The Speaking Cure

by David Homel

A stunning drama of love and intrigue set against the backdrop of war in Yugoslavia, where power is used to manipulate and break people. I saw what the mural was all about. The entire war was portrayed on it from the asylum's point of view. The tanks with predatory smiles, the civilians naked with zippers up their middles so the soldiers could open them up and remove or implant whatever they wished, battle scenes that showed soldiers with wheels instead of feet, as if they were Trojan horses or children's pull-toys. "Who painted the wall?" I asked. "We all did." Dictatorship, politics and forbidden love -- welcome to Belgrade during the break-up of Yugoslavia, where anything can happen. That's why clinical psychologist Aleksandar Jovic is not overly surprised to find a government gorilla in a vinyl bomber jacket waiting in his study. The ominous messenger brings momentous news. Jovic, who is ferociously opposed to the war, is being requisitioned to oversee a state-run clinic that has been set up to treat traumatized soldiers who have fought on the front lines. What he learns from his patients -- including Soldier 13, the pro-Muslim commando, and Tania, the mysterious forensics expert whose services have also been hijacked by the Milosevic regime -- turns Jovic's world upside down. How war destroys and brutalizes its victims and its perpetrators, and how everyday people find normalcy in the midst of chaos, is the background for this thrilling story. But The Speaking Cure also reaches behind this shadowy place of conflict -- where the political and the personal constantly collide, and nothing is as it seems - to reveal essential truths about the nature of power and the mutability of reality.

Genres: Fiction, Military Fiction

330 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2003

About the author

David Homel was born and raised in Chicago in 1952. He has been a journalist, editor, literary translator, and teacher, and has won numerous awards for translation, including the Governor General’s Award for Literature, Canada’s highest literary honor.

He is the author of several novels, including The Speaking Cure, which won the J.I. Segal Award from the Jewish Public Library, and the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Best Fiction from the Quebec Writer's Federation. He has also written children's books, including Travels with my Family, which was co-authored with his wife, Canadian children's author Marie-Louise Gay. He has translated several French works, receiving two Governor General's Literary Awards for translation. Homel was born and raised in Chicago and currently resides in Montreal.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh… Didn't like that book at all. The synopsis looked interresting but the book definitely didn't live to it. Too many uninterresting and useless description. Picking up the book felt like a chore. The interactions between the characters were superficial and didn't seem real to me. The way the author portrays women annoyed me… I don't recommend at all.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book depicts citizens living normal, though repressed lives in wartime Belgrade, Yugoslavia during the Balkan war in the early 1990’s. It is a simple story, written about the everyday lives of people held captive in their own country, unable to discuss their true feelings with friends, because their friend might be an informer.
The war has made old friends into enemies: some of the college group are now generals or secret police. Ordinary citizens like Alekx, are caught up in the madness of a repressive regime. Alekx is a psychologist who has just been called to serve the military by managing a call-in centre for soldiers with PTSD or other psychological issues stemming from their military service. He suffers trauma himself when he discovers the lines are bugged and soldiers who call in are subsequently punished in some way by their superiors.
Tania is one of Alekx’s private patients. Her private terror is her job: as a forensic scientist she is required to interfere with dead bodies in mass graves so that it appears the “other side” killed them.
Nedic works for the bureaucracy, and meets Alekx when he is appointed to drive him to a mental hospital which has been bombed, has no power, and the patients must be dispersed. Alekx stays a few days with the patients, and decides they are better left in place.
Alekx’s wife Zlata is an alcoholic who takes release every evening from plum brandy, and Alekx is only too happy to drink with her. Both of them have affairs. They have a teenage son who is slowly dying of kidney failure, but no treatment is available in their country, and they cannot leave.
I enjoyed the book and the story therein, even though I never identified well with the characters. I feel a need to read this book through one more time to catch all the nuance. Alekx is a passive dissident, with more depth than one initially notices. There is a complexity to this book that requires a second and more thoughtful read.

[Irene Valentin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book at a second-hand bookstore, the cover and synopsis had me intrigued. I did get looped in with the first few chapters, especially since the author showed poetic characteristics here and there. However, about halfway through the book the entire story was a turn off. The main character cheating on his wife because he was too indulged in his work, then it all coming together peacefully at the end was boring. He suffered yes, but it was all too easy for the character to get away with things only for it to fall into his lap later. There was really no plot, no interesting ending, just another book I wanted to finish so it felt complete.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite a (really) slow start, there are some interesting moments and gems hidden in this novel. It's too long -- there's really no reason for most of the description and "action" in the grander scheme of what makes this book work. And what makes it work? Conversations, mainly -- especially between Alek and Nedic, which was the real saving emotional grace, for me. Other than their interactions, I felt almost universally detached from the characters and happenings. It's something about the writing, I think -- it borders on excessively verbose, and tends to read like it's trying too hard.

The third star comes squarely from the latter half -- namely, the very cool treatment of how totalitarian governments ban books and decimate their authors. I wouldn't recommend this for most people; it requires patience and it doesn't quite pay off, but if you have any interest in Eastern Europe and/or the 'sanity' of war times --- it might be up your alley. With an emotional/thematic shotgun it'll brandish but never actually use (alas).

[Sean Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate what the book offers readers and I was more than happy to jump at the chance to read something not about the Americans in World War II. However, something didn’t really click for me. The characters all had a bit of mystery to them, I understand that, but I felt a disconnect while reading. I didn’t seem to care what happened good or bad, because of that missing element.

My full review: http://inseansopinion.com/2010/05/26/...

[Tlaloc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is David Homel a psychologist in disguise? Because, truth be told, he builds this world with a master's touch, using both character, dialogue and enviroment to get his ideas across and under your skin with the precision of a surgeon.