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The Law of Similars

by Chris Bohjalian (Goodreads Author)

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 3,817 ratings · 293 reviews

" The Law of Similars is fast-paced and absorbing. Few writers can manipulate a plot with Bohjalian's grace and power."-The New York Times Book Review

From the number one bestselling author of Midwives comes this riveting medical thriller about a lawyer, a homeopath, and a tragic death.When one of homeopath Carissa Lake's patients falls into an allergy-induced coma, possibl...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published March 14th 2000 by Vintage (first published December 29th 1998)

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Sep 08, 2011 Rose rated it 4 of 5 stars

Chris Bohjalian's great talent is to bring his readers into the lives of ordinary people at the moment that those lives begin to unravel. With great compassion and suspense, he demonstrates the struggles that ensue. You embrace every character in their very human nature.

In THE LAW OF SIMILARS he introduces you to yet another moral dilemma; alternative medicine, specifically, homeopathy. How much are we responsible for our own decisions for our health? When things go wrong how far will we go to...more

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 10, 2007 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

For years, people I trust have been telling me to read Chris Bohjalian. Now that I've finally gotten around to it, I'm sorry I waited so long. This is the best kind of "gripping tale" that book jacket copy is always promising us. It's a thriller, but not a sensational one. These are ordinary people in ordinary circumstances -- no government conspiracies or serial killers to plump up the plot. It's just a convincingly complicated tale about bad decisions compounded by lust, loneliness and despera...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Kendra rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is very similar to Midwives (written by the same author) and I enjoyed it about the same. Leland narrates as he shares the story of a month that changed his life. Leland’s wife died in a car accident and left him with a baby daughter. A few years after his wife’s death, Leland meets Carissa Lake, a homeopath. Leland falls head over heels in a very short period of time…but at the same moment Leland is feeling blissfully happy, horror is happening within another family also involved with...more

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Mar 21, 2009 Diane rated it 3 of 5 stars

After reading Double Bind, I wanted to read another book by Chris Bohjalian. I was a little disappointed in the ending but the story was interesting. It was the story of a lonely man and a homeopath. He made some surprising decisions trying to find love.

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Nov 21, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Set in Vermont, this story has homeopathy as a main subject. Leland Fowler is a state prosecutor for Vermont and a single father. Two years ago, his wife Elizabeth was killed in a car accident and he is very close to his 4-year-old daughter Abby. For the last several months Leland has been fighting a cold that never seems to let go. He has tried any number of remedies and seen his doctor, but nothing works. In the local health food store, a clerk recommends her aunt, a homeopath. Leland Fowler g...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Bonnie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I really enjoyed this book. I started hearing lots of great things about this author and so I picked up every one of his books that the library had. First of all, his writing is right up my alley: rich and memorable, without being pretentious or overly flowery. The story itself was pretty magnificent too. A widowed attorney (state prosecutor) with a young daughter finds himself newly enamored with both the idea of homeopathy and the local homeopath. They have a brief romantic relationship and th...more

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May 09, 2010 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was introduced to Chris Bohjalian’s writing through my mom, who read his book, Midwives, when it was hot on Oprah’s Book Club list and who later recommended that I read it (but not until after I’d already delivered my first child). Several years later I read another of his books and enjoyed it as much as the first, but it’s taken me another year to read another. This third book piqued my interest because it deals with the science of homeopathy, a healing art that I briefly researched in colleg...more I was introduced to Chris Bohjalian’s writing through my mom, who read his book, Midwives, when it was hot on Oprah’s Book Club list and who later recommended that I read it (but not until after I’d already delivered my first child). Several years later I read another of his books and enjoyed it as much as the first, but it’s taken me another year to read another. This third book piqued my interest because it deals with the science of homeopathy, a healing art that I briefly researched in college and have maintained an interest in ever since.

I enjoyed this book, if more for the storyline and its believability than for the writing. This is the story of a mid-30s widowed father and public attorney in Vermont who comes down with a cold that lasts for well over six months, and for which he desperately turns to a local homeopath for a cure. What follows is the story of how his experience with homeopathy varies so widely from another man’s experience and interpretation of how homeopathy heals on the principle that “like cures like”, and the aftermath of allowing himself to fall in love for the first time since his wife died.

What distracted me from the story was Bohjalian’s repeated use of the phrase, “And so”. He not only uses this two-word combination in the middle of his sentences, but also when beginning sentences and paragraphs, and with a frequency that made me cringe every time I saw it written yet again. I’m probably only sensitive to this because I tend to use that phrase to begin my own sentences in my own writing, but the difference between us is that I write casual and widely unread blog posts, and this is a novel in which more formal writing is called for and is deserved. If I hadn’t read other, better formed, works by Bohjalian this detail alone might have turned me off of reading anything else by him, and I believe that he has since corrected this issue, given that this book was published over a decade ago.

Don’t let my editorial criticism of this small detail keep you from reading this book, though. If you’ve read and enjoyed any of Jodi Picoult’s works, it’s likely that you’ll also enjoy books by Bohjalian, as they cover many of the same legal/medical parameters that she often centers her books around
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Mar 10, 2010 William Au rated it 5 of 5 stars

"The Law of Similars" is an astonishing novel about the hardships Leland Fowler faces when he loses his wife in a car crash, leaving him with grief and his young daughter.

The most pleasurable aspect of this book is definitely the character development of Leland. Chris Bohjalian develops Leland's character very uniquely by using Leland himself; everything he does and thinks constantly revealing more to Leland's character throughout the entire book. "I raise my daughter. I go to work. And thoug...more "The Law of Similars" is an astonishing novel about the hardships Leland Fowler faces when he loses his wife in a car crash, leaving him with grief and his young daughter.

The most pleasurable aspect of this book is definitely the character development of Leland. Chris Bohjalian develops Leland's character very uniquely by using Leland himself; everything he does and thinks constantly revealing more to Leland's character throughout the entire book. "I raise my daughter. I go to work. And though some days it is very hard, I try not to live for the future. And I try not to dream of the past"(Bohjalian, 330), is what Leland says resolutely after going through every emotion possible such as grief, despair, infatuation, it really shows how his character evolves after many life experiences and it becomes something everyone can relate to which makes this one of the most enjoyable element of the novel.

An intriguing aspect of the book would be the use of homeopathy. Like cures like, the law of similars which is the basis of homeopathy, the same method of treatment Carissa Lake use to cure Leland’s cold and sore throat. The intriguing part of homeopathy is that the cure didn’t only help his cold, but it had given him a boost of confidence. This allowed Chris Bohjalian to use the effects of homeopathy as a catalyst for romance as Leland’s new found courage became the starting point with his relationship with Carissa Lake. Using the combination of love and non-traditional medicine, Chris cunningly turns Leland's frown upside down and allows us to look past all the grief and despair of Leland’s character, the other side to him.

I strongly recommend this book especially if you enjoyed reading Chris Bohjalian’s other novel “Midwives.” The two novels written by Chris may seem very similar including the unfortunate deaths leading on to legal trouble but it is extraordinarily different as each person reacts differently even in the same situation. I see the different reactions as Chris Bohjalian’s intention as he writes amazing books about people in difficult situations.
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Jun 28, 2010 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Most books have a main character who is good and who does good things throughout the book. Bohjalian's book, "The Law of Similars" is a bit like watching a train wreck as the reader morbidly watches a very sympathetic main character risk disassembling his life and career before our eyes. Leland Fowler is an assistant state attorney whose wife was killed in a tragic car accident two years before. He bravely continues, working as a single father to raise his daughter, and to do good work in the st...more

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Apr 23, 2011 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love Chris Bohjalian's books and have decided I'm going to read all his stuff (I love discovering authors like this!) and this one was quite good, although definitely not my favorite of his (it'll be tough to top "Midwives"). I just find his writing very compelling, gripping, and I generally like his topics (medical/legal mysteries, but very character-driven--and I love all the Vermont settings).

This one had all of that (compelling writing and interesting characters) but I found the ending kin...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 19, 2011 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars

Probably I would not have picked up this book had my Book Group not been reading and discussing it later in the week. I looked at the 320 pages, and wondered if I could plod my way through it by Wednesday. But then I started reading, and literally could not put it down. Leyland and Carissa became real. Despite the fact that I got a bit irritated with them at times - after all, Leyland is a bit of a hypochondriac and Carissa can be a little intense. But I lived their tale and here in sunny Florid...more

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Nov 16, 2010 Badly Drawn Girl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Chris Bohjalian has become my favorite contemporary author and this book is an excellent example of his talent. I actually started this over a year ago and couldn't get into it. Thankfully, I kept it on my to-read shelf and gave it another chance. Whatever tripped me up the first read through was missing this time... I was immediately sucked in. I thought the character of Leland was brilliant, in all his flawed ways. This is a character being allowed to show off all sides of his personality, and...more

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Aug 26, 2009 Shelly rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I don't recommend this to anyone. This book reminded me of reading the train wreck that was The House of Sand and Fog. Lots of people making a lot of stupid decisions. People being entirely selfish. Not a single character you can actually admire or respect. I don't think this book has a single redeeming feature. It is awfully similar to Midwives (in terms of general plot), and I wonder if the author was just trying to borrow from the successes of that book.

I enjoyed Midwives, and I'd feel okay...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Marie Theron added it

One cannot put this novel in the same class as the excellent Midwives by the same author. There is almost no tension and everything is predictable.

Homeopathic medicine is not sacrosanct, we use it all the time and can buy it readily, and I cannot imagine a homeopath hiding 'the cure' or withholding it. It is really sad that the Richard character was banned from having more of the so-called 'cure', and driven to his tragic self-experimenting. He was keen for a breakthrough and Carissa fobbed him...more

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Jul 08, 2007 Lianne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Interesting story about a lawyer who falls in love with a homeopath. One of the homeopath's patients falls into a coma and eventually dies. The back cover describes it as a thriller, but I see it more as a story of ethics, relationships, and responsibility.

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 24, 2012 Doug rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 23, 2008 Ariel rated it 4 of 5 stars

For about the first 20-30 pages, I was not feeling this period story of a young Prussian girl, Anna Emmerich, and her family in the 1945, end-of-the-Reich world. However, the story blossomed through its multiple characters and storylines: it follows Callum, a Scottish POW who lives with the Emmerichs; Uri Singer, a Jew who escaped from a cattle car to impersonate members of the SS to survive; and Cecile, a French Jewish woman who endures concentration camps. Long ago, I thought I was done with m...more

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Feb 11, 2011 Karen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: botns-rec

I thought the premise and plot idea for this book was really intriguing and had a lot of promise. But in the end, it just didn't deliver for me. The introduction of Richard Emmons earlier in the story was choppy and not at all fluid. There was much jumping back and forth but the transitions weren't handled well.

The idea of a homeopath dating a state's attorney who then finds herself potentially libel for a patient's negative reaction and complicating her relationship with the attorney was very...more

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Dec 10, 2009 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have been home not feeling well this week and enjoying lots of reading! This is another Chris Bohjalian (dos anyone know how to say that last name!) novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. It kept me reading with hints of things to come, so I finished it quickly.

This author has a definite way of bringing you into the characters and story right away. I had read Midwives recently and this one also set in Vermont with homeopathic medicine at the center in place of midwives. Very interesting. The main c...more

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Feb 15, 2013 bonny rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I'm not an expert on homeopathy, but I suspect the author isn't either. This story is told in a disjointed way, with many details missing. The reader is required to believe that a good father, lawyer, prosecutor, and person would suddenly decide to go against all that he knows is right by destroying evidence and living a lie in all aspects of his life. I couldn't believe that Leland would do this, and couldn't understand his reasons for doing it. Carissa Lake was an irresponsible homeopath, but...more

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Mar 28, 2009 Edith rated it 3 of 5 stars

I listened to this on tape on a couple of my drives to PA to pick up Faith. I found that the way I best connect with a book, though, is to actually read the words on the page. So I read most of it as well as listened to it. This book had shades of Bohjalian's other book "Midwives" in that it involved a medical situation. I found the main character less than attractive,though; parts of him annoyed me. It might have had something to do with the reader on the tape, but I felt him to be on the wimpy...more

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Mar 03, 2009 SteffieStar rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: chris-bohjalian

Chris Bohjalian...I am Leland, I hear, feel, taste & understand his dreams & wants! You so have a special GIFT with words my Friend!

I've always been interested in homeopathic medicine, your story helped me understand the Law of Similars. Let likes be treated by likes.

The curative virtue of medicines thus depends on their sysmptoms being similar to those of the disease, but the stronger.

It follows that...disease can be destroyed and removed most surely, throughly, swiftly and permanently...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Brandy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: law, relationships, illness, medical

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

1 like · like · see review

Jan 12, 2010 Sheela rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: yes

Recommended to Sheela by: Carolyn Vallieres

Normally I do not read books like this but I needed a book and this one just stood out. As I was reading this I kept thinking that this would make a great movie - or an episode of Law & Order if they wanted to make it more about the courtroom drama end of it (although they never quite made it to the courtroom).

You really felt for the main character and wanted him to meet someone after his wife died and when he did...you were saddened by how it ended up.

If you are looking for a quick read bec...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Nea Antoinette rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is well written, but I'm giving only 3 stars because it took a bit longer than I'd like to build to the "good stuff." My personal taste in books is to get a really good taste of the impending climax before I'm in the final one-fifth of the book. Until very close to the end, there was a lot more focus on the love story aspect (which is quite good actually) than on the huge conflict that tugged on my heart strings and left me aching to read the next paragraph.

I'd certainly read a Chris...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, favorite-author

Chris Bohjalian's books take two or three issues that people tend to have strong opinions about, and somehow make them all come together into one cohesive novel where the issues are not the stars of the story and no bias on the author's part is revealed. The reader is not asked to form a decisive stance on the issues, and the book does not lay the controversies of the issues to rest. The issues are there without being introduced, and the story line does not focus on them, but rather weaves throu...more

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Aug 11, 2010 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first Chris Bohjelian book I ever read was Midwives, in 1997. It's the story of a well-trained modern midwife who performs and emergency cesarean section on a woman she believes has died of a stroke during childbirth. But what if the woman she thought was dead wasn't, and she herself caused the fatal injury? The novel examines the debate over alternative medicine through a gripping personal account of tragedy. I devoured this book, and developed an instant love for the author. I would have r...more The first Chris Bohjelian book I ever read was Midwives, in 1997. It's the story of a well-trained modern midwife who performs and emergency cesarean section on a woman she believes has died of a stroke during childbirth. But what if the woman she thought was dead wasn't, and she herself caused the fatal injury? The novel examines the debate over alternative medicine through a gripping personal account of tragedy. I devoured this book, and developed an instant love for the author. I would have read the phone book if he wrote it!

Fast forward a few years and I am thrilled to find a copy of Bohjelian's The Law of Similars on GoodReads. By this point I've read several of Bohjelian's books, and loved each and every one. The Law of Similars was sure to be another home run for Bohjelian, as far as I was concerned. I didn't even know the plot line, but it didn't matter-I wanted it!

Well, here's what it's about. The patient of a homeopath named Carissa Lake dies after eating a nut to which he knew he was allergic. His wife believes that Carissa told him to do it, and she tries to get the District Attorney's office to file murder charges against Lake. An assistant DA, Leland Fowler, widower and single father, is first assigned to hear the story from the dead man's wife, but there is a problem. He's been seeing Carissa Lake-both as a homeopathy patient and as a date. His feelings for her cause an ethical dilemma that will challenge everything.

Alternative medicine? Patient dies? Malpractice? Sound familiar?

Apparently, there is a belief in homeopathy that taking a small amount of something that causes the same symptoms you have will actually make the symptoms stop by jump starting your body's own healing processes. It's called the law of similars-and provided a very apt title for this book. I was stunned that the story was so similar to Midwives. I've read books by this author on transgenderism, foster parenting, gun control, and sexual assault. Bohjelian is not a one trick pony, telling only one story over and over again. What happened here? And The Law of Similars, published in 1999, wasn't even written that long after Midwives. If I thought the two stories were pretty much the same after 13 years, surely after only two years the author himself must have noticed what was happening.

I will say, the book itself was interesting and well-written, as always. Bohjelian's characters are always so well-written. Even when I don't agree with their motives I find myself understanding their perspective. I learned a lot about homeopathy from this novel, and while I'm still not sure how I feel about it at least I have some insight into the underlying philosophy. Leland's character especially moved me-a single father who lost his wife to a car accident, the scenes with his daughter were so tender, and the fact that he was so obviously at a loss about how to move on from the tragedy made him imminently sympathetic. I can't say that I dislike the book-I devoured it just like Bohjelian's other books-but why two books with such similar topics? I suppose only he can answer that question.(less)

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Feb 01, 2008 Betelle rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Book clubs

Recommended to Betelle by: Bohjalian fan

Here is another of Bohjalians' page turners. Again the setting is New England(Vermont) ...a close community. It is the story of the downfall of widowed Leland, a state prosecuter, and his four year old daughter who after developing a relationship with Carissa, the town homeopath, become involved in a malpractice struggle between Carissa and a deceased patient. The plot captured me and as I neared the end of the book, I ran over in my mind all the possible endings...none which brought me satisfac...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Kristy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoy Chris Bohjalian's books. He really captures the typical flawed human being. I will say that I wanted to yell at the characters a couple of times. Holy Moly do they make some stupid decisions! Leland is raising his daughter after the death of his wife. A couple of years later, while looking for a cure for what ailed him, he gets caught up with a homeopath. She soon gets involved in some legal trouble and Leland, an attorney, is stuck in the middle. I will say that I was somewhat pleased w...more

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Jan 04, 2009 Jessica rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was okay. Not much compared to Midwives, which was fantastic. I kept thinking what a dumb schmuck this guy was-- I couldn't help it. And I didn't particularly care for or sympathize with the psychologist/homeopath either. Perhaps that is what Bohjalian wants from us-- our own irritation with the characters for engaging in a relationship that shouldn't have started in the first place. It was hard to get on anyone's side whose judgment I questioned from the get-go.

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About Chris Bohjalian

Chris Bohjalian is the author of sixteen books, including The Light in the Ruins, arriving July 9, 2013 from Doubleday. Set in Florence and rural Tuscany between 1943 and 1955, it began as a re-imaginging of "Romeo and Juliet."

His other books include the New York Times bestsellers, The Sandcastle Girls, The Night Strangers, Secrets of Eden, Skeletons at the Feast, The Double Bind, Before Your Know...more Chris Bohjalian is the author of sixteen books, including The Light in the Ruins, arriving July 9, 2013 from Doubleday. Set in Florence and rural Tuscany between 1943 and 1955, it began as a re-imaginging of "Romeo and Juliet."

His other books include the New York Times bestsellers, The Sandcastle Girls, The Night Strangers, Secrets of Eden, Skeletons at the Feast, The Double Bind, Before Your Know Kindness, and Midwives.

He has called The Sandcastle Girls the most important book he will ever write. Published in July 2012 to great acclaim, this story of the Armenian Genocide debuted at #7 on the New York Times bestseller list, and appeared as well on the Publishers’ Weekly, USA Today, and national Independent Bookstore bestseller lists.

USA Today called it “stirring. . .a deeply moving story of survival and enduring love.” Entertainment Weekly observed, “Bohjalian – the grandson of Armenian survivors – pours passion, pride, and sadness into his tale of ethnic destruction and endurance.” And the Washington Post concluded that the novel was “intense. . .staggering. . .and utterly riveting.” The Sandcastle Girls was also an Oprah.com Book of the Week.

It was also a Washington Post, Library Journal, a Kirkus Reviews, and a BookPage "Best Book" of 2012.

Chris's awards include the ANCA Arts and Letters Award for The Sandcastle Girls, as well as the Saint Mesrob Mashdots Medal; the New England Society Book Award for The Night Strangers; the New England Book Award; a Boston Public Library Literary Light; and the Anahid Literary Award. His novel, Midwives, was a number one New York Times bestseller, a selection of Oprah's Book Club, and a New England Booksellers Association Discovery pick. His earlier novels have been selected as "Best Books of the Year" by the Washington Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Hartford Courant, Publishers' Weekly, and Salon. His work had been translated into over 25 languages and three times become movies (Secrets of Eden, Midwives, and Past the Bleachers).

He has written for a wide variety of magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest, and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and has been a columnist for Gannett's Burlington Free Press since 1992. Chris graduated from Amherst College, and lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.

You can learn more about him on the Q and A on www.chrisbohjalian.com, as well as on Facebook . And, if you like, follow him on twitter as well.(less)

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