brother/sister, mot...more
Dealing with the issue of mental illness, this book is so compellingly written that I began to feel what the central character feels and for the couple of days that I read this book was at risk of needing medication myself. I had entered her world completely. Bravo.
My mom gave me some books she thought I'd like to read and when I read the info on the inside cover of this one I realized I have read it before. Everything in it is familiar but I can't remember what happens. But it's good so I'm reading it again!
This book was a good read, but I was a bit disappointed in the ending - nothing was really resolved. I suppose it was trying to be realistic - things don't always end with everything tied up neatly, but still, if I invest the time to read a long book, I want to feel like I "got somewhere" by the end.
The author includes so many details of everyday life, it made the characters come alive and be believable. The novel moved slowly, but that seemed fitting, since life does move slowly, especially during difficult times.
I was sucked in from the first page standing at the library checkout counter. But in the middle it started dragging and honestly I struggled to even finish it. Great idea, great start it just fizzled out fast.
Angie Voorster is a smart charismatic, Ivy League bond, high school student, who resides in New Hampshire. Despite her bipolar personality, her family has stuck by you through the thick and thin and seeks her approval The members of her family responds differently to her : Pieter is preoccupied with his work as a cellist, oblivious to his wife affair Jordanna, with a younger man. Luke her brother is the only one she bonds with, though they argue about what is right for their life. The Voorsters...more
I think this was an amazing debut, the research that went into studying the habits and traits of someone with bipolar disorder was fantastic. The characters were so realistic, and you really connect with the journey they are forced to make. I really enjoyed it, very heart-warming and true to life.
This was a sad but not hopeless story. It depicted family life and the impact of mental illness on that family. This was the author's first novel and it was well written and compelling.
I was able to connect with this book easily because it deals with a family member going through a very rough patch in her life and how it not only effects her but also her family.
Literally picked this off our shelf at random early one morning on my way out of town. What a pleasure to read though. Terribly well written, a totally engaging account of mental illness.
Insightful look into the world of mental illness and a realistic vision of the family dealing with it. Very well written. Really 3 1/2 stars
Oct 12, 2010
Roxanne
marked it as do-not-read
My mom lent me this to read. F happened to read it first and says it's not really something I'll love and I shouldn't bother.
interesting read. for some reason i found it choppy, it didn't flow from chapter to chapter. but still good, deep characters.
This is an interesting story of a girl with bipolar disorder and how it affects her and her family.
I enjoyed this book.
I enjoyed this book.
I expected to like this book better than I did. The subject is manic depression and the effect on a family when the daughter falls victim to it. I'm sure it is well-researched and a realistic depiction from the point of view of the person affected. The main character, Angie, was pretty well drawn, I thought. My problem with the book is that I found her family members and other supporting characters to be flat and uninteresting. Their circumstances changed over the course of the book, but they di...more
Novel about a young adult with Bipolar Disorder, but just as much about the family members too. One of the better presentations of mental illness in a novel. This is the wife of Eric Puchner who wrote the excellent novel Model Home.
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07. Juli, 22:54 Uhr