"Did I mention I was in Dachau?"
I'm not a believer in psychology, which I suppose is an important thing to mention from the get-go. While the whole holocaust angle is heavily emphasized on the front cover, the actual account of Bruno Bettelheim's time spent in Dachau leaves a lot to be desired, as it is not mentioned until around the third or fourth chapter and then its more or less gone. The tone of the book to me seemed to be of either a raving drunkard or an overexcited child, the first few chapters were mainly just rants and theories reworded repeatedly and then reflected on. It's as if you were explaining something to someone and trying to use the simplest of terms, yet they stare blankly. You try to get even more simple. Think of the game "Catch Phrase" where you have to describe something without using the word. That's how I felt when reading the opening chapters.
Overall, this was not a terrible book. It was certainly an interesting read, once you find your own rhythm it can become tough to put down. Maybe I'm missing some sort of deep dark meaning or not fully appreciating the psychological insight of Bettelheim's work, but I can live with it if you can. I know that it was not meant to read like a story book, but I expect a bit of continuity out of even the driest texts.
