Reviews

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg

claudia_da's review against another edition

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Really interesting book but not suited for me atm 

kaygo2490's review against another edition

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5.0

I read this in high school an it was one of those books that I will always remember. It changed my life and gave me a young outlook on mental illness. Highly recommended.

paroof's review against another edition

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Read this in high school after I read Sybil. I was very into books about mental illness for some reason. Anyway, I remember I liked it.

thetombreader's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

raven_morgan's review against another edition

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4.0

Haunting, and pretty damn confronting about the treatment of psychiatric disorders in the 1960s.

magsmybags's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

g_schmigel2023's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

kittygiffin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

kazzy's review against another edition

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challenging

3.25

kellymat77's review against another edition

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5.0

This book is a unique semi-autobiographical piece of fiction about a young girl being treated for schizophrenia. While reading, I was as fascinated by the story itself as I was by the story of how the book came to be. Greenberg based the book on her own experiences in a mental hospital coping with schizophrenia at a young age, and that fact gives the book a lot of dimension and weight. It has beautiful, intelligent prose and switches perspectives between the protagonist, Deborah, and her parents and doctors. It’s a very compelling read. I want to say it’s a brilliant example of the unreliable narrator genre, but it doesn’t really fit, because Deborah’s entire conflict in the book is against her own reliability. It’s a dense, heavy read but the story is so genuine and personal that I didn’t mind. Definitely a memorable book.