Gather Other People Generated By Kelly OCallan Issued As Copy

stereotypes are rampant

As someone with BPD, I found this book difficult, It wasnt terrible but seeing a lot of the typical stereotypes surround borderline AND the magical “love conquers all” ending left a sour taste in my mouth.

“I'm not sure how to rate this, so I'm going with ”,

“A very clear characteristic of a borderline personality disorder is that they live in a world of unforgiving extremes, In their universe, everything is either good or bad, black or white, lovable or hateful, nurturing or destructive, ”

I am incredibly annoyed at what Jim did though, he slept with Ginny and told her that he wanted to be with her, and then Nina was in a crash and decided to be with her instead! But he paid no thought to what would happen if he left her she could relapse and commit suicide.
. . die of smoke inhalation. Gah! Hate you Nina and Jim!

Other People is written really well, and even when I hated what was happening I was still incredibly interested.
. . and got annoyed a lot!

And there were a lot of references to God in it mainly from Ginny,

A copy of Other People was kindly provided to me by Kelly O'Callan, the author, in exchange for an honest review.
Free on Amazon today!
UK sitelink amazon. co. uk/dp/BIUBKIM, . .
US sitelink amazon. com/OtherPeopleKe Although this book is fairly accurate in its portrayal of the thought processes of borderline personality disorder, I found it made many oversights.

The overall message is touching, but not at all realistic: the main character Ginny is able to overcome her mental illness through love, however much of her healing process is concealed and oversimplified.

The research conducted appears to be outdated, because as someone who is currently in treatment for BPD, I know that many of the things the psychiatrist, George, have been refuted in the pastyears or so.
For example, he suggests that borderline personality disorder only happens to victims of abuse, While this is often the case, this misconception is dangerous because it can result in a borderline who wasn't abused like myself feeling invalidated.

Similarly, it suggests that those with borderline personality disorder cannot be effectively treated, and I quote 'can never have a normal, healthy relationship'.
This is not true. It is definitely more difficult but it is possible, particularly with DBT coaching in interpersonal effectiveness, This kind of thing in the book can make it depressing for someone working on recovering from BPD,

The ending message is inspiring in the sense that it refutes the earlier suggestion that borderlines cannot go on to live functional lives.
It was interesting to read, but lacked certain insight and can have a negative message if it isn't all read in one go, Gahhhh the ending!!! Borderlines

Let me first say that this book was a good read, A passive, suicidal woman finally finding peace,

I downloaded this book because another review claimed it pegged Borderline Personality Disorder, No. We are nothing like the character in this novel, I did enjoy the book, but I am so tired of people getting this disorder wrong, Yes, it's fiction. However, most fiction writers at least do some research on the malady that they're basing their writing on, If you are looking for an easy, decent read, . . get it. If you are looking for something to relate to as a person suffering from BPD, skip it, The Other People was a very good book that held my interest throughout, The author did a great job describing the thinking process of an individual with BPD Borderline Personality Disorder and made the character very likable.
I was continually pulling for Ginny and hoping she would overcome, My only issue was the ending which wrapped years of time up very quickly uncomfortably so, I have mixed feelings about this book, I actually liked the way that it ended, but I wasn't crazy about some of the descriptions, I also wish the author would have been clearer about the time period the book was set in, It seemed that the description of Ginny's diagnosis was outdated, It was only after I read a line where Jim looked at his pager that I realized that this book must have been set in the early's at which point some of the descriptions/dialogue made a little more sense.
Let me begin by saying that "Other People" is a well developed story regarding a young women with Borderline Personality Disorder, Rating this book is extremely difficult, I am bouncing between aas I write this review, O'Callan did a exceptional job detailing her characters and the surroundings that connects them in a well thought out book, In the beginning, I noticed I was reading slower then usual, it was a bit difficult as I felt this was a 'story of a story' if that is understandable.
It almost felt like the author was pushing way to much concentrating on the story line she jumped right out and told the story as a verbal story would be told.
Later, midway thorough my attention was snagged and the rest of the book flowed extremely well forgetting the story of a story, which was all through the book.
The ending, was worth dredging through the chapters for,

As an individual living with BPD, in which this book was subjective to, Kelly O'Callan really hit the struggles I have endured.
Personally, it was on point and the author nailed a life as a Borderline, Although many many situations in this book provoked my anger, one being the psychiatrist view on BPD, Yet I believe the author was trying to convey that professionals often look down on this disorder and believe there is no hope, some practitioners refuse too treat individuals living with this real and raw mental illness and the stigma is sad.
Stigma was well developed and added at the right moments throughout the book, The unexpected kept the story line going, The compassion that the reader ultimately feels for Ginny is guanine and also keeps attentiveness, Whilst researching the portrayal of mental health in fiction I stumbled across the synopsis for “Other People” and it got me excited, Could this be a book that actually tries to tackle mental health without the sensationalisation often found in fiction

Not everyone with mental health issues are closet serial killers or feel the overwhelming need to kill, maim and exact revenge on people around them.
It is true that these kind of dramatic scenes make for good reading, but if you have never experienced these problems it can leave you with a skewed sense of what life is really like.


The four main characters, Ginny, Jim, Nina and Vance take us on a journey of how Ginny copes with her Borderline Personality Disorder BPD or Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder diagnosis.
Exploring the complexity of a person living with this disorder OCallan begins with a short prologue about someone cutting themselves a classic symptom of BPD.
Later you realise that it is Ginny as she observes the arrival of her new neighbours Jim and Nina,

Ginny, a shy and lonely waitress, attempts to commit suicide but fails due to a chance intervention from Jim, After her suicide attempt she is diagnosed with BPD and enters into therapy, Her doctor happens to be an old friend of Jims which is an important subplot within the book, As a way to better fit in with “Other People” she decides that observing Jim and Nina, who Ginny considers to be “the queen bee of the other people“.
However, not all is as it seems are Jim and Nina really that perfect and how is their relationship Nina is a very determined, goal orientated and cold individual and at times is extremely derogatory towards Ginny and her situation.
I think a lot of people with a mental health issue can easily relate to unfortunately the stigma attached to a diagnosis of BPD is wide spread, even among health care professionals.
As Nina spends more time away studying for her Law degree, Jim finds himself spending more time with Ginny and is drawn to her personality “She was kind, graceful, unselfish, beautiful, mysterious, and her downtoearth nature was accentuated by a wonderful sense of humour.
It did not take long for Jim to realise, even though he tried to fight it, he was falling in love with her, ”

The inclusion of Ginnys attempted suicide for me was very relatable to my own experiences I was diagnosed with BPD myself after attempting suicide.
Suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide is one of the diagnostic criteria for BPD sufferers and therefore important to cover in a book as the protagonist has BPD.
Real world statistics from the US show that approximatelyof sufferers will exhibit suicidal intentions and aroundwill attempt suicide at least once, However, I do feel that the circumstances leading up to Ginnys decisions could have been developed further,

I understand that everyone is an individual and no two BPD sufferers are the same, I do feel that some fundamental issues were glossed over.
Reading the book I get the sense that OCallan has done a lot of research into BPD and makes an attempt to explore the inner workings of a borderline mind, but I do feel some things were played down.


Spoiler alert

Two scenes in particular stood out for me, The first scene is Ginnys reaction to seeing her only friend, Vance, sitting with Jim outside the apartment drinking beer an activity that previously had been reserved for Vance and Ginny.
This situation may seem trivial, but for a borderline a situation like this could trigger an emotional meltdown, I can agree that my moods can fluctuate from sadness and tears, to happiness and giggles, in a matter of minutes, I would perceive the situation as Vance trying to replace Ginnys friendship with Jim, Ginnys behaviour as she runs past them and into the apartment complex is realistic, however, I found the next part of her behaviour jarring.
If I was in this situation I would be devastated, Vance her only friend has chosen Jims company over her, therefore, abandoning her, This sense of abandonment would have brought up a storm of conflicting emotions, potentially escalating to self harm but in this case after a few seconds Ginny kisses an angel and everything is better.
If only it was that easy!

The second situation is Ginnys apparent nonchalance about the fact the Jim has chosen Nina over her and she finds herself alone and pregnant.
I think for most people this might kick up a little bit of emotion, but I felt this was underdeveloped, Even though Ginny tries to commit suicide again after this she just seems to shrug off the situation, I dont think I would be so

calm, my anger is generally directed inwards but I think there would definitely be some fantasies of revenge!

The relationship between Jim and Ginnys psychiatrist and the way he divulges information about Ginnys mental health without her permission is a scene that I found to be particularly problematic.
A breach in doctor patient confidentiality this substantial makes me feel uncomfortable even if this book is set in thes, I had a major problem with this plot point and found my heart rate rapidly increasing at the thought someone could betray her so easily.


I found the plot in this story to be slow paced and the writing generally difficult to read, I feel a lot more could have been done at exploring the borderline mind, I feel the emphasis on Jims point of view in the first two chapters could have been removed completely, Focusing more on Ginny and her story, would have made the book more interesting and still resulted in a very similar plot, I also felt that the character development was weak and Ginnys backstory was briefly mentioned in chapter seven, I did not feel that invested in the characters even if I did partially empathise with Ginny, .