Ellen Marie WisemanWhat She Left Behind: A Haunting and Heartbreaking Story of 1920s Historical Fiction

As a mental health professional, I am adamantly against this book. It perpetuates the exact stereotypes of mental illness that prevent people from receiving needed and helpful treatment. If I knew nothing about mental health, I would learn that 1) there’s a bright line between completely normal and mentally ill; 2) if you start having crazy thoughts, you can get over them if you are strong, thus proving you are not mentally ill; 3) if you are not strong enough to resist mental illness, treatments are akin to torture and do not help; 4) people who are mentally ill are extremely dangerous to others; 5) if mental illness runs in your family, you would be better off not having kids; 6) people who are aware that they have been sexually abused are irretrievably broken; 7) trying to help someone who has a mental illness will lead them to get worse and to hate you. There are a variety of other inaccuracies in the book, but they are less harmful and so I will not describe them here. If you would like to learn more about mental illness, please consider resources from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

The best part of this book is the cover, which had no relevance to the story. The author used a potentially interesting plot device involving research into the personal possessions of long-dead patients in a state mental hospital. The two main protagonists are young women on the verge of adulthood, separated by time and circumstances, but with some tragedies in common. (Spoilers ahead.) The plot is developed in alternating chapters as their individual tales unfold.Here come the spoilers. Initially, the stories were gripping, although the reader is required to overlook amateurish use/misuse of language. The writer uses too many adjectives and adverbs, cliches galore, and some of the worst metaphors I've ever read. When Izzy, the young woman in the present-day plot, faces the death of her estranged mother, we are treated to this bizarre simile: " . . . her organs felt like they were swelling, looking for an escape, like an overheated boiler ready to burst." Izzy and her long-dead counterpart, Clara, are both prone to physical reactions to strong emotion. They vomit, faint, their stomach muscles twist and pull, and their "bowels turn to water." I kept expecting that they would clutch the draperies or have the vapors.Secondary characters are poorly-developed stock personalities common to young-adult novels. (Here I'm echoing other reviewers who couldn't believe this book was written for adults.) In Izzy's story, there was the popular mean girl and her protective, cute-but-dim boyfriend, as well as a single kind girl, who was also shunned by the in-crowd. Clara had rich but cold parents, and a darkly handsome Italian boyfriend from the wrong side of the tracks, taken straight from the old paperback bodice-rippers.The compulsory sinister asylum director was present, as well as a standard assortment of staff and patients. I'll leave the unsavory-past aspects the girls have in common for other intrepid readers. Suffice to say they are as unimaginative as the rest of the book.Wiseman did enough research on past mistreatment of mental patients--or problematic family members--to insert a few horrific details, although here again the narrative gives way to florid melodrama. Clara and Izzy were appealing enough to warrant my finishing the book, which was assigned in my book club. But by the end, I recalled a quote from the great Flannery O'Connor, who said something to the effect that there's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher. That's the case here, with promising material ruined by poor writing and editing.

"She bit her lip.... she chewed the inside of her mouth... her stomach was churning... she was digging her nails into (insert object or body part here)... the vomiting, the sour stomach, the watery and rubbery legs so she could barely stand..." Holy cow. The more I read, the more these things kept repeatedly showing up, page after page until I had to start skimming to put myself out of the misery of this story. I thought this was a tedious, poorly-written story and I too was misled by the high marks.  It is definitely written for a much younger person than me (I'm 50). I would not recommend it at all.

This book sat forgotten in my Kindle for several years and I recently found it again and read it. There were a few times I almost gave up but I stuck with it because historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. I liked the two main characters and how the story developed between the the different decades. The author demonstrated how difficult it was for women in the 1930's as they had very little say about anything. Clearly, the author did her research about the horrors of early mental health care. Parts of the descriptions are very graphic, and disturbing. What I didn't understand about the book was the target audience. It didn't seem as if it was written for a mature audience of 50+, but if it was indeed written for adolescents, it seemed much to dark. The "mean girl" persona was taken to the extreme. I did read the entire book but I still don't understand who the author's target audience was.

Took ages to get into any kind of story. Very predictable - too much emphasis on the present time. I found myself skipping almost full chapters just to get to the end.

Was recommended this book by my mother. I loved it , found certain sections hard to read,as we all know these practices did take place. But would highly recommended this as well worth reading.

A wonderful story

Two interesting characters stories skilfully entwined. Unsettlingly story based on true stories from the fairly recent past. Believable characters of real interest.

Great book!