The Quiet Room- February Book Discussion

I am excited to be meeting up with our group tonight.  Our conversations are enriching and interesting.  But mostly, sharing my feelings and opinions helps me get closure on literary works recently read.  Tonight we are discussing The Quiet Room, written by Lori Schiller and Amanda Bennett.  

The Quiet Room is about Lori Schiller who grew up in Scarsdale, NY and finds herself sinking into a mental illness during a period that should have been liberating and exciting.  Just finishing her college education at Tufts University, Lori is soon defeated by the reality that something is not right with her mental health.   And after long hospital treatments and a multitude of tests and observations, Lori is diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The Schiller and Bennett reveal the dark and sinister voices that dominate Lori's daily life. She moves through hospitals, half way homes, and her family home fighting not only the voices that are screamingly inside of her mind but also fighting the reality of coming to terms with the illness itself.  Social acceptance and self independence are like grains of sand that easily slip through her hands just as she begins to take control of her life.  The battle is long, lonely, and at times dangerous for Lori as she finds the answers to her mental illness and a release from the voices.  As an observer, we are given a glimpse of Lori's illness and her personal fight to regain a small sense of normalcy back into her life and re-enter into society.      

Some discussion questions for your own discussion:

Given that Lori was the oldest of three children, did birth order affect the way her siblings and her parents approached Lori's illness?  What do you think the response would have been had Lori been the youngest or the middle child?

Social acceptance was quite important in Lori's community and also to her family.  How is Lori's illness perceived within her parent's circle of influence?  How does her illness affect Lori's own peers?

How do Lori's parents react and behave during Lori's illness?  Did their behavior and actions help or hinder Lori's treatments and therapy process?

There are many people living with mental disorders that go undiagnosed or untreated due to lack of support financially or otherwise such as Lori's own grandmother and great aunt who were excused as being "crazy" or "eccentric."  If her family's social ranking were anything less, do you think Lori could have received adequate support and been able to finally take her illness under control? 

There are a few voices in The Quiet Room that have a chance to express themselves including Lori's college friends, family members, and even the voices which take on a life of their own. Who do you most identify with mostly?  Who do you sympathize with?  Who do you think hurt Lori the most during her journey of torment?

There were many times where the voices gave her reasons to take her own life yet she finds strength to stay and fight the illness and reclaim her life.   Were her attempts at suicide cries for attention, help, or a true need to extinguish the madness within her?  Who or what stopped her from taking her own life? 

Lori made some decisions that proved to be disasterous  Let's recall these situations individually and discuss how her mental illness did or did not play a part in creating these life threatening situations.   At what point during these situations can we draw the line between her healthy mind and her state of illness?

Should a person living with a debilitating mental illness such as Lori's have right to seek suicide as an option to relieving his/her pain and mental anguish?  Had Lori have died due to the complications of the drugs clozapine, does this drug complication equate to a successful suicide attempt?