A Review of The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

Spoilers.  

 

I have an old review of this book, which I will have undoubtedly taken down by the time you read this, but I thought that my opinions had probably changed since then, and I don’t know if I’d even like this book any more, so I decided to reread it.  That was a mistake. Not in the way that rereading Holly Black novels is a mistake. I don’t think that part of my childhood has been lost because of rereading this book. I initially read this in my mid teens, and I wasn’t wild about it to begin with.  I’m not devastated that I don’t like it. That said, when I read it before I was young and not as aware of objectionable tropes. I have a lot more thoughts on it now.  

I didn’t actually make it the whole way through it this time.  I’m still doing a review of it because I’ve read it in its entirety before and I read half of it this time, but I mentally cannot force myself to continue reading this book.  

This book has really bad representation of dissociative identity disorder (DID), which is part of the reason I wanted to reread it.  I wanted to rip it apart. Complaining about things in a public place where people respond to it and like my posts validates my rage.  It’s like therapy but free and angrier. The author’s intention was to shed light on something that isn’t frequently addressed, but the result is a stigmatized and problematic depiction of a mental illness that is all too frequently stigmatized and misrepresented.  Really, all of the discussion of mental illness is problematic in this book. There’s literally a part where Kaitlyn says that she practiced her suicide note and left it places for people to find. That part also includes a fairly detailed and graphic description of how she would kill herself.  I don’t think this is quite as bad as the TV adaptation of Thirteen Reasons Why (which I haven’t watched but have read articles about), but I think it’s probably close.  

Of course, it’s important to talk about mental health.  It’s important to get rid of the stigma that surrounds discussions of mental health; however, it’s important that it’s done right, or it causes more harm than good.  One of the things that I personally have a big issue with is negativity towards medication that this book perpetuates. There are so many things that say that antidepressants will turn you into someone else, or that any drug for any mental illness will make it so you aren’t you anymore.  This needs to stop. For most of my life, I heard more bad stories than good when it came to antidepressants and therapy: Some were from poorly written media; some were people I know who didn’t think therapy and medication worked for them; and some of what I faced was people telling me point blank that mental illness isn’t real.  (If you think mental illness isn’t real, please unfollow me. Thank you.)  But it took one person that I trusted with a really positive experience for me to actually get help. Yes, it took me years of hearing them talk about it to actually get help, but I got help, and it probably saved my life. All it takes is one positive depiction of therapy and medication to change someone’s life for the better.  This book does not hold the potential to change someone’s life for the better; it only holds the potential to stigmatize and turn people away from getting the help they might need.  

While I was reading this book, I actually became physically uncomfortable.  There was something about it that just bothered me.  And not in a good way where it makes sense that it makes you uncomfortable because it’s horror and of course it does.  I like horror. I can spend the day binge watching horror movies, or I can read a horror novel in one sitting and not feel like this.  Horror doesn’t typically make my anxiety worse. It’s one of my favorite genres. There’s something about this, though, and the terrible depictions of mental illness that just got under my skin.  Again, this didn’t get under my skin in a creepy, horror novel way. It didn’t even get under my skin in a psychological horror way. This isn’t psychological horror. It’s stigma against mental illness and damaging relationship tropes tied together with barely any suspense or motivation for you to keep reading.  At first I just dismissed the discomfort as anxiety about grades and midterms, but that’s not the case. Also, reading is my one foolproof way to get rid of anxiety, so I wouldn’t have felt bad while reading. I think there’s something fundamentally wrong with your depiction of mental illness if it even makes people who are dealing with mental health issues this uncomfortable.  

I don’t have DID, so obviously my opinion doesn’t hold as much weight as that of someone who does, but it seems like the entire portrayal of someone with DID has issues.  It’s even said several times throughout the book that Carly’s/Kaitlyn’s case is unlike any other, so is it even an accurate depiction?  Basically every scene is Kaitlyn causing trouble, someone taking advantage of her, or something else equally as bad.  Lots of people want to read about characters with the same mental illness or in the same situation because it provides a sense of comfort.  Who, exactly, would this comfort?  

In addition to that, aside from the horrible mental health portrayal, this book literally has the line, “I’d be gay if I weren’t so straight.”  “I’d be gay if I weren’t so straight.”  “I’d be gay if I weren’t so straight.”  What is that?  Who says that? What is the world coming to??  How did an editor not cut that before it was published?  I have no more words.  

This book came out in 2015.  As a society, we need to do better.  One star.