Customer Reviews

The Loony Bin Blues: The Next Generation Flies Over the Cuckoo's Nest

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4 star:		(3)
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THE LOONEY BIN BLUES is a hilarious send-up of the mental health industry. The so-called troubled teens being treated at the Riverside Adolescent Psychiatric Center are, in fact, resourceful, determined, independent young people who easily outwit a whole bevy of corrupt and/or inept caretakers.

The colorful cast of characters runs the gamut from trailer trash to secret agents, all tripping over each other to side-splitting effect. The scenes in Colonial Williamsburg are especially entertaining, and when everyone converges on tiny Ocracoke Island for the climax, I couldn't stop laughing.

Mr. Johnson clearly knows and likes his teenaged characters, giving their dialogue snap and authenticity. He also has a great deal of fun skewering the administrators, therapists and social workers of the Riverside Center. Underlying the substantial humor is a gentle message about the decisions we make about how to lead our lives as we grow up.

This is a book both adults and young people can enjoy equally; I plan to pass it along to my 14-year-old daughter.

Just one word of warning: once you start reading THE LOONEY BIN BLUES, you won't be able to put it down.

This book has a great story line and is a real page turner.

The Loony Bin Blues moves along with gusto taking it's colorful characters to a satisfying climax. It's a fast read, mostly because you want to keep going to find out what's coming up.

I thoroughly enjoyed this writer's first novel. He writes about an area of the country (Richmond, VA) and a subject (adolescent looney bins) I know well, as does he. He vividly captures a number of teenage "types" and blends them into a story line that engages and entertains. His humor is sometimes subtle, sometimes raucous, but always -- well, humorous!

While this book is fiction, the underlying theme could usefully be adopted by an enterprising, muckraking journalist who wants first crack at a "business" which could stand outside scrutiny.

What a fine first novel by Greg Johnson! Money is what drives the whacky characters and engaging plot, but just when you think you know where the author is heading, things veer off in another direction. But for all the highjinks and escapades, the ending returns us to a moral center that makes a sense we wish was more common in our world. Johnson obviously knows the subject area as well as the machinations that might be employed by both the inmates and the staff of a mental health institution. To shape a story in this setting with humor, compassion, and sharp dialog takes a special eye, ear, and language skill. Well done. Highly recommended.