Grim Tuesday (The Keys to the Kingdom, Book 2)

#133
Title: Grim Tuesday (The Keys to the Kingdom, Book 2)
Author: Garth Nix
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2004
Genre: children's/young adult, fantasy & science fiction
336 pages 

I so like Garth Nix. He creates genuinely interesting worlds and dilemmas and his characters, even when sparingly drawn, variously evoke empathy, interest, fear, admiration, and other emotions. This second installment begins as poor Arthur, exhausted by his Monday encounters, is quickly drawn back into a conflict with (and on) Tuesday. Perhaps the best way to read the series would be one a day for a week, in order that the reader identify even more closely with Arthur's desperation for a little down time. With this second book, the terms of the overall story arc seem to be established, so the reader can focus instead on the quality of Arthur's character. As in the Seventh Tower series, the young male protagonist gropes to understand a strange new world and his significant role in it. Arthur is much less churlish and more open to new experiences than is that series's protagonist Tal; it remains to be seen whether this renders him ultimately less interesting.

The Last Time I Wore a Dress

#132
Title: The Last Time I Wore a Dress
Author: Daphne Scholinski & Jane Meredith Adams
Publisher: Riverhead
Year: 1997
Genre: Memoir, LGBTQ, psychology
211 pages

It's hard to know how to review this memoir. When it first came out, I remember deciding not to buy it after reading a shelf tag at a feminist bookstore. That tag said that there was contention between staff members because some of them apparently knew the author and believed that she was representing her experiences in a way that differed from how they remembered events unfolding.

Finally reading it around 10 years later, I find myself with many questions as well. I don't want to doubt Scholinski's narrative, but I found myself doing so repeatedly. I'm well aware that psychiatry, psychology, and social work can be used oppressively, especially to people who are seen as socially deviant. I know that the depathologizing of homosexuality (and its removal from the DSM) took far longer than the 1973 declaration by the American Medical Association. Indeed, like Scholinski, I was on the receiving end of well-intentioned but pathologizing interventions. I don't doubt that her presentation of self along gender lines evoked a negative response from at least some professionals. Yet of the many books and articles I've read and conversations I've had with people about the abuse of power in psychiatric settings, Scholinki's is one that does not ring entirely true. I should qualify that by saying that so far as it goes, I imagine that it is a reasonably accurate representation of what she thought and felt. I don't have the impression that the people around her would tell the story in a similar way. I don't think that this is because they were entirely dismissive and oppressive, but because Scholinski does not seem to recognize her own antisocial behavior. Being queer and oppressed does not mean that a person is not also cruel and difficult to be with.

I don't think that Scholinski is particularly truthful with either the reader or herself. The picture that emerges from her self-portrait is that she was a mean, impulsive, conduct disordered child and adolescent who also was lesbian or trans. I do doubt that she would be kept in treatment for so long as a youth in her era simply in order to force her to wear makeup and dresses. She appears to fight treatment and express a great deal of disdain for it, while also berating her treatment teams for not adequately treating her. She lies and then is contemptuous that her lies are believed, yet if she is challenged or disbelieved, she is also angry. Like Wurtzel (Prozac Nation, interestingly also published by Riverhead), she externalizes most of the responsibility for her actions while fiercely contesting any threat to her autonomy. Yes, her family was chaotic and contributed to her difficulties. Yes, it seems very possible that some or much of her care was inadequate and damaging. However, every time she was held accountable for her egregiously bad behavior, I identified more with the people around her than with her. Where Noah Levine (Dharma Punx) ultimately claims his part in how he alienates and exploits others, I don't see a corresponding degree of self-awareness in Scholinski's report. That she seems to think that she was being treated primarily for not conforming to gender expectations is, to my mind, evidence of how disconnected she was from her own behaviors. For many reviewers, Scholinski is a heroic figure. To me, she is an unreliable narrator more akin to James Frey.

At some point since writing this book, Daphne has become Dylan. Leaving aside the question of whether Gender Identity ought to be a DSM disorder, it interests me that Scholinski was so admant that the use of a GID diagnosis was such an outrageous act of misunderstanding. It seems it might have been true.

Mister Monday (The Keys to the Kingdom, Book

#131
Title: Mister Monday (The Keys to the Kingdom, Book 1)
Author: Garth Nix
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2003
Genre: children's/young adult, fantasy & science fiction
361 pages

The first in a series, and like Nix's Seventh Tower books, intended for a younger reader than his Abhorsen trilogy. The Keys to the Kingdom slides even further into pure fantasy, which often is not to my taste. I find fantasy often to be illogical and picaresque, and to rely heavily on deus ex machina strategies, especially when it is written for young adults. This creates a passive reading experience, since the reader cannot anticipate or predict any events or outcomes. When fantasy is well-written, the author articulates the internal logic of the world and the reader, like the protagonist, can learn the world's rules and engage more actively with the narrative. I do not yet know which direction this series will take, though by the end of this first volume some of the possible courses seem clear. The conceit is that our hero, the asthmatic 7th grader Arthur Penhaligon, will interact successively with the personages who bear the sequential names/titles of the days of the week, ultimately (and not without some twists and turns) saving all of humanity and beyond through compassion and empathy, which is pretty good for a middle schooler. How much internal coherence this tale has, and the extent to which the reader can participate rather than simply receive the story, is yet to be determined.

As always, Nix does a terrific job of worldbuilding and integrates both mythic and historic elements that are fun for adult readers to spot even if younger readers miss them. Some aspects of the set-up may remind readers of Robert Charles Wilson's Darwinia. For what it's worth, "Penhaligon" is an old British place name as well as surname, and means something like "Willow Top" or "Willow Hill."

A Thorn in My Pocket: Temple Grandin's Mother Tells the Family Story

#130
Title: A Thorn in My Pocket: Temple Grandin's Mother Tells the Family Story
Author: Eustacia Cutler
Publisher: Future Horizons
Year: 2004
Genre: memoir, psychology
240 pages

A memoir by the mother of Temple Grandin (author of Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from My Life with Autism among other notable works). There is a major focus on Cutler's life as the mother of an autistic child, as compared to a close third-person narrative about the autistic child herself, as in Clara Claiborn Park's Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter's Life with Autism). The title is something of a misnomer. Cutler explains in her introduction that her other three children did not want to be included; Temple's father, while described in some detail, does not have his own say. Thus the narrative is somewhat lopsided and not, in fact, the family story as promised. These omissions may explain why some reviewers are critical of this work, a critique that seems justified. Others seem disappointed that Cutler has not provided a "how to" guide detailing what she did that caused Dr. Grandin to function so well as an adult despite her autism. These latter reviewers seem to me to miss two important points. First, there is no single, validated way to ensure that any child achieves its maximum potential. This is especially true with a spectrum disorder such as autism, which probably is not a unified entity but rather a collection of syndromes with multiple etiologies that have overlapping expressions. Second, Cutler's narrative in fact goes into great detail about what she does as a parent. The Grandins were a privileged family with many resources, and Cutler was able to hire helpers, teachers, and consultants; advocate for flexibility in Temple's education and other activities; and keep her deinstitutionalized. Some readers may not find this a satisfactory response, but one of the major ways that her mother was able to assist Temple was by having the money to hire specialists. The second "how to" that Cutler exemplifies particularly well, and which bears emulating by other parents, is that she insisted on having her own life and identity as well as her role as Temple's mother. This is a difficult balance for any parent of a child with extraordinary needs, and Cutler gradually was able to enact it (again, money helps). The sections of the book where she described her own interests and development were the most interesting to me, especially as they interwove with the narrative of raising Temple.

Though I understand the impetus, Cutler may have missed the opportunity for better editing by publishing with Future Horizons, an autism publishing house. A mainstream publisher might have helped her structure this memoir a little more efficiently. As it stands, Temple Grandin's books actually cohere somewhat better than her mother's memoir.

When Asia Was the World

#129
Title: When Asia Was the World
Author: Stewart Gordon
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Year: 2007
Genre: History, Asia
228 pages

An enjoyable and easy to read overview of aspects of Asia's infrastructure, particularly as related to travel, trade, and customs, from about 500-1500 CE. The first 9 chapters (with one exception) follow a similar format, with material from a traveler's memoir used as a starting point for Gordon's elaboration about the era and circumstances in which each writer lived. The 10th chapter provides a useful summary and brings in slightly more theoretical material from social network theory. Gordon provides good end notes and an interesting bibliography. My only complaint is the lack of women's voices. While I recognize that there may not have been memoirs by women that met Gordon's purposes, this should be named in the introduction or concluding chapter. Otherwise one is left with a vision of the expansiveness of men's opportunities with no balance of descriptions of women's restricted possibilities in the period covered. Women's lack of access to larger social networks because of their lack of status seems important to name, and Gordon does not do so. Women lurk at the edges of this narrative as wives (both cherished and deserted), daughters, and prostitutes. There is no entry under "women" in the index. The omission of even a contextualizing note mars Gordon's otherwise very enjoyable and interesting work.

My Lobotomy: A Memoir

#128
Title: My Lobotomy: A Memoir
Author: Howard Dully with Charles Fleming
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Year: 2007
Genre:  Memoir, medical, psychology
272  pages

Like countless others, I heard Howard Dully's My Lobotomy on NPR in November, 2005. This was the second time I've ever stayed in the car when I got home or pulled to the side of the road to finish listening to a program. (Notably, the other piece, Remorse: The 14 Stories of Eric Morse was also produced by David Isay and aired on NPR.) In only 22 minutes, Dully described his complex and difficult childhood relationship with his stepmother and father, his stepmother's decision to have him lobotomized by Walter Freeman, the pioneer and zealous advocate the "icepick lobotomy," and his attempt to understand what had happened to him from the vantage of about 40 years later. While the producers did a masterful job, much of the emotional impact of the piece derives from Howard's narration.

I am a psychologist, and teach in a department that trains interventionists and therapists from the bachelor's to doctoral level. I have my students listen to Dully's NPR piece every year. In the lesson I ask, "What current practices in your profession will cause you shame and anguish 20 years from now? What will you be referring to when you have to say, 'I don't know what we were thinking'?" My students are always moved and horrified by Howard's experiences and determined to ask questions and raise concerns about professional acts that may be more dubious or dangerous than they appear.

Dully has now published a fuller account of his experiences. I will be sharing an excerpt with students this term and will add it to the books I assign in future classes. Dully's narration is simple and calm. At times there is repetition, and at times it is a straignhtforward accounting of events--I did this, this happened, this happened. Since the tone is conversational, I did not think this detracted from the overall experience of the book. I suggest listening to the NPR piece first so you can hear the book in Dully's voice.

Dully's account of his childhood and post-lobotomy adolescence and early adulthood is fascinating and raises the complexity of his story considerably. What was he really like as a child? Were there good reasons to think he was schizophrenic, or was he badly misdiagnosed? What would he have been like in a different family constellation? How would a similar child be treated today? Are any radical psychiatric interventions justifiable with children? It's impossible to answer these questions, of course, but it is interesting to compare Dully's origins and outcomes to Noah Levine's as recounted in Dharma Punx, or Jeanette Walls's in The Glass Castle.

I'm very grateful to Howard Dully for telling his story of a chapter of U.S. psychiatric history that is often downplayed, not fully explored, or simply missing in contemporary psychology education. I hope this book brings him even greater recognition and regard for his willingness to describe such a difficult life.

My Book

from: howarddully
date: Jan. 11th, 2008 02:34 pm (UTC)

Thank you for posting my book on here.

Howard

 

 

***

Hi, Howard. I'll have my comments posted within a few days. Thanks for visiting my site. 

Dharma Punx: A Memoir

#127
Title: Dharma Punx: A Memoir
Author: Noah Levine
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2003
Genre:  Memoir, Asia, Religion
263 pages

Noah Levine (son of author and spiritual teacher Stephen Levine) describes his chaotic childhood and journey toward moderation and purpose. Crime and drugs are liberally intermixed with Noah's discovery of and deep identification with punk. After much alienation, anger, and despair, he recounts gradually moving to a primarily Buddhist perspective, incorporating spiritual practice into his life, and reintegrating himself internally and in his community and intimate relationships.

As I understood it, the book's promise was to describe the integration of the punk ethos with Buddhism, but this was discussed only superficially. Why punk was meaningful to Noah and how he saw (and sees) himself as a punk in relation to society and culture is named but not well-articulated. To put it another way, it's told but not adequately shown, so it remains an assertion rather than something the reader can really engage with. Similarly, there are many points of convergence between punk and Buddhism, and Noah names some (e.g., seeing much of life as illusory), but without exploring them or identifying points of divergence as well.

Nonetheless, the book is interesting and sometimes moving. It provides a terrific contrast to something like Eat, Love, Pray's vapid spiritual tourism that so easily removes itself from the context of the people who populate the country in which one's resort-like retreat is situated.

The "dharma punx" of  the title appears to refer to a group that Noah leads, but this is never made particularly explicit. I'd have liked to know more.

Bangkok 8

 
#126
Title: Bangkok 8
Author: John Burdett
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 2003
Genre: Mystery, Southeast Asia
336 pages

This is the first of three currently available mysteries whose protagonist is Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a half-white, Buddhist Thai detective with a bar girl mother. Most of the action takes place in Bangkok.

What's most enjoyable about this mystery is how the narrator sees and describes the world from a cultural perspective that is likely to be very different from the Western reader's construct. This is highlighted by his interactions with the FBI agent assigned to work with him. Their assumptions frequently clash, not just around the case, but in terms of how each of them lives, their values, and their perceptions of the right course of action.

At times the action bogs down and there are several points of plot confusion. The ending is not credible and elides over many difficulties in a way that does not seem true to the characters. The basic plot, however, is interesting and enjoyable, and the book's atmosphere can't be beat.