nerd teacher [books] reviewed My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura
Discomforting Depictions of Mental Health
2 stars
I cannot say that I enjoyed this novel, but I found the writing compelling enough to continue reading. However, the nagging feeling about how awful the representation of mental health is and its implications in acts of violence is a bit...
In a lot of ways, it is obvious that this negative perspective is the point of the perspectives these men have, but there's a lot of... I just can't square the circle, if I'm honest. I don't need an explicit statement telling me something is 'bad' or 'inappropriate', but it feels like very little was done within the narrative to speak to that fact? When it does happen, it seems to immediately flip back to stereotypical understandings and misrepresentations.