aka Dissociative Identity Disorder
Jun. 16th, 2005 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysA couple of items. 1 - "Multiple personality disorder" is a poorly understood condition - if it even exists at all. It is certainly a subject of heated debate in certain parts of the Psychology community. It also makes a "kick ass McGuffin for a writer of fiction". 2 - Matt Ruff has previously written a couple of very funny books - smart and funny in fact, but not really dark in any way.
So what do you get if you combine these. You get Set this House in Order. A rarely funny but very smart and well written book about MPD which gets a comparison to Stephen King on the front cover. The King comparison is meant to denote that it is chilling or disturbing I guess - pretty fair call really.
The story concerns a multiple personality fronted by lead personality Andrew. At the beginning, Andrew seems to have his house in order. Literally - he has a house inside his head where all the personalities live like a family and they get to timeshare the body a bit to keep themselves at peace with one another. All rather cute really. Then Andrew gets introduced to Penny. Penny is also an MPD but she does not have it under control. She just loses bits of her life, often in pretty dramatic ways.
The story is a journey of discovery for both of them and includes a physical journey in case you didn't get the point. Told from the point of view of the main personalities with occasional diversions into the others. It isn't a pleasant journey and the destination is not so happy either. A lot of nasty stuff comes out - you don't get multiple personalities from a happy childhood.
Regardless of how you view the psychology, this is a very well written tale. While chilling in places, it also manages a lightness of tone in places. The juxtaposition of light and dark adds to the overall realness that Ruff creates. It is pretty compelling stuff - I had difficulty putting this book down. Damn that need for sleep.
So what do you get if you combine these. You get Set this House in Order. A rarely funny but very smart and well written book about MPD which gets a comparison to Stephen King on the front cover. The King comparison is meant to denote that it is chilling or disturbing I guess - pretty fair call really.
The story concerns a multiple personality fronted by lead personality Andrew. At the beginning, Andrew seems to have his house in order. Literally - he has a house inside his head where all the personalities live like a family and they get to timeshare the body a bit to keep themselves at peace with one another. All rather cute really. Then Andrew gets introduced to Penny. Penny is also an MPD but she does not have it under control. She just loses bits of her life, often in pretty dramatic ways.
The story is a journey of discovery for both of them and includes a physical journey in case you didn't get the point. Told from the point of view of the main personalities with occasional diversions into the others. It isn't a pleasant journey and the destination is not so happy either. A lot of nasty stuff comes out - you don't get multiple personalities from a happy childhood.
Regardless of how you view the psychology, this is a very well written tale. While chilling in places, it also manages a lightness of tone in places. The juxtaposition of light and dark adds to the overall realness that Ruff creates. It is pretty compelling stuff - I had difficulty putting this book down. Damn that need for sleep.
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Date: 2005-06-16 09:14 pm (UTC)