Inferno

Compelling memoir of post-partum psychosis

While on an extended trip across America to introduce her new son to her family and in-laws, Catherine Cho suffers a complete psychotic breakdown. Her husband resorts to admitting her to a psychiatric hospital, where she must rebuild her identity.

Cho writes with fluidity, linking her ideas so smoothly that the fear and confusion of a splintered mind are rendered vivid. Woven into the account of her psychosis is her past, her Korean culture and the domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of a former partner.

This memoir must surely serve to enhance understanding – and break down the stigma – of mental ill health.

At times harrowing, this is nonetheless a beautiful and important book.

My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC.

Wow. Catherine's writing is stunning, beautifully paced and captivating. I raced through this and found so much of it fascinating - the politics within the psychiatric hospital, the weaving of Korean mythology, the exploration of how her psychosis manifested.

I don’t read a lot of memoirs but this one really caught my attention. It took me on an emotional and heartbreaking journey. It’s a subject that I knew very little about, pregnancy psychosis, but it’s really opened my eyes to just how fragile our human mind is and just how easily we can break.

Catherine didn’t have a particularly happy childhood, her father was very strict and liked order and peace and quiet. It was a far cry from her husband’s family where noise was everywhere.

She has a troubled relationship with her previous partner, Lex, which got to the stage where she had to leave and when she met James she wasn’t looking for love, but a long distance relationship followed by a swift wedding made her life complete. Bringing her baby Cato into the world should have made them complete but instead it tore her apart.

I was fascinated by the cultures of the Korean new born baby rituals, The fact that a mother should stay indoors with the newborn for a period of 100 days. A far cry from mother’s in Britain that have to be up and going from word go. Catherine went against this and travelled from her home in London across to the states to visit both sets of grandparents and that is when her life spiraled out of control.

I never actually knew that there was such a thing as postpartum psychosis and I have to admit I was both intrigued and slightly horrified that this could happen. The way that the American’s dealt with the treatment compared to the British again left me pondering which way is best? To be torn from your baby must be horrific but as Catherine tells her story she was in no fit state to be left with a baby...

This book to me was a learning curve and I thoroughly engaged with the book and it has taken me a few days to write my review as I have been running things through my mind. Ultimately this is a story of love. Without love and understanding Catherine would not have got through the horror and it’s heartwarming to know that there is goodness in the world.

I admire this brave author for sharing her difficult story and I hope that she now goes from strength to strength.

Many thanks for my ARC. I will be posting to my blog nearer publication date,

Inferno is a fascinating insight into the mind of someone suffering from postpartum psychosis. I’ve heard of the condition but I find it doesn’t seem to garner much attention so it’s great to see this memoir.

I loved reading about the author’s Korean background and all the different traditions around becoming a parent.

I appreciated the author’s honesty and bravery in telling her story. I hope this book breaks down the stigma around a woman’s mental health during and after pregnancy. It’s brilliantly written and an important book that everyone should read in years to come.

My twelfth read of the year.

Inferno: A memoir by Catherine Cho.

My rating: ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐stars (out of 5)


The book blurb states:

When Catherine left London for the US with her husband James, to introduce her family to their newborn son Cato, she could not have envisaged how that trip would end. Catherine would find herself in an involuntary psych ward in New Jersey, separated from her husband and child, unable to understand who she was, and how she had got there.

The memoir starts with Catherine in the psych ward, as she starts to piece together memories. Catherine delves back into her childhood, adolescence and earlier adulthood, telling the story of her life before she meets her husband James.

I found the pace of these initial sections to be ponderous, although not in a bad way. By the end it's clear how they all link together to paint a picture of how someone's experiences can be exacerbated by stress, but can also help them remember who they are.

I was really impressed with Inferno. Particularly how Catherine details the build up to her psychosis: a series of stressors that could affect anyone, and how she finds her way back to herself afterwards. I have met Catherine (only briefly) and she seemed to me to be such a calm person, I couldn't imagine her suffering from psychosis. I think that the power in this memoir is how ordinary (and I don't mean this as a negative at all) and relatable a lot of Catherine's actions are. Mental illness can affect anyone.

Another thing that really stayed with me was about how much support Catherine had around her once she was suffering from the psychosis, particularly from her partner, James. I'm so glad she had someone fighting for her.

Inferno will be published on March 19th 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing.