The Three Christs of Ypsilanti (1964)

The background story of this is intriguing and interesting— three men with different backgrounds, each believing they‘re Christ, are intentionally brought together in several group meetings, where they reside at Ypsilanti State Hospital (early 1960s). They are all diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenics.

However, this is fully a case study with more detail than I wanted/needed. Additionally, some of the approaches taken then would be questionable today, something that the author (who ran the study) acknowledges in his afterword penned 20 years later after the study's conclusion.

Still curious to see the movie based on this book. ( )

I so wanted to love this book, but Milton Rokeach is no Oliver Sacks. ( )

I so wanted to love this book, but Milton Rokeach is no Oliver Sacks. ( )

I really enjoyed it! Like most NYRB Classics, it’s a gem of a book—fascinating as a work of psychology, touching as a work of literature.

I don’t want to give too much away about the plot, but here’s the premise: Rokeach’s academic work is all about the often-glacial systems of belief we base our lives on, and he wants to see what happens when two of our most deeply-held beliefs clash against each other. And what might be the most deeply-held beliefs involve our identity, specifically who we are and how that makes us… well… US!

So Rokeach gets the bright idea to find several patients with delusions of identity, and he manages to find three within the Michigan state hospital system that all think they’re Jesus Christ. And in the very first chapter, he brings them together and the book goes from there.

The book takes several twists-and-turns through its course, enough that I’d almost caution you against reading Rick Moody’s introduction or really anything about the book that could spoil things. It’s from a different era, back during institutionalization when doctors had an almost unparalleled level of control over their patients and did things that would be unthinkable today.

Would strongly recommend! ( )

I have to admit that this book is a pretty interesting case study. Unfortunately I'm not sure how much science and forward research was actually done. The experiment was done in the late 1950's - early 1960's. I wonder how much of it would be considered ethical and acceptable today. Interesting read, though it's important to remember that this is not a novel or even a non-fiction book as one normally conceives it. It's a case study. It makes the point/style of the writing, resolution, and 'character interaction' much different.

21 Apr: After reading three young adult novels in a row at first I found this a bit difficult to start up. Now that I'm 25% through it and back in 'grown-up' reading mode, I'm finding it very enjoyable. ( )