Dora: A Headcase

In her short, blistering novel, Lidia Yuknavitch reimagines Sigmund Freud’s case study of the hysterical teenager Dora in a contemporary setting. Ida is a seventeen year old black hole; she’s ferociously angry at her dysfunctional family and the injustices of life. She finds joy and meaning in her art and her small group of friends, all of whom have been damaged by an oppressive world. In between her ecstatic, intoxicated “art attacks” and her desperate, shyly romantic pursuit of her friend Obsidian, Ida is forced by her father to visit a psychiatrist, Freud, who she calls “Siggy” or “the Sig.” But Ida sees a threat in Siggy’s attempts to cure her of her voiceless madness, which drives her to fight back against show more him.

This psychosexual adventure story is told with black humor and vicious rage. Fans of that sort of thing should also try Joey Comeau’s The Complete Lockpick Pornography, another new favorite of mine. show less

I picked 'Dora: A Headcase' off the central library's new acquisitions shelves, my eye caught by Lidia Yuknavitch's name. I found both [b:The Book of Joan|30653706|The Book of Joan|Lidia Yuknavitch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469810728l/30653706._SY75_.jpg|51198707] and [b:The Misfit's Manifesto|33863667|The Misfit's Manifesto|Lidia Yuknavitch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1484503747l/33863667._SX50_.jpg|54815676] distinctive and memorable, then was intrigued by the central conceit: a modern retelling of one of Freud's case histories. Yuknavitch gives the first person narration to Dora, or rather Ida, who treats therapy as an ongoing battle with her show more therapist, 'Siggy'. Ida is in her late teens, child of rich and deeply dysfunctional parents. She rampages around getting into trouble with her friends, a bunch of misfits. The plot essentially centres on her complicated plans to torture Siggy and beat him at therapy, although she is not without ambivalence about her own need for help with her mental health. I definitely liked this concept. Ida is interesting and the narrative fast-paced and full of panache.

That said, it is significantly indicative that 'Dora: A Headcase' has an introduction by [a:Chuck Palahniuk|2546|Chuck Palahniuk|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1391203076p2/2546.jpg]. That is definitely who the whole thing reminded me of, specifically [b:Doomed|17262208|Doomed (Damned, #2)|Chuck Palahniuk|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1382229504l/17262208._SY75_.jpg|23859008] with its sarcastic teenage protagonist Madison. The thing about Palahniuk is that I've read more than a dozen of his books and realised that the twist is always self-destructiveness. In each case it's garlanded with different repulsive details, so reading his oeuvre is a useful way to discover what does and doesn't freak you out. Structurally, though, he's quite repetitive. Yuknavitch unfortunately seems to have adopted a similar approach of grotesque details over depth and character development. As she's a teenager, I guess Ida was never going to achieve incredible self-insight. Still, I found the ending somewhat underwhelming and the disgusting details somewhat excessive. Although [b:The Book of Joan|30653706|The Book of Joan|Lidia Yuknavitch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469810728l/30653706._SY75_.jpg|51198707] had more intense body horror, it served to build the world and progress the plot. Here, the scene of blood being surgically drained from a penis just went on for too long. The novel's concept is brilliant, but I think could have been executed more thoughtfully without so many gross-out moments. show less

I enjoyed what she was doing with the language of self, the internal dialogue that humans have. Some of it was shocking but some of it was very eye-opening and moving. I don't know what I was expecting but it was definitely a feeling of expecting to go left and she led you right and vice versa. Dora becomes a stand-in for being stuck- in time, in apathy, in wanting too much.

This is a madcap sort of coming of age novel for a troubled Seattle teen sent to a psychiatrist - who is an incarnation of Sigmund Freud. The whole echoes Freud's famous Dora case. I enjoyed it a lot - more so, having read up on the real Freud's Dora. Yuknavitch's memoir was better though. Full review on my blog here https://annabookbel.net/20-books-of-summer-lidia-yuknavitch-dora-st-aubyn-mother...

I loved this book, I love Lidia's writing!! This short novel covers so many themes and ideas, art, family, love, Dora, or actually Ida, she takes the name Dora, is a very angry hurt young woman. She uses art, her art to find her voice. she uses or looks for ways to turn her anger into a voice that has to be heard. This a dark novel that is not afraid to be so. Yet there is hope, Dora does have compassion and hope

Maybe 2.5 stars. Like many here I read [b:The Chronology of Water|9214995|The Chronology of Water|Lidia Yuknavitch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336629501s/9214995.jpg|14094773]and was amazed by it. This felt like "more of the same" but not in a good way, sort of like I enjoyed Damned by Chuck Palahniuk but Doomed felt like I was being beaten up again for no good reason. Also I think I'm kind of over the overprivileged yet neglected child of disengaged vaguely moronic parents goes wild thing. Does it happen? Of course. Is it enjoyable to read about over and over again. No.

That said, I'm still looking forward to reading more by Yuknavitch.

Maybe 2.5 stars. Like many here I read [b:The Chronology of Water|9214995|The Chronology of Water|Lidia Yuknavitch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336629501s/9214995.jpg|14094773]and was amazed by it. This felt like "more of the same" but not in a good way, sort of like I enjoyed Damned by Chuck Palahniuk but Doomed felt like I was being beaten up again for no good reason. Also I think I'm kind of over the overprivileged yet neglected child of disengaged vaguely moronic parents goes wild thing. Does it happen? Of course. Is it enjoyable to read about over and over again. No.

That said, I'm still looking forward to reading more by Yuknavitch.