Project 17- Laurie Faria Stolarz

    Danvers State Hospital stands alone on Hathorne hill. An abandoned mental institution due for demolition. A place rumored to be the birthplace of the labotomy. A place where patients were treated like dirt, crammed into small prisonlike rooms and given medication that increased insanity. A place that all the locals believe to be haunted.

     Six points of view are told in this story. Each person that tells the story goes into the abandoned institution for their own reasons. For Derick it's his only chance to get away from working in his parents bum diner for the rest of his life. For Mimi it's a chance to find out about her grandmother. A woman institutionalized for being an alcoholic, who never saw the light of day afterwards. All Tony wants to do is take control of Dericks production. Greta, Ashley, wants a chance to make it onto a real tv show and hit it big. Liza needs some extracurricular activities in order to get into Harvard. Chet only wants to get away from his alcoholic father for a night. All of them go for different reasons but they all end up being a part of Derricks film.

For the six teens the risks of sneaking into Danvers the eve of its demolition are well worth it. Due to the heightened security the teens take a backroute. They break into a wing of the asylum that is far off the path of where they want to film. Danvers State is connected by miles of tunnels. The teens head into the tunnels after hearing a banging noise. They find everything lying where it was left leaving an eerie feeling around the whole place. There are files and remnants scattered all over the place. However, the teens find more than just files inside the huanted hospital. Most of what they find revolves around a certain person, Christine Belle, and the number 17.

     Throughout the book the six teenagers find out more and more about Christine Belle. A ghost who wants her story told. While they help Christine to rest at peace they learn more and more about who they are, what they should do and what to do with themselves.

     This book touches on many different themes. One of the most reoccuring ones is finding yourself. At the begining of the book there is an overall sense of anomity and having to be who your parents want you to be. Throughout the rest of the book the feeling slowly changes to knowing who you are and distinquishing what YOU want to do and what others expect you to do. The book really shows that you dont have to be who your parents want you to be.

     The book also brings up the awful treatment of mentally unstable people. The book talks about the horror that people living in mental institutions lived. It talks about things that people are uncomfortable talking about and many know nothing about. It educates you about the horrors of being a part of a mental institution if you are willing to look for it. It talks about the nurses who didnt care, doctors who experimented on patients, solitary confinement. They would strip you down and throw you into a room. The different forms of "therapy" used on the poor people that lived there. It was like a prison for the mentally insane. The book talks about things that not everyone wants to hear, but everyone should be aware of.

     Overall I loved this book. Some warnings I have for you are swearing, ghosts, and quesy stomachs. Swearing, this book has a lot of it. If you are opposed to swearing you should not read this book. Ghosts, if they scare you a whole lot you should not read this book. It is a horror story so it was created to scare you. If you hate scary things, then this is not a good book for you. Finally, queasy stomachs. If you are easily sickened by gore, poor living conditions or abuse, dont read this book. It goes into detail about many things that may make you want to be sick.

     I love this book. It was entertaining, thrilling and suspenseful. The book was incredible. It gave me information about things I had no idea about before and also gave me a thrill I havent had in awhile. I encourage all people to read this book.