Asylum by Marcus Low

Apr 21, 2019 Bookread2day rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Marcus Low is a gifted writer who is a Cape Town based writer and public health specialist. I love finding out how a novelist finds the idea to write their novel and this novel Asylum inspired by Marcus Low that was by the incarnation of patients with drug-resistant forms of TB in SA in 2008. How the story is well written is that it's keeps the reader wondering what is dream and what is real. Barry James is determined coughing up blood. With the suspect of water supply causing infection boiled o ...more

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Jan 16, 2020 Kim Friant rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A dystopian story of quarantine and death. Enough said. Of course I was going to read this book and I’m so glad I did! A hospital quarantining a group of men with a dangerous and untreatable strain of lung disease. Yay, hospitals! At first, I felt like I had no idea what was going on. However, the more I read, the more I understood. While there is some action that takes place, it’s a very philosophical and emotional read. There’s also a bit of conspiracy sprinkled in. Overall, it’s an interestin ...more

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Apr 15, 2019 Lou rated it really liked it

I can certainly see why Asylum has been shortlisted for the 9Mobile Prize for Literature as it's equal parts compelling and frightening. It has been mentioned by other reviewers that they found the story quite confusing and that differentiating between Barry's dreams and his reality was difficult because they were often blurred together; I think that this was intentional on the part of the author and would like to think that Mr Low was making a point about the tenuous distinction between reality ...more

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Apr 17, 2019 Janel rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is a fairly short novel, I read it in one sitting a few days ago. And I just can’t make up my mind on it 🤔 I enjoy bleak dystopia’s, this one is well written, from the journal entries of our main characters fragile mind.

It reminded me a bit of Fever Dream by Samata Schweblin, not in an “if you liked that, you’ll like this” sense, but (for me), it had that sense of uncertainty to the narrative, the blurred lines between reality and dreams, this sense that I’m missing something (because we ar ...more

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Jun 08, 2019 Linda Hill rated it really liked it

Barry James is in quarantine in a secure unit isolated from the rest of society.

Now, I usually eschew dystopian fiction because it’s not my preferred genre, but Asylum has persuaded me that I am missing a thought-provoking and somewhat disturbing area of fiction. I can’t say I enjoyed Asylum as that would be the wrong description, because I found it perturbing and unsettling, but I loved the vivid and disquieting quality of Marcus Low’s writing. Indeed, although this is a slim book, I think it w Barry James is in quarantine in a secure unit isolated from the rest of society.

Now, I usually eschew dystopian fiction because it’s not my preferred genre, but Asylum has persuaded me that I am missing a thought-provoking and somewhat disturbing area of fiction. I can’t say I enjoyed Asylum as that would be the wrong description, because I found it perturbing and unsettling, but I loved the vivid and disquieting quality of Marcus Low’s writing. Indeed, although this is a slim book, I think it would reward several readings to uncover its layers of meaning more fully. I found it fascinating.

There’s a bleak beauty and frequently lyrical quality in Asylum, particularly to the descriptions of Barry’s dreams. The landscape is vivid and stark which adds to the menacing aspect of the read. The frequent references to the white sheets and white pill Barry is given made me wonder if I were meant to think of him as an innocent because he is associated with a colour that frequently represents purity.

What is really interesting however, is that, although the reader is ostensibly reading Barry’s own writing in Asylum, he’s never fully knowable. This aspect forced me to consider the way in which society isolates and judges others, in this case those with an infection, and behaves toward them without fully considering an individual. I cared about Barry but I didn’t know if I could trust him.

I found myself almost voyeuristically engaged with the story. I felt uncomfortable reading what are presented as the journals of Barry James with some editorial marginalia so that it made me feel complicit in the treatment and incarceration of Barry and his fellow inmates. Asylum confronts the reader with realities and potential near futures that they may not wish to consider. There’s a devastating bleakness and ultimate futility underpinning the narrative that I found profoundly sad.

I finished Asylum feeling I had read a novel written with sensitivity and ingenuity. Asylum make me think. It forced me to look at the nature of identity, death and of society. It didn’t always make for comfortable reading but I am glad I have had the opportunity to immerse myself into its pages.
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May 01, 2019 Mandy rated it it was ok

I certainly quite enjoyed this short novel, but I’m not sure it amounts to very much, being neither particularly original nor particularly gripping. It’s the story of Barry James who has been incarcerated in a quarantine asylum somewhere in the Great Karoo due to a virulently infectious disease afflicting the country. There’s no cure so death is probably the only way he will ever leave. As therapy he is encouraged to write down his thoughts and memories and it is these journals that comprise the ...more

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Apr 06, 2019 Sarah rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I found this story really difficult to get in to. Thankfully it was quite short but despite this, the lack of obvious characterisation made this plot become disconnected from me as a reader, thereby lessening my enjoyment.

The writer uses pathetic fallacy extremely well in this novel. The stagnant, oppressive African heat reflects directly onto the plot and eventually the reader. I think this didn’t help with my enjoyment because it created a very lethargic, dream-like reality and one that signif I found this story really difficult to get in to. Thankfully it was quite short but despite this, the lack of obvious characterisation made this plot become disconnected from me as a reader, thereby lessening my enjoyment.

The writer uses pathetic fallacy extremely well in this novel. The stagnant, oppressive African heat reflects directly onto the plot and eventually the reader. I think this didn’t help with my enjoyment because it created a very lethargic, dream-like reality and one that significantly lacked realism. Despite this being a dystopian fiction, I could not move beyond the feeling of claustrophobia from the heat, mirrored by James’ incarceration in the medical facility.

James’ character felt like it could have been developed far more. With this dream-like state that envelops the details of James’ bizarre, medically induced dreams, I felt like I could not connect with him in the slightest. Despite reading the whole novel, by the end I didn’t feel like I knew him or his background very well. The plot moves forwards to a planned escape from the facility and this seems to be the biggest event of the novel. And even then, this felt anti-climatic.

I usually am drawn to dystopian dramas such as this, but I felt that the writer just couldn’t deliver on this one. I found myself being bored by the journals that constituted most of the story and maybe it was this that lessened the atmosphere of this read. Perhaps it is this that made me feel not in the least connected to the main character, instead merely intrigued to see how the writer would conclude the story and what James’ fate would be.

Suffice to say, I didn’t really get this one. I think I kind of see what the writer was trying to do, but don’t think this has been successfully achieved. I really tried to enjoy this but could not. Consequently, my rating reflects my interest in the story and how I did eventually become absorbed but not devoured by the plot that was unfolding before my very eyes.

I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. With thanks to everyone at Legend Press and Marcus Low for allowing me to participate in this blog tour. ...more

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Jan 10, 2021 NerdyChic BookWorm rated it really liked it · review of another edition

What a truly wonderful first book of 2021 to get my teeth into.
This novel, written by Marcus Low is a dystopian but not as we know them. The author has taken the genre and flipped it on its head and it my opinion, only made it better.
The story follows Barry James, a 32 year old SA male who is quarantined in a facility in the depths of the desert with a group of other men who are all suffering with a contagious and uncontrollable lung disease.
The novel is set out as journal entries written by Ba ...more

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Apr 29, 2019 Juliet Bookliterati rated it really liked it

Asylum by Marcus Low is a new genre for me as I haven’t read the Dystopian Genre before, but after reading this I may read more. Sometime in the future the diaries of Barry James are found and are a piece of social history as they are the only written history of the Plague of 2022 and what it was like to be in the Asylum. Barry’s diary entries make up the majority of the book but there are chapters from further in the future that asses his writings as a piece of historical testimony.

2022, not to Asylum by Marcus Low is a new genre for me as I haven’t read the Dystopian Genre before, but after reading this I may read more. Sometime in the future the diaries of Barry James are found and are a piece of social history as they are the only written history of the Plague of 2022 and what it was like to be in the Asylum. Barry’s diary entries make up the majority of the book but there are chapters from further in the future that asses his writings as a piece of historical testimony.

2022, not too far in the future, sees a world that seems to have economic and social problems. There are hints at what is going on in the outside world but for the most part the setting is the Asylum. This is a quarantine facility for male patients of what they term as the plague, Pulmonary Nodulosis, a place where once you are admitted you probably won’t leave until you are dead. On reading the book this facility is more like a maximum security prison with is setting in the middle of nowhere with electrocuted perimeter fence, armed guards on the outside, a dining hall, gangs and no visitors. It’s clinical environment with very little to stimulate the mind give a bleak outlook.

Barry’s dairies give an insight into his character and his psychological state whilst incarcerated. His coping mechanism is to forget the outside world, not to think of those on the outside and his life before his incarceration. We do get snippets into his life before in his meetings with therapist Ms Van Vuuren, an attractive red head, and the doctor in charge, Dr Von Hansmeyer. What is interesting is that he becomes dependent on this meetings with Van Vuuren, and feels they have some connection; we all need to feel listened to and cared about and can’t completely cut ourselves off. As well as life in the asylum, Barry also chronicles his dreams, which are at complete odds with the stark reality of his life. He dreams of snow, dancing in times past and features staff at the asylum, lots of colour and sound. Being set in the Great Karoo of South Africa, snow would not be something he would have seen; the dreams see to be a complete contrast to his life. As he synopsis says there is an escape attempt, but I’m not going to say anything about that, I’ll let you read the book for yourself.

In Asylum, Marcus Lowe gives a vision of the future that seems very real and viable, and this is what makes this book such an unsettling read. We are privy to the thoughts and feelings of one man and how the effects of this forced incarceration and bleak outlook impact him. It’s brilliantly written and utterly compelling and if I say a little bit frightening, this could be our future. A great read that blends a harsh reality with vivid dreams of Barry’s imagination.
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May 20, 2019 Bigfatbookworm rated it really liked it

Shelves: blogger-book-shelf

The best dystopian fiction exploits our anxieties, worry and guilt - about the future and the past. It makes us think about what could have been, and, if handled at the right pitch, fictionalises prophecies of what could be. Dystopians grab your worries and drag you in, and dump you afterwards leaving you wondering what is to become of our society.

Asylum does exactly that.

'Outside my window the world has died.'

These are the opening words of Barry, an inpatient at a quarantine facility. He's got The best dystopian fiction exploits our anxieties, worry and guilt - about the future and the past. It makes us think about what could have been, and, if handled at the right pitch, fictionalises prophecies of what could be. Dystopians grab your worries and drag you in, and dump you afterwards leaving you wondering what is to become of our society.

Asylum does exactly that.

'Outside my window the world has died.'

These are the opening words of Barry, an inpatient at a quarantine facility. He's got pulmonary nodulosis - a infectious and highly dangerous condition, that means he needs to be separated off from the otherwise healthy population for their safety, and his treatment. He's given up. He's resigned himself to the fact he is locked up, with only fellow patients and healthcare staff around him. When they talk to each other at dinner, it's like listening into a chat among prison cell-mates. Outside the landscape is barren, and Barry has trained himself to forget that there are trees, buildings, humans, jobs out there any more. This is his reality now.

Barry falls from height, badly injuring himself. There is speculation as to whether this was an accident, or a purposeful attempt at his own life. As a result, he is assigned a therapist, Ms Van Vuuren. Their partnership forms the backbone of the rest of the story.

Barry's journals have been discovered in a museum several years into the future, a collective narrative of confusing mixes of memory and dream,physical and mental science. Someone has tried to analyse and make some sense from the books, of Barry's life, his ideas, and his assisting other patients in their hope for freedom.

Barry's mind exists in two worlds - the reality of the quarantine facility, and the dreamscape of his mind. My first thought when reading the book was that the language Marcus uses is beautiful, poet and gut-wrenchingly sad at some points. Barry has nothing. He doesn't have his freedom, or his health. But he has his dreams.

His dreams are filled with people who speak in different languages, of dancing in masks. They are poetic, musical dreams. There is also repeated mention of a white pill; the antidote, the one the promises hope.

What happens throughout the story, I won't tell you any further. You need to read this book yourself to understand the fragile relationship between health and illness, life and death, dreams and reality. But Marcus' narration of Barry is wonderful. There is one section close to the end that has me saying 'you b**tards', and made me remember that humans can be rather cruel, especially in life/death situations. And the ending will leave you in bits.

This isn't an easy read - dystopians, particularly scientific/ psychological ones like this never are. But you will fly through it, you will question everything, and you will attach yourself to Barry like a limpet to find out what is going on in this split world.

A beautiful read that deserves all the praise it has received. ...more

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Apr 29, 2019 Pamela Scott rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: review-copy, blog-tour, first-read, marcus-low

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I had a great time reading this book and got completely absorbed in the story. I love finding out where writers get their ideas and was delighted to learn Asylum was inspired by the incarnation of patients with drug-resistant forms of TB in South Africa in 2008. This made the book seem more authentic and at times I felt like I was reading a memoir. This is one of those books that you struggle to set aside once you start to read it. The book gave me a sever ...more

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Apr 27, 2019 Cen-sational Reads rated it really liked it

Happy Bank Holiday Monday go you all.
Having been asked to participate in @legendpress latest book blog your for Asylum by Here is my opinion of it.
Where to start with this book. Its quick read but at the same time it is dark and did send shivers up my spine. It certainly kept my interest.
It's based around life in an asylum with also dealing with being quarantined from a deadly illness.
It's a frightening read yet compelling and the same time. I was hungry to know more of what was going to hap ...more

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Apr 16, 2019 Charline rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-challenge

Sometimes the smallest books pack the biggest punch and that is certainly the case in this memorable 206 page book by Marcus Low.

Barry James is an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. He has been detained in a quarantine hospital for 3 years with a mysterious plague like illness that affects the heart and lungs. Barry has all but given up hope of re-joining the outside world. But then there is a chance to escape.

Set in the near future, this smart, engaging story is a real page turner. Ba ...more

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Apr 18, 2019 Bristolian Books rated it really liked it

I've been on a little bit of a dystopian themed journey this year, so when the opportunity arose to read an advance copy of Asylum, I was very keen to be involved! So thank you to the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

And wow! Described by the Sunday Times as "The most credible dystopian novel I have ever read", I can confidently say that this one did not disappoint!

We follow Barry James, who is quarantined in the not too distant future, in a medical facilit I've been on a little bit of a dystopian themed journey this year, so when the opportunity arose to read an advance copy of Asylum, I was very keen to be involved! So thank you to the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

And wow! Described by the Sunday Times as "The most credible dystopian novel I have ever read", I can confidently say that this one did not disappoint!

We follow Barry James, who is quarantined in the not too distant future, in a medical facility in the great Karoo. He is suffering from drug resistant TB, and the story is presented as the outcome of compiling a collection of the diaries he writes while he comes to terms with his condition.

What I found challenging, was just how desperately bleak this novel was. It left me feeling the depth of his despair, the blurred lines between his perception and the reality as his medical condition worsened.

According to the World Health Organisation website, this is a global problem, with multi drug resistant TB being the really scary situation Barry James found himself in.
According to WHO, there were almost 600k new cases estimated worldwide in 2017!

A Google search also reveals articles by the Lancet showing an epidemic of drug resistant TB in South Africa. So is the novel based on more fact than fiction?
Are we led to believe in the novel that we are witnessing the hallucinations of a man broken by his disease, and the spiraling effects of the drugs taken to manage his condition? Or is there more to this.... Asylum? An absolutely fantastic name for this novel, due to its dual meaning
Does the medical facility offer him asylum, or hold him prisoner?

I was left with so many questions, and it was days after I finished reading this novel that I was able to pick up anything else to read.
It kicked me, pummeled me, and took me on quite a journey, leaving me feeling disquieting concern about our world.

In comparison to the other Dystopian novels I've read this year, this one stands out as being the most thought provoking and realistic read. A dystopian novel for grown ups!! ...more

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May 02, 2019 Between The Pages Book Club (Gemma M) rated it really liked it

So this is a first for me reading the dystopian genre. I absolutely loved it. An easy, short read which I could easily have devoured in one sitting. It is told through Barrys journals while he is in a quarantine camp.
At first I thought well surely much can’t be happing being stuck in there… I was wrong. I felt sorry for Barry and the gentlemen within the camp however, there was friendship, hope and a little love within those walls. They just wanted freedom, a life and adventure which they eventu ...more

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Mar 29, 2019 Nicki Markus rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-contemporary

Asylum is in some ways a difficult book to rate. I enjoyed the psychological aspects of the tale and the dystopian situation in which the story was set, which presents a world that could all-to-easily become reality. However, I felt the pacing let things down. The opening was very slow and meandering, and the action only really picked up about two thirds in. I'm glad I read it, as it raised some interesting points and offered a fascinating psychological study of someone in a difficult position. ...more

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Apr 05, 2017 Karina Szczurek rated it it was amazing

Could not put it down!

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May 04, 2017 Kim Ebner rated it it was ok

Please visit my book blog at: www.thebuzzingbookmark.com

The entire time that I was reading this novel I kept thinking about the review I was going to write. During my reading of this book I was unsure how I felt about it, and I'm still slightly unsure now. It had its moments, but overall, I'm feeling a little underwhelmed.

I was really excited to read a thriller by a new South African author. As most of you know, not only am I a huge fan of thrillers but I'm also South African, and so this book t Please visit my book blog at: www.thebuzzingbookmark.com

The entire time that I was reading this novel I kept thinking about the review I was going to write. During my reading of this book I was unsure how I felt about it, and I'm still slightly unsure now. It had its moments, but overall, I'm feeling a little underwhelmed.

I was really excited to read a thriller by a new South African author. As most of you know, not only am I a huge fan of thrillers but I'm also South African, and so this book ticked my initial boxes. I'm all behind supporting local talent, and so if I could read this book and give the author and his book some publicity in the process, then great, I was all for it. For these reasons I really wanted to love this one. I wanted to finish this book and shout its praises from the rooftops. Unfortunately, on turning the final page, I just didn't feel very passionate about it and so I won't be doing much singing.

For me, there just wasn't enough action and suspense in this novel to label it a true thriller. None of the characters specifically shone or stood out and in fact, I found them a little dull. At one stage during my reading of the book, I actually stopped (this was at about 60% of the way through) and asked myself, so what has actually happened in this book so far? Unfortunately, the answer to that question was, not much. It was very slow going at times and genuinely, not a lot happens. The main character Barry has been detained in a quarantine facility, he's been seeing a psychologist that he quite likes and he's planning his escape from the facility. Genuinely, that's the full extent of the story at three quarters of the way through the book. Yes, of course there's a little more to the story than that, but really, it just amounted to fluff and didn't really add to the "thriller" aspect.

The truth of the matter is that the pace does improve in the last third of the book but it was all a little too late for me. By that stage I had pretty much decided that this was a very average read. On turning the last page, I was also left with the overwhelming sensation that I had missed something, that I hadn't fully understood this story. And I think that's true. Talk about an unreliable narrator! I didn't know when he was telling the truth, when he was concocting things, when he was dreaming, whether the people he talks about actually existed at all or whether he was just losing his mind. I was just confused. And that's strange for me because normally I love books that are a bit weird, a bit off the wall. But this one just didn't do it for me. I'm sad about that, but I need to be honest and that's my honest opinion.

The thing about reading and about reviewing books in general is this: every book has a reader somewhere that loves it. This is a fact that I've learnt over many years and after reading hundreds upon hundreds of books. I can thus sign off by saying that this book didn't blow me away. It wasn't to my taste. Does that mean that you will feel the same way? Absolutely not. As always then, let me leave you with this - if the blurb appeals to you, then give this one a go. And if you're South African and you can support local talent in the process, then fantastic.

My Rating: * *

Publication Date: April 2017 (South Africa)

Genre: Thriller

Format: Trade Paperback

Source: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author Marcus Low and Pan Macmillan SA for my copy.
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Apr 14, 2019 Doreen rated it liked it

This dystopian novel is set in the near future, in 2023. Barry James is being quarantined in a secure facility located in the hot, arid Karoo desert of South Africa. He and his fellow patients are suffering from pulmonary nodulosis, a lethal disease called the “new plague.” Barry has been confined there for over three years; in that time he has cut all ties with the past because “looking back is madness.” He is just waiting to die.

After Barry attempts suicide, a psychologist suggests that he ke This dystopian novel is set in the near future, in 2023. Barry James is being quarantined in a secure facility located in the hot, arid Karoo desert of South Africa. He and his fellow patients are suffering from pulmonary nodulosis, a lethal disease called the “new plague.” Barry has been confined there for over three years; in that time he has cut all ties with the past because “looking back is madness.” He is just waiting to die.

After Barry attempts suicide, a psychologist suggests that he keep a journal. His notebooks form the narrative core of this novel. In a preface, the editors/compilers of these notebooks suggest that they be read “as a meditation on the psychology of illness.”

This is not an action novel with a lot of suspense. Barry describes his daily life which is a routine of eating, sleeping, taking medications, and staring out the window. He is very lethargic so it is obvious that he is struggling with depression. Occasional visits with Ms. Van Vuuren, the psychologist, or chats with Dr. Von Hansmeyer, the resident physician, provide some relief from the monotony.

Barry’s only escape is dreams: “They are the only way out of here – in those dreams anything is possible, any horror, any one, any thing, even snow.” He sleeps so that he can dream: “Dreams. What bliss to close your eyes on this carnage, to slip into blackness and be swept away to another world.” Barry describes his dreams in great detail; in all of them, snow is falling, as if he wants to inhabit a world that is a total contrast to his reality. He comments, “even in the most bleak of worlds we’ll find something to hold on to . . . even if that is something as impossible as snow in this god-forsaken wasteland.”

Barry is an unreliable narrator. The effects of his medication often leave him unable to distinguish between reality and delusions. Likewise, he is not above fabricating stories to tell the psychologist. In the preface, the reader is told that the journals are “in effect an internal monologue that straddles the precariousness of what are essentially two worlds – one real and one imaginary.”

The book is an examination of the psychological effects of a terminal illness and isolation: “We are sick and therefore we are isolated, locked up. We must wait out our days here, and then die – so that the healthy ones, the ones we have forgotten about, may live.” And the world outside the facility is not a haven either; there is a suggestion that the outside world is falling apart because of climate change: “’The whole country is now nothing but army and private contractors protecting the rich. And as long as they have these droughts and floods, nothing will change. All downhill from here.’”

I cannot say that I found this book unputdownable. At times, it is tedious. But, of course, that tediousness is a reflection of Barry’s daily existence. It is thought-provoking and suggests that there may be no true asylum (shelter and protection) for us in the near future.

Note: I received a digital advanced reading copy from the publisher.

Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski). ...more

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May 02, 2019 Jessica Hinton rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley-review, blog-tours

Those who enjoy dystopian fiction will no doubt be drawn to this one, as I was - which promises a nearby dystopian future in which an unknown respiratory illness has ravaged humankind and many sufferers are being kept in quarantine. Along with our protagonist, Barry James, we are not privy to what has happened in the outside world, so it is up to the imagination to envisage what society might exist outside of the treatment facilities confines.

This is not a book with a huge amount of action, whi Those who enjoy dystopian fiction will no doubt be drawn to this one, as I was - which promises a nearby dystopian future in which an unknown respiratory illness has ravaged humankind and many sufferers are being kept in quarantine. Along with our protagonist, Barry James, we are not privy to what has happened in the outside world, so it is up to the imagination to envisage what society might exist outside of the treatment facilities confines.

This is not a book with a huge amount of action, which I find unusual for a dystopian theme, which are usually action packed. Although there is a 'prison-break' type escape involved, actually not a lot happens. The format of the book is almost all based on James' journals and so it is very introspective in nature, especially as he tries to disentangle his reality from the vivid nature of his consuming dreams. (It's always difficult to absorbed by other people's dreams anyway) However, for readers that enjoy focussing on a character study of how one individual reacts to such extreme circumstances and the slow breakdown of his determination to survive and personality, this will provide an interesting read.

Partly, I found engaging with this book a bit difficult at times, as the protagonist reacts to everything around him with such apparent apathy. He really only seems to engage with the escape plan just for 'something to do', to escape from the monotony of his days. It's hard to care about the outcome, when the main character doesn't care that much about his own survival.

Having said that, there is a lot of underlying tension in this book that slowly builds; I always felt that there was some reveal just lurking around the corner, or some big event that would undo everything we knew so far, but it never transpired. This book left me with more questions than answers, something I personally find uncomfortable and unsatisfying, but I'm sure other readers will be fascinated by.

Low is obviously a talented writer and is able to bring about a despairing atmosphere to this book that really takes hold. The book has a very dream-like, ethereal quality to it, that is intentionally and carefully crafted. I'll be on the look out for future work by this author.

This is not a book about actions, or that comments on how this outbreak of disease affects the wider world. It keeps its sphere of focus very restricted - just on the inhabitants of the facility and the medical staff they interact with. It does however make you consider our own feelings about those unfortunate souls basically kept in captivity, in order to stop the spread of an infectious disease and the morality of this.

Asylum was released on 15th April 2019 by Legend Press.

Big thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Apr 30, 2019 Debra rated it it was ok

Set in a long term quarantine facility in Africa this is billed as a dystopian novel. I am not sure I would exactly describe it as that as although there are difficulties outside the hospital this is not a worldwide or even nationwide pandemic. The book centres around the writings of one man who is in this quarantine facility, the life in there and the occasional glimpse of the outside world. This is achieved through his diaries as well as there being various comments and discussions about the d ...more

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May 22, 2019 Kerri rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley, arc_2019

First off, many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the e-ARC of this book! Now, time for my thoughts.

Well, this was definitely a different read. The story of a man living with an incurable disease inside a "treatment facility" that is basically a prison. On the advice of his psychiatrist, he starts keeping a journal. His journal not only describes his experiences throughout the day, but his dreams during the night. And, sometimes, the line between dream and reality is ...more

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Apr 12, 2019 Shelly rated it liked it

Abook about life in an asylum while being quarantine for a deadly disease?! Sing me up, this is the book for me. Or so I thought. Great synopsis and premise, a subject rarely written about.

However, this left me with much to desire. At about 21% through I was not connected to the main character nor was the story unraveling in a intriguing way. Wishing that the author would have had more character development for me to attach myself to the main character.

There is very little background story as ...more

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Mar 03, 2021 Shahridzuan Azali rated it really liked it

Personally, it wasn't much of an enjoyable read but it was interesting to get a taste of Barry's mind. The diary-like form worked to the intended effect and, despite his pessimism, I found myself rooting for Barry. Something I don't usually experience for characters of his nature.

The reason this book wasn't really for me is because I'm more of a plot-driven kind of reader; characters come second for me. Having said that, I find this to be worth reading. There's a hint of suspense and sprinkles o ...more

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Mar 28, 2021 Crystal rated it it was amazing

I read this when it first came out and was really impressed. I needed to check something so just meant to reread the first chapter to remind myself of details, but got drawn in again by the compelling story and beautiful writing.

There is an added layer of appreciation when reading a novel about a deadly disease while the world is in lockdown over a deadly disease.

In Asylum sufferers of the disease have been quarantined in isolated hospitals. The narrative follows a patient/inmate quarantined in ...more

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May 01, 2019 Layla Rodgerson rated it it was ok

I felt that it had an interesting premise. However, I felt that the writer really could have gone deeper into the plague details. The “prison” escape was a bit weak. The main character was annoying. He didn’t care about his mortality and seemed to be indifferent. Not exactly someone you want to keep reading about. Jonathan’s nickname for Barry was very aggravating. I was sick of reading, “hey, sport” over and over. The end was a major let down! The author really could have done a lot more with t ...more

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Jun 12, 2019 Polly Krize rated it it was ok

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, I had a hard time getting into this book, and even when I did, I found myself wondering why I did! Incarcerated because of illness, the main character seems to have trouble distinguishing his dream world from reality. I really would not recommend this book, but this is only my opinion.

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Aug 03, 2020 Stuart Haining rated it liked it · review of another edition

6/10 7%. Surprisingly good reviews for a book I felt to have little substance or interest, neither the depth of characters in Power of One nor the black humour of One Flew Over....,won’t read again.

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Apr 19, 2019 Anne Goodwin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fictional-psychologists-therapists

Barry James spends his days at the window of his hospital ward, gazing out across the scorched Karoo desert. For three years he’s lived behind electric fence, along with other victims of the pulmonary plague that has afflicted the country. But his roommate has an escape plan. Will Barry join him? Is it worth it when even healthy men would struggle to survive without shelter in the heat?
Full review
Quirky: From the Wreck, Asylum & The Pine Islands #review #amreading https://annegoodwin.weebly.com ...more

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Aug 16, 2020 Gabrielle V. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A book I didn't really start understanding until I reached the last third of it. And I am SO glad I followed my gut and did not stop reading!
A shout out to @legendpress for publishing this amazing work from Marcus Low! It's been quite a few years since a book made me cry! 📖
It reminds me of a play I saw in our theatre back in Bulgaria a few years ago, called "The Father". Please, check them both out! 💜
My heart goes out to everyone struggling with mental health and their loved ones! 💜 ...more

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