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The Glass House

by Anne Buist

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Reader said: " The Glass House: review

Mental illness has been hiding in plain sight through most of the years I have worked as a psychiatrist myself. Anne Buist is a long-term colleague, hence an invitation to read an advance copy of The GlassHouse, the latest nove The Glass House: review

Mental illness has been hiding in plain sight through most of the years I have worked as a psychiatrist myself. Anne Buist is a long-term colleague, hence an invitation to read an advance copy of The GlassHouse, the latest novel she has written with her husband Graeme Simsion. Together, they propel forward and expose the rawness and pain of those presenting to acute psychiatry and the people working at the coal-face. I can report it is a forceful read which reveals the dilemmas for all in that GlassHouse – both the central space where the nurses and doctors work and observe and metaphorically those who are put under the spotlight for mental health care either voluntarily or without free choice. Sounds grim and of course many of the issues the book touches are clearly in that territory but the very real insider view that Anne brings of the psychiatric trainee’s and the signature light touch that Graeme brings to his work combined to take me along with them on a very familiar and yet compelling journey.

Each of the first eleven chapters begins well as it thrusts forward a new person and the turbulent events that will bring them rapidly to the Menzies psychiatric unit, an acute psychiatry ward in Melbourne where Dr Hannah Green has just begun to work in mental health as a junior doctor. As she struggles to understand and treat the people she meets, each one in crisis, she seeks expertise and support from the peers she is meeting, and her superiors who are very real people with their own personality hues. Yes, I believe I have met some of them! The later chapters combine to highlight the very real dilemmas for all those in the Glasshouse – mental or physical illness causing these symptoms? Where do cause and effect intersect in families when one member is in big strife? What about sexual relationships in the workplace? Is there enough evidence for using talking treatments or medication? Does psychiatric care even work? And what happens to families and workers when things go badly wrong.

Literature and psychiatry both bring me into other people’s worlds which are a continuing source of curiosity for me. I love to read a book which immerses me in a new space so at the end, I can “know it” when I get there. In Grand Days, Frank Moorhouse took me to the world of diplomacy between the World Wars, and Richard Flanagan in The Narrow Road to the Deep North into POW camps in World War Two. Recently, I romped with Paul Murray in rural Ireland with his wonderful expose of family life during an emotionally turbulent time in The Bee Sting. The Glass House will work for those of you who share any of my curiosity whether it is about how mental health systems actually work or what the lives are like for some of the people and their families who enter that world, either personally or professionally. The book raced me along as I peered into the lives of all these people, listened to their conversations and empathised with the effects of mental health problems on people, their families and the people who work with them. Anne and Graeme are unafraid of managing some of the strange life situations and decisions which must be made in the world of acute psychiatry. When people at social events ask me what I do (“no, I am not analysing you I am actually off duty – and you aren’t THAT interesting.. and I am not an analyst anyhow”) now the answer is unquestionably simple: Read The GlassHouse and understand my world. ...more "

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— Jan 09, 2024 06:38PM

Jan 09, 2024 12:05PM · see review