Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca HuntMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Hm. Well. This book was an interesting take on depression. Rebecca Hunt uses the figure of a large, black, beastly dog over turning and overtaking people's lives to attempt to illustrate the despair and life-owning horror that is depression. I really thought the imagery et. al was interesting and fresh. I like the language of her writing, but was often bored and slogging through. I was determined to finish reading and I did, but it was difficult.
I find, by searching google, that Churchill referred to his depression as 'the black dog' and so it is not as creative as I imagined; however, she makes it literal and yet imagined and therefore brings his 'black dog' to life.
I don't know. I mean, it was interesting, and the relationship between the characters and depression was interesting.... I suppose you could really, really discuss it at length and talk about how perhaps people with depression hate it and yet are comfortable with those feelings -- they are resigned to it. And there's the refusal to talk about it and acknowledge the proverbial 'elephant (in this case a big, black dog) in the room which goes along with the stigma in society of it being a weakness and not to be discussed...
Overall, I found this book to be good at showing us perhaps what people who suffer with depression are dealing with, but also slightly boring and difficult to slog through. I think it wasn't a waste of time, and it really made me think, but it was also just... boring. If it sounds interesting to you, you may want to give it a chance, but if not I don't know that you're missing anything.
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