Strange Heaven by Lynn Coady is a fiercely intelligent and honest, transparent novel about a teenage girl named Bridget Murphy who first transfers herself to a children’s hospital psychiatric ward after giving birth to a baby and putting it up for adoption and then returns home for the Christmas holidays to her rambunctious and irreverent family.

She is at the centre of the book as its narrator who is surrounded by dysfunctional, yet authentic characters found in the ward as Mona, the suspected pathological liar; Kelly and Maria, starving young girls with anorexia; and Byron, the insecure and attention-seeking megalomaniac.

Together they form a quasi-family of sorts, one that is bound by the common thread of illness, dysfunction, and burden of being ostracized and misunderstood.

The psychiatric ward becomes a form of escape and refuge for Bridget as well as an experimental outlet in which she can decide how she wants to respond to her personal trauma of birthing and ultimately who she can be as she creates for herself an adamant assertion to remain if not completely cold, certainly distant and outwardly indifferent.

Those in the ward, too, represent the communal angst that reverberates throughout the helplessness and anxiety of the youth destitute towards the banality of pub-crawls and fist fights that daily drinking incurs, caged in a small town. But, they also represent a community in which Bridget’s apathy is not as isolated as she would prefer it to be—that is to say—Bridget Murphy is not alone.

To read the rest of my review, you can visit my blog, The Bibliotaphe's Closet: http://zaraalexis.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/strange-heaven-a-review/

Thanks,
Zara ( )

This is the story of Bridget, who gives birth at 17. After giving the child up for adoption, Bridget spends about four months on the psych ward of a Halifax hospital, diagnosed with a serious depression. There, Bridget has to contend with anorexics who cry at the sight of food, a megalomaniac with a crush on her and a young woman who has substance abuse problems.

And then she goes home. Bridget is part of a loving family, yet home is in many ways more difficult to adjust to than the psych ward. Bridget's grandmother is convinced Bridget is a ghost from purgatory and prays constantly for Bridget's soul to advance to heaven. Her family and friends are heavy drinkers; her uncle is developmentally challenged. Bridget's friends don't really know how to react to her, especially her ex-boyfriend (the baby's father).

Lynn Coady is a great writer. She took me into life in this small Maritime town -- all the social norms and relationships that are so very different from the type of life I lead. Yet, absolutely believable situations and characters that are very well drawn. Bridget is a great mixutre of an introspective person who is coming to grips with adult life and a teenager without a clue.

This is my second book by Lynn Coady and I will definitely be looking for more. ( )