The Storm at the Door
Release date: 2011 / 344 pages
Synopsis (from the publisher): …a 1960s couple whose lives unravel when Katherine, exasperated by her husband’s eccentricities and alcoholism, commits her husband to Mayflower Hospital, America’s leading psychiatric facility. There Frederick endures a place he calls Terrorland, realizing the longer he stays the less likely he will be released. Meanwhile, Katharine struggles to understand what she has done — and what she can do to save her family and marriage…
First Sentence: There is the house in the wilderness.
Review: This work is fascinating on a number of levels — the blend of fiction and autobiography, the distinctions between sanity and mental illness (or genius), the focus on the union of marriage. Block has written what his grandparents’ lives may have been like — alternating their perspectives with each section – but with his own voice present at times, too. Although the narratives unfold as if they represent the first hand daily events of each grandparent, Block does remind us occasionally that much of their stories involves invention and what he perceives their lives may have been.
However, although the perspectives seemed balanced at the beginning (and I loved how the sections were divided with the use of actual photographs of his grandparents), I felt as though his grandfather’s story began to dominate the book at some point. This may be because Block had often been told he looked like his grandfather and simply found his story more riveting as a male and as an exploration of sanity. Within his grandfather’s sections, Block also develops characters from the mental hospital — the doctor, nurses, and other patients — and I found myself getting impatient to return to his grandmother Katherine’s story.
Since I found the grandmother’s story more compelling, I would have preferred her voice to dominate and the spin-off character development to include the daughters, parents, and community members. Why? Perhaps because I am a woman and couldn’t help but imagine what Katherine’s life must have been like — raising four daughters without a husband or much emotional support from her family or community, during a time when mental illness was misunderstood and feared, wondering if she made the right decision to commit her husband in the first place. So, I would have preferred a bit less about the mental hospital — largely conjecture — and more about the author’s mother, sisters, and grandmother.
However, even when I was impatient with a section or character, I did find the structure and execution of The Storm at the Door intriguing and could imagine the labor of love it must have been for Block to write. There were times when Block’s use of language was exquisite, too, as when describing his grandfather’s experience of the world through the lens of manic depression: “This other Frederick, who navigated the world with a left hand’s crude and fumbling attempt to imitate the right hand’s dexterity.” Or when his grandmother contemplates having an affair: “Katherine knows Frederick has taken many other women, but she also knows that for her an affair would mean something entirely different. Frederick discarded women like scrap paper while brainstorming. Trying to rewrite himself, he wrote on them until inspiration dimmed, or another notion redirected his consideration.”
So, overall I do recommend this unique work of “creative nonfiction.” Interested in winning a free copy? Drop me a comment below and I will choose a lucky winner by the weekend!
This sounds interesting and different. I need something like this.
Thanks for the chance!
mj,coward[at]gmail.com
With this horrid disease in my family, I am so very interested in reading this book.
I would love to win this novel.
My Mom had Altzheimers for 15 years!!!
I am so scared it may hit me.
This sounds like an insightful, timely story. I’d love to win a copy!
Sounds like a great book. Please enter me in the free give away! Thanks…
Thanks for the interesting review. Please include me in this giveaway.
I’m very interested. Please include me!
you’re on a roll this week with intruiging sounding titles!
This sounds like a fascinating read! I’d love to win a copy.
I think this could be the book I “pitch” as a book group read next year. Thanks for the opportunity!
Kim D
Block’s novel “The Story of Forgetting” (about early-onset Alzheimer’s disease) was one of my favorite books selected for my book club in 2009 and I’ve been waiting for his next book to be released! Thank you for your review and I can’t wait to read “The Storm at the Door”
This is an important discussion book and combining the realities of autobiography with fiction is an interesting author’s device to share a story. Thanks for the giveaway–please enter my name.
Sounds like a great “Book Club” discussion selection.
Sounds like a book I could read in one sitting due to the intersting topic and characters.
Would love to read about something that runs in my family, thanks for the chance!
ruthiekb72ATyahooDOTcom
Sounds like a very interesting read about a subject that seems to invade so many lives.
I’m fascinated by this story since it draws from real life experiences.
Thanks for your review for the tour!
Frederick and Katharine’s story is captivating. The time Frederick spends in a mantal hospital is riveting, I’m sure but, for me, Katharine’s story is especially compelling…Making the decision to commit your husband to a mental institution and then having raising your 4 children without much emotional or family support is tough. It sounds, too, like Block wrote this book with an interesting, occasionally confusing structure but one that lends itself to his grandparent’s story.
Thank you for a wonderful review! I would like to be entered into your giveaway for this fascinating book!
Aimala127(at)gmail(dot)com
Sounds like a good book
I’m sorry everyone! In my triple review week, I’m afraid I mixed up a few details — like the first sentence and plot synopsis! But I have not rectified this… The novel is not about Alzheimer’s though! Sorry
Count me in on the giveaway! Sounds very intriguing! Thanks!
Wow! This book sounds really interesting. This is such a tragic disease that affects so many families. I look forward to reading your book!
I’d love to read this!
This book sounds so much fun and a great read. I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
This sounds like a great book – I enjoy reading stories that are told in different characters points of view. It’s amazing to see the different spins on the same events.
Thanks for the giveaway!
This one sounds really fascinating! Please count me in. Thank you!
nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com
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