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Hospital /
Originally published in Bengali by Bahiprakāśa in 2019. Shortlisted for the 2014 Stella Prize. "In Melbourne a one-time research student is diagnosed with her third episode of psychosis. As she is moved from her family home to a community house and then to hospital, she questions her diagnosis, determined and defined by a medical model which seems less than convincing to her. Indeed, questioning seems to be at the heart of her mental state, in her overactive interpretations of signs and gestures, thoughts and emotions - and one understands these to be an expression of her intelligence, even if they seem illusory. She tells her story in a calm, rational voice, with an acute sense of detail and an objective air, as she wonders when the next psychotic episode will materialise, or if it hasn't arrived already.Based on real-life events, translated from Bengali by the award-winning Indian translator Arunava Sinha, 'Hospital' is an extraordinary novel that portrays the experience of psychosis and its treatments in an unflinching and understated way, while struggling more broadly with the definition of sanity in our society." - Back cover. "In Melbourne a one-time research student is diagnosed with her third episode of psychosis. As she is moved from her family home to a community house and then to hospital, she questions her diagnosis, determined and defined by a medical model which seems less than convincing to her. Indeed, questioning seems to be at the heart of her mental state, in her overactive interpretations of signs and gestures, thoughts and emotions - and one understands these to be an expression of her intelligence, even if they seem illusory. She tells her story in a calm, rational voice, with an acute sense of detail and an objective air, as she wonders when the next psychotic episode will materialise, or if it hasn't arrived already.Based on real-life events, translated from Bengali by the award-winning Indian translator Arunava Sinha, 'Hospital' is an extraordinary novel that portrays the experience of psychosis and its treatments in an unflinching and understated way, while struggling more broadly with the definition of sanity in our society." - Back cover.