Critical Praise
Grapples unflinchingly with mental illness and modern alienation in a way that will captivate readers.
— Booklist (★ Starred Review)
Since David Foster Wallace’s death, the everyday reality of mental illness has rarely been captured as rigorously and without adornment as deBoer’s hard-to-shake portrait of a woman in unceasing crisis.
— Library Journal
A searing portrait of a woman on the brink.
— Publishers Weekly
The core of this compact novel is so tough and powerful — it has the verisimilitude of a case study and the dread of an existential drama.
— Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal
Immersive — slim but powerful, gripping without making any effort to manipulate the reader through a redemptive plot arc. Not an ounce of sensationalism or sentimentality.
— John Warner (Biblioracle), Chicago Tribune
A corrective to our mental health discourse — Alice’s decline is portrayed not as sexy or romantic, but with unflinching realism.
— Will Collins, The Washington Examiner
After reading this novel, readers may come away with greater sympathy for people suffering from mental illness.
— Valerie Pavilonis, The Dispatch
The prose is brilliant — precise, beautiful, and incredibly readable. Reading it is like gliding. The ability to make Alice’s experience feel important without an overly constructed plot is one of the most impressive things about the novel.
— The Amherst Student
Advance Praise
The Mind Reels is that rarest of things: a novel that is genuinely important. DeBoer delivers truths about mental illness that many of us may find both surprising and haunting. That he does this in the context of a novel that is beautifully written, character-driven and pulsing with forward momentum makes it a real artistic achievement as well as an intellectual one.ulgently.
— Adelle Waldman
It names the horrible, terrifying slog of mental illness. These experiences are presented honestly — neither clinically nor indulgently.
— Neal Brennan
One of the most precise and harrowing depictions of mental illness I’ve ever read — a relentless, compassionate, and beautiful debut novel.
— Andrew Martin
Reader Response
Compelling, rough, and realistic — it helps readers understand the day-to-day reality of living with mental illness and multiple antipsychotic medications.
— Goodreads reader