cover image I Am Not Crazy

I Am Not Crazy

Frances I. Deitrick, Frances Dietrick. New Horizon Press, $21.95 (200pp) ISBN 978-0-88282-103-0

Hats off to Deitrick for battling a brain tumor and incompetent psychiatrists. Her writing, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. This is no snake pit saga. Apart from the horror of having a brain tumor misdiagnosed as mental illness, the nastiest thing that goes on at Brookhollow, where the author was hospitalized, is that some patients are not allowed trips into town to shop. The expose reads like Gidget Goes to a Mental Institution. There's a fun gang of patients and some dumb doctors (plus one cute one). The author describes her symptoms in great detail but tells us little else about herself, not even in what city and when the story takes place. Still, Deitrick, whose tumor is in remission, teaches us a lesson in survival. (Feb.)