My Goodreads and Amazon review of Home for the Bewildered by Michelle Tobin (Rated 5) – Doctor, Heal Thyself. Set in a Michigan state psychiatric hospital in the mid-1970s, Home for the Bewildered by Michelle Tobin captures the confused minds of its residents and the personal floundering of Dr. Dorothy Morrissey, the young psychologist who is better at helping them than working through her own dilemmas. Tobin skillfully creates a diverse group of patients, each dealing with trauma, often originating in childhood, that interfere with their ability to function as adults. With compassion and competence, Dorothy helps her charges take steps toward insight and improvement. In the process of treating them, she also faces her own difficulties with her strict Catholic family and her ambivalence toward a boyfriend they deem unacceptable. As a novelist myself, who likewise delves into the human psyche from multiple points of view (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page, I admire Tobin’s ability to endow each character with a distinctive voice, and to evoke empathy for them, no matter how challenging their personalities. With engaging storytelling and emotional honesty, Tobin’s Home for the Bewildered leaves readers with a clear vision of how the past leaves an indelible mark on us and how we can nevertheless move forward to live satisfying and meaningful lives.
Facing the past to find a way forward
Why writers read: “If you want to learn something, go to the source. Dogen, a great Zen master, said, ‘If you walk in the mist, you get wet.’” – Natalie Goldberg
