Review: The Idiot by David Poulter

Original Title: The Idiot: I Was a Lunatic from a Geordie Grangetown

Author: David Poulter

Publisher: Chipmunkapublishing

Published Date: June 23rd 2010

Genre: Auto-biography, Non-fiction

"This world that you inhabit is really only your own mind. That is where you truly reside. And everyday you make decisions that affect your life. I give you an account of mine." This strange and thought-provoking story is about a man who experiences a traumatic event in his childhood and then later develops a severe mental disorder in his thirties. His experiences and "delusions" lead him to think that he may have discovered a great secret that concerns all of humanity. Is he sane? And is the world crazy? Here is a conundrum that you can decide for yourselves.

REVIEW

This book is about a common man's life.  The author has portrayed his fears, mistakes, desires, feelings and his decisions in life.  I am just explaining here some of the main moments, so you know what this is all about.

He has explained his life's moments, but major parts of the book is very hard to understand and follow through.  Initially, he had trouble finding a place where he belong..where he finally can rest in peace.  After some struggles, he, at last, found such a family and place.  But, when his wife left, he became insane - hearing voices, experiencing weird things, peculiar dreams and lastly becoming philosophical.

I actually gave up on the book, but stopped myself from doing so, when the book took a turn, narrating about the disease, that the author had.  After that part, it was understandable.  Its clear that his view of the world is much different from most of us and its quite interesting to read about them.

Towards the end of the book, the author turns totally philosophical.  Usually, I run away from philosophical air..so, maybe this part of the book is not my cup of tea.  The main problems with this book are vagueness and long paragraphs.

I don't think the protagonist, who I assumed is the author himself, is an idiot, but he had his idiotic moments, as most of us do.  I am not commenting on the philosophy here, because I am really not the right person for that.  But, other than that, this is a auto-biography of a man who tried to live and belong.