The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

In Defence of the Act by Effie Black

I’m a psychiatrist. I spend a great deal of my professional life thinking about; speaking about; and working to prevent suicide.

I’m going to start my Longlist read here.

Intrigued what you make of it given the work of the narrator, a psychobiologist:

I’m alone in these thoughts, alone in my field. Every one of my colleagues took up the study of suicide with the aim of eventually contributing to its prevention. I’ve come to realise I entered into it with the aim of contributing to its defence.

Paul, I approach most books dealing with mental illness with some trepidation. Some books give such a clear and honest depiction of mental illness; while others glamorize it or become a how- to guide. What I’m really hoping the author will not do here is try to shock and upset the reader; but we will see.

Lisa what did you think in the end?

I thought this book was excellent. I thought it was an innovative way of looking at suicide. I am also interested in Lisa's take.

I did also but it’s one of the few times (possibly the only time) I have added a trigger warning to one of my reviews.

Morning!

So sorry, I’ve been away. With blissfully limited internet access.

I’ll share my thoughts a bit later today. I’ll create two posts- one on content of the book and one as a spoiler with a trigger warning.

I thought that this was an excellent book, well written and thoughtful discussion of difficult subject matter- both suicide and trauma.

With regards to Jess’s career as a suicide researcher (view spoiler)[ Jess witnessed and thereby prevented her fathers suicide attempt as a child. This is her first coherent memory. Jess focuses her career on psychobiological research that aims to defend the act of suicide. I thought perhaps Jess had two reasons for this in that this attempt of her father’s is her first coherent memory- it carries significant psychological weight. She and her family were also all subjected to ongoing psychological and physical trauma by her dad (I wondered if dad had an undiagnosed mental illness, I think he had an alcohol use disorder too- but I may be mixing up books). Jess believes that if her dad had died, if she had not found him after the attempt; this trauma could have been prevented. For me, it’s not so simple as his loss would have led to other consequences.

Jess focuses her career on animal research that aims to defend the act of suicide. I thought this was clever and sensitive on behalf of the author as spiders give us significant emotional and cognitive distance from this research . I’m familiar with some of the animal studies plus the western literature that the author cites. I also thought the author was sensitive in an avoiding comments on altruistic suicides from history or other filters. I think bringing those in would have made this book far more contentious.

Even though Jess finds fulfillment in her work, she is also deeply shamed by it as she is going so far against the grain.

The loss of Freya, her free spirit sister, helps Jess to both process her earlier traumas and change direction. (hide spoiler)]

Hi, my phone is acting up, I hope my thoughts are visible.

Thanks so much.

Could you read the spoilers bit? Because I cant

Yes by using my browser on my phone and the desktop version (the Goodreads app is sub- optimal).

Thanks Lisa for your thoughts. They are helpful.