Admittedly, I'm only vaguely acquainted with Ms. Autumn and her works. I bring this up so most can understand where I'm coming from when it comes to this book. Yes, I've heard of Ms. Autumn and know a couple of her songs but I don't know much about her or even deserve to call myself a big fan of hers. Therefore, my attitude in going into this book is that of someone who recognizes the name and thought to give it a shot. As I have no solid opinion of Autumn as a musician, I can go into this venture with a clean slate, as a book critic plain and simple. Let's dive in.
Emilie's suicide didn't exactly go as planned. Now she's sent to a mental institution where she's granted very little freedoms and is watched over by the creepy Dr. Sharp. But Emilie starts to receive messages from another time, another place, similar to her own. Emily with a "y", a young woman living in the Victorian Era, has been bought and sold and abused only to find herself in the Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls for her efforts. Both girls document their misfortunes in the hopes that they will once again see the light of day and form a bond between time and space.
One thing that you've got to just accept with this book is that it is exaggerated. While parts of it are, at least, semi-autobiographical (the segments with Emilie with an "ie" are anyway), it's definitely pushing the boundaries of what's real and what's going on in our protagonist's head. This hospital takes away everything she has, including paper and books, because she's suicidal and yet lets her keep her very long, I-could-totally-hang-myself-with-these stockings? Hm. Also, the horrors of electro-shock therapy are described in this (a rarely-used-anymore technique they numb you for) and how another young woman never returned after receiving it and placing her with the violent patients instead of the depressed ones...like I said, it might be a little exaggerated. Still, I can't exactly fault the book for this. There's a reason I chose this book to be read for October, my month of scary books, and not just because of my own discomfort with the topic of asylums. While "asylum" and "mental hospital" are essentially the same thing, people are given certain expectations about what the book entails. People pick up books about asylums to be grossed out and horrified by man's inhumanity toward man. If you wanted a book talking about how a person was actually helped in a safe, clean environment, they'd pick up a book about a mental hospital and learn about how a person was successfully cured of mental illness. This is not that book. The cover and title alone are enough to let you know about that.
On the subject of "man's inhumanity toward man", which we expect from an asylum book, this book delivers it in spades. Someone once described Autumn's works as being "not for the faint of heart." The "Emily with a y" story arc features all those lovely things that one expects in an abusive asylum story. Experimental treatments unfairly done to young women in the hopes of "curing" them which involve surgically removing their uterus, bloodletting, and (everyone's favorite) lobotomies. It even goes a step further into a twisted scheme to create a plague and the deeply discomforting process of prostitution. Yeah, "Emily" goes through some serious crap in this book and it's enough to make anyone cringe (granted you are supposed to). Yet, there's a whimsical edge to the story that doesn't entirely leave the reader, or Emily for that matter, without hope. Whether it's the talking rats, the sharpened spoons, the dwindling will of the asylum's matriarch, or the colorful gathering of patients that makes the reader want to keep going. You want to see them get through this. You want these women to find freedom and justice. It all comes together in an admittedly satisfying, mic drop of a climax that I actually quite enjoyed.
While I was satisfied with the bittersweet conclusion of Emily's story, Emilie's story...not so much. It doesn't even really end it just kind of...stops. Granted, this could all be further pushing the idea of "how much of all of this was in her head the whole time?" that is hinted at in this book but I'd rather it came to an actual conclusion instead of twenty pages of diary excerpts going on and on about how unpleasant depression is and how cutting yourself makes everything better. You can read about these things and learn from them but...I'd rather you finish the story. But, that's just me and what do I know?
Final Verdict
Kind of on the fence with this one, people. There's no arguing that this is a bit romanticized and not everybody (especially mental health professionals) is going to appreciate that. That being said, I enjoyed the story and liked the main character(s) and carried on reading in morbid fascination about where it would go and what would happen. If you're someone who can stomach the extreme grossness that comes from ancient mental remedies and uncomfortable themes portrayed in this book, feel free to check it out just maybe wait for it on paperback.
Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer
Next Time: It's not often that you find a book where the necromancer is the protagonist....
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