Genres
Description
"June 1994. Twenty-year-old Daniele wakes up in a hospital room surrounded by strangers. Slowly, memories of the previous night return to him: a spiral of anxiety and anger, an explosion of violence so intense that it almost inflicted irreparable damage on him and his family. To his horror, he learns that he's been sentenced to a week of mandatory treatment in a psychiatric ward. Drawing from his own personal experience of mental illness, and writing with lucid realism and stunning emotional force, Everything Calls for Salvation tells the story of the seven days Daniele spends in the hospital as he struggles to find a way out of the darkness. Daniele finds unexpected companionship in his fellow patients -- men, who, like him, have felt the full brunt of life's pain. Together they will realize the hidden strength and value of their common fragility and discover a boundless fount of empathy."--… (more)
Publication
Europa Editions (2023), 176 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member pomo58
Everything Calls for Salvation, by Daniele Mencarelli and translated by Wendy Wheatley, is a dark yet also very uplifting look at mental health through the lens of a short, forced stint in a psychiatric ward.
Books that use the setting of a mental hospital or wing to explore what passes for normal
I don't want to go through the book and summarize it in a long book report, I haven't done that since grade school. I will, however, give some idea of what I took away from it. First of all, and not surprisingly, I came to appreciate just how porous the line is between what society considers mentally healthy and mentally ill. It isn't just a matter of perspective, though that is a big part, but also one of location. What came to my mind was how a sociopath is as likely to be in a CEO suite as in a prison cell. Yes, a matter of degree, but also one of where and how those traits are exhibited.
I think an important takeaway for me is just how much we all need other people. I tend toward introversion and am content spending quite a bit of my time alone. Reading this, the interactions between patients, made me aware of the value I instinctively place on the relationships I do have, from the big ones to my casual acquaintances. The interactions need not always be in the physical world, nor even in the virtual world of the internet, but also have value as mental interactions that I imagine. No, I don't need to be admitted, thank you!
I would recommend this to anyone who likes to explore mental health through fiction and/or memoir. This is a hybrid and reads very well, and if you turn some of the insight toward your own life, you may learn a bit about yourself as well.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
Books that use the setting of a mental hospital or wing to explore what passes for normal
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use many strategies. From the almost horror to the humorous, from mostly external events to internal thoughts and feelings. Here, drawing on his own experience, Mencarelli offers a largely internal look at this idea of mental illness. For me, it worked very well.I don't want to go through the book and summarize it in a long book report, I haven't done that since grade school. I will, however, give some idea of what I took away from it. First of all, and not surprisingly, I came to appreciate just how porous the line is between what society considers mentally healthy and mentally ill. It isn't just a matter of perspective, though that is a big part, but also one of location. What came to my mind was how a sociopath is as likely to be in a CEO suite as in a prison cell. Yes, a matter of degree, but also one of where and how those traits are exhibited.
I think an important takeaway for me is just how much we all need other people. I tend toward introversion and am content spending quite a bit of my time alone. Reading this, the interactions between patients, made me aware of the value I instinctively place on the relationships I do have, from the big ones to my casual acquaintances. The interactions need not always be in the physical world, nor even in the virtual world of the internet, but also have value as mental interactions that I imagine. No, I don't need to be admitted, thank you!
I would recommend this to anyone who likes to explore mental health through fiction and/or memoir. This is a hybrid and reads very well, and if you turn some of the insight toward your own life, you may learn a bit about yourself as well.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
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LibraryThing member bumblybee
Everything Calls for Salvation is a short novel that follows the main character, Daniele, to a week of mandatory treatment in a psychiatric ward. The structure follows Daniele through each day of his stay, describing in detail his experience and that of the other patients at the facility.
It's easy
My biggest issue is the overtness of some of the themes. While it's fine to have Daniele ponder the meaning of life with his doctor, it feels unnecessary to include it in the prose, too. I get that literary fiction is supposed to ask the big questions, but it doesn't literally have to ask them when the story itself is posing them on its own.
I'm glad I read this, as I honestly haven't read much modern Italian fiction and I think this is a good example of it. Mencarelli treats his characters fairly, providing what feels like an honest look at Daniele's experience.
Thank you to NetGalley and Europa Editions for providing a copy for review.
It's easy
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for a novel like this to fall into stereotypes, especially when describing severe mental illness like that of some of the patients Daniele meets. That being said, I think Mencarelli walks the line of describing without casting judgment, except of course for any judgment that Daniele casts himself. For the most part, the other patients' illnesses and characters are treated with respect, and are not shown just for a shock factor - these characters feel like real people, not just archetypes or over-the-top caricatures.My biggest issue is the overtness of some of the themes. While it's fine to have Daniele ponder the meaning of life with his doctor, it feels unnecessary to include it in the prose, too. I get that literary fiction is supposed to ask the big questions, but it doesn't literally have to ask them when the story itself is posing them on its own.
I'm glad I read this, as I honestly haven't read much modern Italian fiction and I think this is a good example of it. Mencarelli treats his characters fairly, providing what feels like an honest look at Daniele's experience.
Thank you to NetGalley and Europa Editions for providing a copy for review.
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Awards
Premio Strega (Finalist — 2020)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
176 p.; 8.5 inches
ISBN
1609458060 / 9781609458065