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The Storm at the Door
The past is not past for Katharine Merrill. Even after two decades of volatile marriage, Katharine still believes she can have the life that she felt promised to her by those first exhilarating days with her husband, Frederick. For two months, just before Frederick left to fight in World War II, Katharine received his total attentiveness, his limitless charms, his astonishing range of intellect and wit. Over the years, however, as Frederick’s behavior and moods have darkened, Katharine has covered for him, trying to rein in his great manic passions and bridge his deep wells of an unending project of keeping up appearances and hoping for the best. But the project is failing. Increasingly, Frederick’s erratic behavior, amplified by alcohol, distresses Katharine and their four daughters and gives his friends and family cause to worry for his sanity. When, in the summer of 1962, a cocktail party ends with her husband in handcuffs, Katharine makes a fateful She commits Frederick to Mayflower Home, America’s most revered mental asylum.
There, on the grounds of the opulent hospital populated by great poets, intellectuals, and madmen, Frederick tries to transform his incarceration into a creative exercise, to take each meaningless passing moment and find the art within it. But as he lies on his room’s single mattress, Frederick wonders how he ever managed to be all that he once a father, a husband, a business executive. Under the faltering guidance of a self-obsessed psychiatrist, Frederick and his fellow patients must try to navigate their way through a gray zone of depression, addiction, and insanity.
Meanwhile, as she struggles to raise four young daughters, Katharine tries to find her way back to Frederick through her own ambiguities, delusions, and the damages done by her rose-colored belief in a life she no longer lives.
Inspired by elements of the lives of the author’s grandparents, this haunting love story shifts through time and reaches across generations. Along the way, Stefan Merrill Block stunningly illuminates an age-old even if one’s daily life appears ordinary, one can still wage a silent, secret, extraordinary war.
There, on the grounds of the opulent hospital populated by great poets, intellectuals, and madmen, Frederick tries to transform his incarceration into a creative exercise, to take each meaningless passing moment and find the art within it. But as he lies on his room’s single mattress, Frederick wonders how he ever managed to be all that he once a father, a husband, a business executive. Under the faltering guidance of a self-obsessed psychiatrist, Frederick and his fellow patients must try to navigate their way through a gray zone of depression, addiction, and insanity.
Meanwhile, as she struggles to raise four young daughters, Katharine tries to find her way back to Frederick through her own ambiguities, delusions, and the damages done by her rose-colored belief in a life she no longer lives.
Inspired by elements of the lives of the author’s grandparents, this haunting love story shifts through time and reaches across generations. Along the way, Stefan Merrill Block stunningly illuminates an age-old even if one’s daily life appears ordinary, one can still wage a silent, secret, extraordinary war.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
90 people are currently reading
1059 people want to read
About the author
Stefan Merrill Block
6 books146 followersStefan grew up in Plano, Texas. His first book, The Story of Forgetting, was an international bestseller and the winner of Best First Fiction at the Rome International Festival of Literature, The Ovid Prize from the Romanian Writer's Union, the 2008 Merck Serono Literature Prize and the 2009 Fiction Award from The Writers’ League of Texas. The Story of Forgetting was also a finalist for the debut fiction awards from IndieBound, Salon du Livre and The Center for Fiction. Following the publication of his second novel, The Storm at the Door, Stefan was awarded The University of Texas Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, as well as residencies at The Santa Maddalena Foundation and Castello Malaspina di Fosdinovo in Italy. Stefan's novels have been translated into ten languages, and his stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker Page-Turner, The Guardian, NPR’s Radiolab, GRANTA, The Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. Stefan's third novel, Oliver Loving, is forthcoming from Macmillan/Flatiron Books. He lives in Brooklyn.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 162 reviews
July 19, 2017
Brilliant, searing, beautiful and absolutely unforgettable.
In this novel, the prose is eloquent, fluid and almost poetic. It is poignant without being sentimental. Katherine, Frederick, Stanley, Lowell, Schulz and poor tragic Marvin will remain in my consciousness for many years to come. My new literary heroes, they have replaced Randall McMurphy and the Chief from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In my mind's eye I still see Frederick in a business suit, the brilliant Robert Lowell reciting his poetry, Marvin in his destroyed self-immolated body and the tragic Schulz taking that last heartbreaking step to reach his son's hand. This is the only book I have ever read where I wanted to contact the author and personally thank him for writing it.
Brilliant, searing, beautiful, and ultimately absolutely unforgettable.
In this novel, the prose is eloquent, fluid and almost poetic. It is poignant without being sentimental. Katherine, Frederick, Stanley, Lowell, Schulz and poor tragic Marvin will remain in my consciousness for many years to come. My new literary heroes, they have replaced Randall McMurphy and the Chief from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In my mind's eye I still see Frederick in a business suit, the brilliant Robert Lowell reciting his poetry, Marvin in his destroyed self-immolated body and the tragic Schulz taking that last heartbreaking step to reach his son's hand. This is the only book I have ever read where I wanted to contact the author and personally thank him for writing it.
Brilliant, searing, beautiful, and ultimately absolutely unforgettable.
May 16, 2011
Goodreads giveaway! Thanks so much for the book!
I honestly had a really hard time reading this one. I thought that I had a pretty extensive vocabulary but I needed a dictionary handy when reading this story. Block uses a lot of "five dollar words" and his style of writing made the storytelling feel sterile. As much as I wanted to, I never liked or got fully vested in the characters. Instead of the story flowing, I found it was mentally exhausting to read.
I honestly had a really hard time reading this one. I thought that I had a pretty extensive vocabulary but I needed a dictionary handy when reading this story. Block uses a lot of "five dollar words" and his style of writing made the storytelling feel sterile. As much as I wanted to, I never liked or got fully vested in the characters. Instead of the story flowing, I found it was mentally exhausting to read.
January 11, 2012
Stefan Merrill Block's "The Storm at the Door" is an astonishingly original, quite compelling, fictional exploration of mental illness and its devastating impact on a family; a splendid jewel of fiction that establishes him as one of the greatest writers of his generation. It is a most courageous feat of high literary art, not merely because Block has opted to imagine anew the lives of his maternal grandparents, rendering into fiction what others might regard as mere memoir, as those worth noting via his exquisite, often lyrical, prose. It is courageous in examining the legacy of his grandfather's mental illness across the vast gulf of three generations. It is courageous too in its depiction of his grandfather's residency at Mayflower Home, the fictionalized version of McLean Hospital, one of the leading mental health hospitals in the United States. And it is there, at Mayflower Home that Block depicts in prose, a dismal portrait of a 1960s mental health hospital that is as bleak as the refuse and disease-laden lanes of Limerick, Ireland portrayed so vividly by Frank McCourt in his memoir "Angela's Ashes".
Block traverses easily between the realms of fact and fiction as he spins a captivating, quite engrossing, tale that is based loosely on the real lives of his maternal grandparents, Frederick and Katharine Merrill, his mother and her sisters. His characters are richly drawn and credible, and they include not only his grandparents, but especially those at the Mayflower Home; Schultz, a Harvard professor who hears the voices of his dead relatives, victims of the Nazi Holocaust, who live on in his poignant, often all too painful, memories, Robert Lowell, a poet (a fictionalized version of the real Robert Lowell, whose poetry is cited several times), Marvin Foulds, severely afflicted with multiple personality disorder, and Albert Canon, a Harvard psychiatrist whose cruel stewardship of Mayflower House leads to Frederick's electroshock therapy "punishment" and the suicides of several inmates. And yet, as memorable as these characters are, the one who holds our greatest attention is Katharine herself, an unlikely heroine struggling to keep her family intact as her husband descends into madness.
Block has written a most moving testament on the love affair between Frederick and Katharine, and of a marriage that endures despite Frederick's infidelity and insanity. But it is also a personal, quite heartfelt, act of discovery from Block himself, seeking to reclaim a "blank page" in his family's history while transforming it still into a great work of literary fiction destined to linger in the minds of its readers. Though some have regarded "The Storm at the Door" as this generation's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"; it is quite simply, much more; an affirmation of Stefan Merrill Block as one of the greatest American writers of his generation.
Block traverses easily between the realms of fact and fiction as he spins a captivating, quite engrossing, tale that is based loosely on the real lives of his maternal grandparents, Frederick and Katharine Merrill, his mother and her sisters. His characters are richly drawn and credible, and they include not only his grandparents, but especially those at the Mayflower Home; Schultz, a Harvard professor who hears the voices of his dead relatives, victims of the Nazi Holocaust, who live on in his poignant, often all too painful, memories, Robert Lowell, a poet (a fictionalized version of the real Robert Lowell, whose poetry is cited several times), Marvin Foulds, severely afflicted with multiple personality disorder, and Albert Canon, a Harvard psychiatrist whose cruel stewardship of Mayflower House leads to Frederick's electroshock therapy "punishment" and the suicides of several inmates. And yet, as memorable as these characters are, the one who holds our greatest attention is Katharine herself, an unlikely heroine struggling to keep her family intact as her husband descends into madness.
Block has written a most moving testament on the love affair between Frederick and Katharine, and of a marriage that endures despite Frederick's infidelity and insanity. But it is also a personal, quite heartfelt, act of discovery from Block himself, seeking to reclaim a "blank page" in his family's history while transforming it still into a great work of literary fiction destined to linger in the minds of its readers. Though some have regarded "The Storm at the Door" as this generation's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"; it is quite simply, much more; an affirmation of Stefan Merrill Block as one of the greatest American writers of his generation.
August 31, 2011
Honestly, I had to struggle to get through this one. The author uses rather florid prose and draws out observations on everything. The voice, as he changed perspectives through a variety of characters, didn't change at all. The result was that every character seemed cold, detached from their environment completely, pre-planned in every detail, and haughty. I did not like anyone in this book, nor did I want to.
While I respect what the author was attempting (telling the true story of his grandparents, with enough fiction to balance the small amount of information he had of them), it read like the worst of arrogant Great Literature, caught up more in its own grand language and schemes than in character development, action, or drama.
I received this ARC through the Goodreads First Read giveaway.
While I respect what the author was attempting (telling the true story of his grandparents, with enough fiction to balance the small amount of information he had of them), it read like the worst of arrogant Great Literature, caught up more in its own grand language and schemes than in character development, action, or drama.
I received this ARC through the Goodreads First Read giveaway.
December 12, 2020
I am finding the review of this content-rich book difficult so I will just be presenting an overview which perhaps may be lacking in important elements.
Firstly, I would state that this is the most exquisitely-written novel I long have encountered.
It tells the story of the author’s grandparents.
His grandfather, Frederick, suffered from what we now call bipolar disorder, formerly manic-depressive illness, and his behaviour brought much distress to the family and particularly Frederick’s wife, Katharine.
I myself have known two persons who suffered from this disease, but these days, or at least when I knew these two persons, patients are treated with large amounts of lithium, which normalizes their behaviour.
One of these persons, whom I regarded as a good friend, became aware that the lithium was harming his organs and therefore stopped taking it; he visited me on one occasion, when I observed the extent of his illness: he couldn’t find peace but paced back and forth in my living-room. I asked him whether he could sleep at night and he told me no. Another day he had a quarrel with a policeman on a motorway and as far as I recall was arrested and spent the night in gaol. (This was a highly respected man with a top job who previously had had no problems with the law whatsoever to my knowledge)
I believe he was correct in his assessment of the harmfulness of the amounts of lithium he had to take, since he is long since dead.
So I can well imagine the disturbed behaviour of Frederick in those days before lithium was adopted as a treatment for mania.
Frederick’s wife eventually had him committed to an institution that in the book was called The Mayflower Home for the Mentally Ill.
Though the book is based on the story of the author’s grandparents, it is otherwise mostly fictional.
Frederick was a “man of manic passions” and a gifted writer; he was also “an alcoholic, a philanderer, a madman who once exposed himself on the road leading into town – he was insane, and she (Katharine) was sane”.
The mental hospital to which Frederick was confined was “populated by great poets and writers” including the poet Robert Lowell, who appeared in the book.
The doctor in charge, Dr Wallace, tells Frederick he just needs to be patient. He will be feeling like his old self in a month or two. All he needs is a good rest.
And Katherine and her four daughters seem also to be under the illusion that after his stay at the Mayflower Frederick will be cured.
We are given an account of Frederick’s stay there and his relations with the doctors and the other patients, including Lowell.
The details of the other patients’ illnesses are also portrayed with much insight into their aetiology.
There is Marshall, a war hero who awakens to find himself deprived of three appendages and screams nearly every morning.
Lowell is delusional, believing himself to be Christ, Milton or Shakespeare. He has memorized Paradise Lost, Hamlet and the Inferno in their entirety, and believes them all to be in need of revision.
There is Professor Schultz who at the age of 17 began to hear strange sounds after his mother had been run over; subsequently, his father hanged himself.
Schultz discovers a new language which only he himself speaks; this of course prevents him communicating with others.
There is Marvin, who has fifteen personalities, ranging from a French poet to an admiral.
Frederick is permitted to write in his journal. His thoughts are: “how, drugged, left to long empty days, is one supposed to get better in such a place, when the omnipresence of the sedatives never admits clarity?”
“Is this ennui, this distance from life, the sanity to which others want to force him? When he feels nothing, will he be released?”
Dr Wallace has stated that part of Frederick’s affliction is to pull Katherine into his confusion. And this is precisely what happens: Katharine’s own mental state is affected by the situation.
Dr Canon takes over from Dr Wallace and questions the latter’s choice of treatments. Is electroconvulsive therapy an ethical form of treatment?
Katharine considers having an affair with a former admirer.
This review indicates just a small part of the book’s rich content and story-line. I highly recommend that you read this beautiful, insightful, divinely-formulated account of the ordeal of the author’s grandparents and his grandfather’s stay in a mental institution.
Firstly, I would state that this is the most exquisitely-written novel I long have encountered.
It tells the story of the author’s grandparents.
His grandfather, Frederick, suffered from what we now call bipolar disorder, formerly manic-depressive illness, and his behaviour brought much distress to the family and particularly Frederick’s wife, Katharine.
I myself have known two persons who suffered from this disease, but these days, or at least when I knew these two persons, patients are treated with large amounts of lithium, which normalizes their behaviour.
One of these persons, whom I regarded as a good friend, became aware that the lithium was harming his organs and therefore stopped taking it; he visited me on one occasion, when I observed the extent of his illness: he couldn’t find peace but paced back and forth in my living-room. I asked him whether he could sleep at night and he told me no. Another day he had a quarrel with a policeman on a motorway and as far as I recall was arrested and spent the night in gaol. (This was a highly respected man with a top job who previously had had no problems with the law whatsoever to my knowledge)
I believe he was correct in his assessment of the harmfulness of the amounts of lithium he had to take, since he is long since dead.
So I can well imagine the disturbed behaviour of Frederick in those days before lithium was adopted as a treatment for mania.
Frederick’s wife eventually had him committed to an institution that in the book was called The Mayflower Home for the Mentally Ill.
Though the book is based on the story of the author’s grandparents, it is otherwise mostly fictional.
Frederick was a “man of manic passions” and a gifted writer; he was also “an alcoholic, a philanderer, a madman who once exposed himself on the road leading into town – he was insane, and she (Katharine) was sane”.
The mental hospital to which Frederick was confined was “populated by great poets and writers” including the poet Robert Lowell, who appeared in the book.
The doctor in charge, Dr Wallace, tells Frederick he just needs to be patient. He will be feeling like his old self in a month or two. All he needs is a good rest.
And Katherine and her four daughters seem also to be under the illusion that after his stay at the Mayflower Frederick will be cured.
We are given an account of Frederick’s stay there and his relations with the doctors and the other patients, including Lowell.
The details of the other patients’ illnesses are also portrayed with much insight into their aetiology.
There is Marshall, a war hero who awakens to find himself deprived of three appendages and screams nearly every morning.
Lowell is delusional, believing himself to be Christ, Milton or Shakespeare. He has memorized Paradise Lost, Hamlet and the Inferno in their entirety, and believes them all to be in need of revision.
There is Professor Schultz who at the age of 17 began to hear strange sounds after his mother had been run over; subsequently, his father hanged himself.
Schultz discovers a new language which only he himself speaks; this of course prevents him communicating with others.
There is Marvin, who has fifteen personalities, ranging from a French poet to an admiral.
Frederick is permitted to write in his journal. His thoughts are: “how, drugged, left to long empty days, is one supposed to get better in such a place, when the omnipresence of the sedatives never admits clarity?”
“Is this ennui, this distance from life, the sanity to which others want to force him? When he feels nothing, will he be released?”
Dr Wallace has stated that part of Frederick’s affliction is to pull Katherine into his confusion. And this is precisely what happens: Katharine’s own mental state is affected by the situation.
Dr Canon takes over from Dr Wallace and questions the latter’s choice of treatments. Is electroconvulsive therapy an ethical form of treatment?
Katharine considers having an affair with a former admirer.
This review indicates just a small part of the book’s rich content and story-line. I highly recommend that you read this beautiful, insightful, divinely-formulated account of the ordeal of the author’s grandparents and his grandfather’s stay in a mental institution.
April 25, 2011
I am greatly appreciative that I won this book from the Goodreads First Reads giveaways.
"I can't live like this anymore." Katherine's words ring so true. This phrase was a mere reminder of how addiction and mental disorders can deem a family dysfunctional. This is a tragic tale that many will find compelling. The language used by Block is eloquent and florid. For any reader looking for a quick read, this may not be the book for you. To comprehend this intricate novel, you must be able to think critically and read between the lines. This novel will put you in the mind of works written by Hemingway, Saul Bellow, Fitzgerald, and the like.
The book title itself, in my opinion, is a metaphor that once understood gives new meaning to the underlying theme of the book. Willa Cather said, "There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm." Reading this novel has helped me to understand what Cather meant by this statement. I wonder if Block is familiar with this quote?
In literary terms, a storm is a conventional representation of an angry person. At times, that person is Frederick and at other times it is Katherine. A storm usually indicates trouble, trials and tribulations. A hurricane is trifle compared to the raging perils faced by the characters in the book.
A door, in literature, is representative of many different things. It can represent, when open, hope, opportunity and invitation. When closed, a door may represent mystery, being shut out or shut in, prison, and denial. I may be reading too much into the story, but the door may also be representative of the minds of all the characters. Everyone is at risk of succombing to some type of mental disorder and or addiction. None of us are safe from the "storm". It is what we do to protect ourselves that is different. All of these metaphoric representations are evident throughout the novel.
The Storm at the Door is masterfully written and it may very well become a classic that professors will use to discuss writer's tone, voice and purpose in years to come. I will probably read this book again. The first read was spent analyzing the point-of-view, which I would guess is first-person omniscient, and using context clues to define many of the grandiloquent words used by Block. I'm sure the second read will offer more time to embrace the well thought out story line and personalize the reading experience a bit more.
"I can't live like this anymore." Katherine's words ring so true. This phrase was a mere reminder of how addiction and mental disorders can deem a family dysfunctional. This is a tragic tale that many will find compelling. The language used by Block is eloquent and florid. For any reader looking for a quick read, this may not be the book for you. To comprehend this intricate novel, you must be able to think critically and read between the lines. This novel will put you in the mind of works written by Hemingway, Saul Bellow, Fitzgerald, and the like.
The book title itself, in my opinion, is a metaphor that once understood gives new meaning to the underlying theme of the book. Willa Cather said, "There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm." Reading this novel has helped me to understand what Cather meant by this statement. I wonder if Block is familiar with this quote?
In literary terms, a storm is a conventional representation of an angry person. At times, that person is Frederick and at other times it is Katherine. A storm usually indicates trouble, trials and tribulations. A hurricane is trifle compared to the raging perils faced by the characters in the book.
A door, in literature, is representative of many different things. It can represent, when open, hope, opportunity and invitation. When closed, a door may represent mystery, being shut out or shut in, prison, and denial. I may be reading too much into the story, but the door may also be representative of the minds of all the characters. Everyone is at risk of succombing to some type of mental disorder and or addiction. None of us are safe from the "storm". It is what we do to protect ourselves that is different. All of these metaphoric representations are evident throughout the novel.
The Storm at the Door is masterfully written and it may very well become a classic that professors will use to discuss writer's tone, voice and purpose in years to come. I will probably read this book again. The first read was spent analyzing the point-of-view, which I would guess is first-person omniscient, and using context clues to define many of the grandiloquent words used by Block. I'm sure the second read will offer more time to embrace the well thought out story line and personalize the reading experience a bit more.
May 10, 2011
I'm a little surprised by the many reviewers who found the writing to be difficult and pretentious. I think the story is a little difficult in that the subject is depressing, and this is not necessarily a "light" read. However, from the first page of this book, I was captured by writing. I loved the phrasing and descriptions. This is one of those writers whose sentences I look at and think, "Wow, what a great sentence."
I understand the subject of this book is loosely based upon the personal family history of the author in that his grandmother had his grandfather committed to a mental hospital. There's a bit of the One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest feel to this book. It also made me think of Angelina Jolie's character in The Changeling, after she was committed to a mental hospital for insisting her son was not her son. Some interesting questions are presented about mental health and mental health care. There was no question that this guy had some issues/personal demons, but I was never quite sure whether he was "crazy" enough to be where he was. However, his wife was sick of putting up with his crap, and allowed herself to be convinced that was where he belonged. Once there, there seemed to be an almost insurmountable burden of proving sanity. Then of course, God forbid you acquire some potentially damaging information about your doctor, who might suddenly decide emphasizing your mental illness might be beneficial to him! I definitely had the impression that a quirk of fate could have had the doctor be the patient himself.
I did not feel terribly connected with the characters in this book. Katherine, in particular, seemed cold, indecisive and spineless. I didn't get any real sense of how the characters felt about each other. Katherine's focus seemed to be more on her embarrassment than any genuine feelings she had. I wish there had been more development of the characters as people as opposed to how the characters reacted to their situations.
I would consider this book to be more thought-provoking than entertaining. I appreciate having had the opportunity to read this through the First Reads giveaway.
I understand the subject of this book is loosely based upon the personal family history of the author in that his grandmother had his grandfather committed to a mental hospital. There's a bit of the One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest feel to this book. It also made me think of Angelina Jolie's character in The Changeling, after she was committed to a mental hospital for insisting her son was not her son. Some interesting questions are presented about mental health and mental health care. There was no question that this guy had some issues/personal demons, but I was never quite sure whether he was "crazy" enough to be where he was. However, his wife was sick of putting up with his crap, and allowed herself to be convinced that was where he belonged. Once there, there seemed to be an almost insurmountable burden of proving sanity. Then of course, God forbid you acquire some potentially damaging information about your doctor, who might suddenly decide emphasizing your mental illness might be beneficial to him! I definitely had the impression that a quirk of fate could have had the doctor be the patient himself.
I did not feel terribly connected with the characters in this book. Katherine, in particular, seemed cold, indecisive and spineless. I didn't get any real sense of how the characters felt about each other. Katherine's focus seemed to be more on her embarrassment than any genuine feelings she had. I wish there had been more development of the characters as people as opposed to how the characters reacted to their situations.
I would consider this book to be more thought-provoking than entertaining. I appreciate having had the opportunity to read this through the First Reads giveaway.
April 24, 2011
I was delighted to receive an ARC from First Reads, and dove right in to "The Storm at the Door." However, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed.
Block had a compelling story to tell in his fictionalized account of the lives of his grandparents, their relationship, and the part mental illness, and sketchy treatment for it, had to play. I wanted to become engaged in this story and to embrace the characters, flaws and all, but I just couldn't reach them through all the words.
I'm not a walking dictionary, by any means, but I do believe I have a pretty extensive vocabulary. I didn't have to look anything up, or stop and figure out it's context, but the lengthy passages and ostentatious word choice still exhausted me. I felt that the story, especially the descriptions of life in the mental institution, would have been better served by a direct approach. Although, if the desired effect was to make the reader feel as muddled as the patient, it was achieved.
I hate to say I didn't like the book, both because I really do think it could be a great story that would resonate with many readers, and because I don't want to ruin my chances at winning another ARC through First Reads. I suppose I can't really say I didn't like it. If that were the case I wouldn't feel disappointed that it missed the mark a bit. Let's just say I was glad to reach the last page and take a well-needed rest.
Thanks to goodreads for pulling my name out of the hat, to the publisher for sending me the book, and to Stefan Merrill Block for being willing to delve into and share his family's struggles and teach us some new big words in the process.
Block had a compelling story to tell in his fictionalized account of the lives of his grandparents, their relationship, and the part mental illness, and sketchy treatment for it, had to play. I wanted to become engaged in this story and to embrace the characters, flaws and all, but I just couldn't reach them through all the words.
I'm not a walking dictionary, by any means, but I do believe I have a pretty extensive vocabulary. I didn't have to look anything up, or stop and figure out it's context, but the lengthy passages and ostentatious word choice still exhausted me. I felt that the story, especially the descriptions of life in the mental institution, would have been better served by a direct approach. Although, if the desired effect was to make the reader feel as muddled as the patient, it was achieved.
I hate to say I didn't like the book, both because I really do think it could be a great story that would resonate with many readers, and because I don't want to ruin my chances at winning another ARC through First Reads. I suppose I can't really say I didn't like it. If that were the case I wouldn't feel disappointed that it missed the mark a bit. Let's just say I was glad to reach the last page and take a well-needed rest.
Thanks to goodreads for pulling my name out of the hat, to the publisher for sending me the book, and to Stefan Merrill Block for being willing to delve into and share his family's struggles and teach us some new big words in the process.
October 11, 2017
La malattia mentale è un argomento di non facile discussione, specie cercando di trarne degli spunti originali dopo le dolorose descrizioni di vita in queste “cliniche” di Qualcuno volò sul nido del cuculo. In questo romanzo Merrill si ispira alla vera storia dei suoi nonni, per raccontare, non solo il vissuto di chi si trova in un istituto mentale, ma anche quello della famiglia, in particolare, della donna che ama il malato e dei parenti tutti, mostrando cosa significa affrontare una situazione difficile come questa. Mescolando passato e presente, si ripercorre la vicenda di Frederick Merrill, della sua amata Katharine, fino ai nipoti che si sono sempre chiesti quali fossero i segreti nascosti dai nonni.
Quello spazio che va oltre la nostra comprensione, come i mesi passati dal nonno nel suo ospedale psichiatrico, o la verità di ciò che la nonna sopportò in silenzio, o le parole perdute scritte da lui: un vuoto squarciato che attira ancora le nostre insufficienti compensazioni. Quello spazio, come tutto ciò che Frederick distrusse e Katharine nascose, è uno svuotamento della nostra storia che possiamo soltanto cercare di riempire con qualcosa di diverso e di nuovo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7ibhB...
Quello spazio che va oltre la nostra comprensione, come i mesi passati dal nonno nel suo ospedale psichiatrico, o la verità di ciò che la nonna sopportò in silenzio, o le parole perdute scritte da lui: un vuoto squarciato che attira ancora le nostre insufficienti compensazioni. Quello spazio, come tutto ciò che Frederick distrusse e Katharine nascose, è uno svuotamento della nostra storia che possiamo soltanto cercare di riempire con qualcosa di diverso e di nuovo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7ibhB...
June 1, 2017
This book was provided to me by goodreads firstreads giveawy program. Stefan Block based this book on his grandparents. It is very graphic especially the mental hospital scenes. There is a former insane asylum in Danvers MA that I am wondering if that was where his grandfather was hospitalized. This book isnt for the faint of heart. I liked it very much and give it 4 stars.
January 12, 2023
A fictional exploration of the author’s grandfather, who spent some months in a psychiatric institution. The relationship between the grandparents is fully explored in engaging prose.
Katherine and Frederick marry after a rushes courtship during the Second World War and have four daughters. When Frederick is arrested by the police for indecent exposure, he agrees to enter a psych institution to avoid a trial. Katherine is left to manage the family’s precarious finances and children.
How much do you endure as a spouse before you walk away?
Katherine and Frederick marry after a rushes courtship during the Second World War and have four daughters. When Frederick is arrested by the police for indecent exposure, he agrees to enter a psych institution to avoid a trial. Katherine is left to manage the family’s precarious finances and children.
How much do you endure as a spouse before you walk away?
August 29, 2011
This book was highly acclaimed by PEOPLE magazine, and while you may well scoff at the trustworthiness of anything written in that magazine, I have found it to be a fairly reliable source for book reviews, if you take it with a grain of salt. Unlike, NYT book reviews, PEOPLE has their finger on the pulse of the good old unwashed American public, and therefore can't be beaten when it comes to Pop culture.
However, this book was a bore till about halfway through and then it began to pick up speed and interest. Ordinarily I wouldn't let that monotony proceed so long, but it's summer time and I am gripped by inertia; thus I was too lazy to get up off the couch and switch books. The story here is about a hard drinking, philandering, outlandish husband whose patient long suffering wife has finally had enough. The story is set in 1962, which makes what follows completely credible. When Frederick tops off a night of heavy drinking by going out onto the main road dressed only in a raincoat and flashing the local residents as they drive home, his wife Katharine has him committed to the local psychiatric facility. This happens to be a very fancy-schmancy place called Mayflower Home, which is run by a petty tyrant, whose career ambitions and grasp for power make Nurse Rachett look like Florence Nightingale. And there is an assortment of interesting characters and events in the nuthouse which are very entertaining, sad, happy, and interesting.
However, this book was a bore till about halfway through and then it began to pick up speed and interest. Ordinarily I wouldn't let that monotony proceed so long, but it's summer time and I am gripped by inertia; thus I was too lazy to get up off the couch and switch books. The story here is about a hard drinking, philandering, outlandish husband whose patient long suffering wife has finally had enough. The story is set in 1962, which makes what follows completely credible. When Frederick tops off a night of heavy drinking by going out onto the main road dressed only in a raincoat and flashing the local residents as they drive home, his wife Katharine has him committed to the local psychiatric facility. This happens to be a very fancy-schmancy place called Mayflower Home, which is run by a petty tyrant, whose career ambitions and grasp for power make Nurse Rachett look like Florence Nightingale. And there is an assortment of interesting characters and events in the nuthouse which are very entertaining, sad, happy, and interesting.
January 7, 2017
I liked the story itself, and the idea of the imagined story of what the author's grandparents endured by filling in the gaps with fiction. But there were A LOT of words I had never heard before and had to look up, so sometimes it seemed a bit pretentious.
July 4, 2024
JULY 2024 I struggled through this book.
First, the author was thesaurus-happy. For example, page 33, “The board of Mayflower, seeking to contain the spread of a thanatotic contagion….whose greatest failing is a near pathological avuncularity.” Yeah, not even my smartphone acknowledges two of those words as being words. And this stuff is throughout the book. It was like the author was trying to sound smart or something. Very annoying.
Second, the characters were not likable except for a minor character who was a poet.
Third, you never know whose point of view you are reading. It changes from paragraph to paragraph. I have never read anything so convoluted in my life. What was the point?
Fourth, it was depressing.
Why did it get two stars? Because I was interested to see how Katherine handled some things and if Frederick ever got out of the institution.
First, the author was thesaurus-happy. For example, page 33, “The board of Mayflower, seeking to contain the spread of a thanatotic contagion….whose greatest failing is a near pathological avuncularity.” Yeah, not even my smartphone acknowledges two of those words as being words. And this stuff is throughout the book. It was like the author was trying to sound smart or something. Very annoying.
Second, the characters were not likable except for a minor character who was a poet.
Third, you never know whose point of view you are reading. It changes from paragraph to paragraph. I have never read anything so convoluted in my life. What was the point?
Fourth, it was depressing.
Why did it get two stars? Because I was interested to see how Katherine handled some things and if Frederick ever got out of the institution.
February 28, 2012
Stefan Merrill Block has written a novel so irrepressibly beautiful and poetic that it left me stunned. The Storm at the Door is based on the life of his grandparents, Frederick and Katharine. Partly imagined and partly based on fact, this is the story of a troubled family dealing with mental illness, secrets, and denial. It is also about the horror and the power of a psychiatric hospital, along with the myriad patients who have enacted their trust in this institution.
Frederick and Katharine met on the cusp of World War II and were married six months later. Theirs was a love affair based mostly on correspondence and the desperation of wartime. For some unknown reason, Frederick does not finish out his service and is placed in a naval hospital. When he is released he looks like a victim of starvation. The reasons for these events are never truly clear to Katharine.
Frederick is charismatic and the life of the party. He is also rowdy and loves his bourbon. He begins to be unfaithful to Katharine early on in their marriage. He disappears for days at a time and comes home promising to change and be a better man and husband. He has lots of plans and aspirations, none of which seem to come to fruition. He cannot hold down a job for long although he has an MBA from Harvard. When he drinks, which he seems to do to self-medicate, he is inappropriate but he is usually able to steer clear of getting into all-out trouble. Katharine's goal in life is to please others and she constantly and consistently forgives Frederick his transgressions.
One auspicious evening in 1962, Frederick drinks at least five bourbons and leaves a party, borrowing a friend's raincoat. He is naked underneath. He walks up to the nearest road and flashes either his rump or his genitals to oncoming traffic. Most of the cars just peer and go on. However, two old ladies call the police and Frederick is handcuffed and taken to jail. He has the option of prison or entering a psychiatric hospital. Katharine, with the help of her friends and relatives, decides to commit him to Mayflower Hospital , a fictional hospital based on the actual McClean Hospital in Massachusetts. McClean has been a shelter for the poet Robert Lowell, singer James Taylor, and mathematician John Nash. It is supposedly the best psychiatric hospital in the country. What Katharine and Frederick do not realize, however, is that Frederick's hospitalization is not strictly voluntary. He is to remain at Mayflower until the chief psychiatrist sees fit to release him.
When Frederick first enters the hospital, it is very laid back and the patients have privileges and room to move - physically and psychically. There are cows in the pasture and the setting is idyllic, designed by the great landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted on 65 beautiful acres. Frederick has been diagnosed with manic depression and the diagnosis appears to be quite accurate.
Stories of different patients are shared with the reader. Robert Lowell, the poet, suffers from manic depression. Professor Shultz, the Harvard linguist hears sounds in the words he read. His life of loss and tragedy most likely contributed to his first psychotic break as well as his subsequent ones. Marvin, the most famous patient at Mayflower, is a man of 15 distinct personalities ranging from a French poet to Carmen Miranda. James Marshall, a war veteran with only one limb (and not all his limbs were lost in the war) folds the U.S. flag with his one remaining arm, raises it on the flag pole daily and takes it down lovingly every night to refold.
Unfortunately, the administration of the hospital changes and a psychiatrist with sadistic tendencies and a desire for complete control takes the helm. During group therapy, he delights in bringing up painful aspects of each patient's illness and they cringe in the mandated group therapy with him. He greatly betrays each and every one of them.
The novel is told in alternating viewpoints; one chapter from Katharine's and the other from Frederick's. The structure works well. We understand what Frederick is going through in the desperate situation of his hospitalization, which goes on for months. He struggles with multiple solitary confinements and ECT (electric shock) treatments. We also see how hard it is for Katharine to sustain her family as a single parent and to maintain the strength she knows that she needs to have in order to find herself. She is gaining insight on codependency and sees that her desire to please helps everyone but herself.
All of the characters are given great depth. The patients, and the extent of their illnesses, is poetically described. Block gets mental illness, both the beauty and despair that go along with it. His poetic imagery and narrative never falter and the beauty of the book is sustained until the end. This is by far one of the best books I have read in the last ten years. It is a phenomenal feat of love and writing.
Frederick and Katharine met on the cusp of World War II and were married six months later. Theirs was a love affair based mostly on correspondence and the desperation of wartime. For some unknown reason, Frederick does not finish out his service and is placed in a naval hospital. When he is released he looks like a victim of starvation. The reasons for these events are never truly clear to Katharine.
Frederick is charismatic and the life of the party. He is also rowdy and loves his bourbon. He begins to be unfaithful to Katharine early on in their marriage. He disappears for days at a time and comes home promising to change and be a better man and husband. He has lots of plans and aspirations, none of which seem to come to fruition. He cannot hold down a job for long although he has an MBA from Harvard. When he drinks, which he seems to do to self-medicate, he is inappropriate but he is usually able to steer clear of getting into all-out trouble. Katharine's goal in life is to please others and she constantly and consistently forgives Frederick his transgressions.
One auspicious evening in 1962, Frederick drinks at least five bourbons and leaves a party, borrowing a friend's raincoat. He is naked underneath. He walks up to the nearest road and flashes either his rump or his genitals to oncoming traffic. Most of the cars just peer and go on. However, two old ladies call the police and Frederick is handcuffed and taken to jail. He has the option of prison or entering a psychiatric hospital. Katharine, with the help of her friends and relatives, decides to commit him to Mayflower Hospital , a fictional hospital based on the actual McClean Hospital in Massachusetts. McClean has been a shelter for the poet Robert Lowell, singer James Taylor, and mathematician John Nash. It is supposedly the best psychiatric hospital in the country. What Katharine and Frederick do not realize, however, is that Frederick's hospitalization is not strictly voluntary. He is to remain at Mayflower until the chief psychiatrist sees fit to release him.
When Frederick first enters the hospital, it is very laid back and the patients have privileges and room to move - physically and psychically. There are cows in the pasture and the setting is idyllic, designed by the great landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted on 65 beautiful acres. Frederick has been diagnosed with manic depression and the diagnosis appears to be quite accurate.
Stories of different patients are shared with the reader. Robert Lowell, the poet, suffers from manic depression. Professor Shultz, the Harvard linguist hears sounds in the words he read. His life of loss and tragedy most likely contributed to his first psychotic break as well as his subsequent ones. Marvin, the most famous patient at Mayflower, is a man of 15 distinct personalities ranging from a French poet to Carmen Miranda. James Marshall, a war veteran with only one limb (and not all his limbs were lost in the war) folds the U.S. flag with his one remaining arm, raises it on the flag pole daily and takes it down lovingly every night to refold.
Unfortunately, the administration of the hospital changes and a psychiatrist with sadistic tendencies and a desire for complete control takes the helm. During group therapy, he delights in bringing up painful aspects of each patient's illness and they cringe in the mandated group therapy with him. He greatly betrays each and every one of them.
The novel is told in alternating viewpoints; one chapter from Katharine's and the other from Frederick's. The structure works well. We understand what Frederick is going through in the desperate situation of his hospitalization, which goes on for months. He struggles with multiple solitary confinements and ECT (electric shock) treatments. We also see how hard it is for Katharine to sustain her family as a single parent and to maintain the strength she knows that she needs to have in order to find herself. She is gaining insight on codependency and sees that her desire to please helps everyone but herself.
All of the characters are given great depth. The patients, and the extent of their illnesses, is poetically described. Block gets mental illness, both the beauty and despair that go along with it. His poetic imagery and narrative never falter and the beauty of the book is sustained until the end. This is by far one of the best books I have read in the last ten years. It is a phenomenal feat of love and writing.
June 12, 2011
This is so tough for me to review that I really won't be able to do the book justice. I'll start from the beginning.
When I saw this featured on FirstReads I signed up immediately. After going to the books page I took myself out of the giveaway. I thought the book looked like one of those long, drawn out, overly flowery descriptive stories. That is just so not me. My first reading love is non-fiction (this borders on something I'll touch on in a sec) and I like it to be written as such. Life tends not to be flowery so that kind of fictional writing usually does nothing for me.
Also, as such a lover of non-fiction, I tend to shy away from exactly this sort of book. Fiction heavily relying on truth. Where's the line? I totally understand why some people enjoy this kind of writing. I can see the allure. But I, with my OCD, need either fiction or non-fiction. Not in between. Usually. I don't like guessing. I don't want to wonder if this was said or if that was really done. I want to know - or not know.
That wasn't the case here. Going back into what I started above, obviously I changed my mind about the book or I wouldn't have won it. I re-entered, won the book, and started it when it got here. It took me far longer to read than it should have. I usually finish an average sized book, no matter the genre, in 2-3 days. (The dates used here are approximate) and this took me a week, give or take a day or two.
The strange thing is this, when I put this down, I had to talk myself into picking it back up. But when I was reading it I didn't want to stop. I'd never experienced this before. It was perplexing to say the least. One word ran through my mind so many times while reading this - art. This man's writing is as close to art as can be. I've never come across a story that made me think this before and I've read thousands of books and loved hundreds and hundreds. This is really, nothing less than, art.
I was surprised to see the authors photo and how young he is. (Not that young people can't make great art and write magnificent stories.)
I had a bit of a problem with some of the wording. Not much in the usual sense but there are a lot of words, not used every day, that are inserted for what can only be called no good reason. It felt a little like, 'See how smart I am? I can use this word, in the right way, and it sounds great!' Blah. That didn't do much for me and I think it's going to turn a lot of folks right away from the book sadly. There were a decent number of words I'd never heard before and since, oh say, about 3rd grade I've always been told how fantastic my vocabulary is. An example:
**Please note** - this sentence was taken from an ARC copy and may differ from the actual book. Used for obvious purposes here.**
"Ambivalence: Rita felt forces all at all times pulling her in their contrapuntal direction, had always experienced argument and counterargument in simultaneity, had seemed always to want everything; to be pure and base, to make love to boys and to resist all boys, to join up with the communists, the anarchists, and also to deliver tirades on the absurdity of children of comfort and privilege dabbling in communism and anarchy."
'contrapuntal'. Never heard the word but without looking it up anyone with common sense and a decent grasping of context clues knows what it means. Was it necessary? I say no. I say it takes away from the book. A lot.
The authors intelligent isn't in those words. It's in all of the "little" words. It shined bright and clear and can't be missed IMO. It doesn't need to be packaged up in words like 'contrapuntal'.
That's my only complaint quite honestly.
A beautiful quote -
"The shame we have brought we have brought. The injury we have caused, we have caused. Why not try to turn that history into art? Why not say what happened?"
Another -
"...Perhaps everyone must walk the same tenuous bridge over the same rushing water, but most have the fortitude not to look down."
The Storm at the Door is a brilliant story. The author should be commended not only for bringing it to life and delving so far into his family's history but for writing about sensitive subjects with such tenderness.
I'm going to look into The Story of Forgetting: A Novel but honestly, unless I can tell the vocabulary isn't along the same lines as in this story, I won't take the chance. I can only imagine what the author might create without going to such vocab lengths. Something beyond what most people have ever experienced I'm sure.
When I saw this featured on FirstReads I signed up immediately. After going to the books page I took myself out of the giveaway. I thought the book looked like one of those long, drawn out, overly flowery descriptive stories. That is just so not me. My first reading love is non-fiction (this borders on something I'll touch on in a sec) and I like it to be written as such. Life tends not to be flowery so that kind of fictional writing usually does nothing for me.
Also, as such a lover of non-fiction, I tend to shy away from exactly this sort of book. Fiction heavily relying on truth. Where's the line? I totally understand why some people enjoy this kind of writing. I can see the allure. But I, with my OCD, need either fiction or non-fiction. Not in between. Usually. I don't like guessing. I don't want to wonder if this was said or if that was really done. I want to know - or not know.
That wasn't the case here. Going back into what I started above, obviously I changed my mind about the book or I wouldn't have won it. I re-entered, won the book, and started it when it got here. It took me far longer to read than it should have. I usually finish an average sized book, no matter the genre, in 2-3 days. (The dates used here are approximate) and this took me a week, give or take a day or two.
The strange thing is this, when I put this down, I had to talk myself into picking it back up. But when I was reading it I didn't want to stop. I'd never experienced this before. It was perplexing to say the least. One word ran through my mind so many times while reading this - art. This man's writing is as close to art as can be. I've never come across a story that made me think this before and I've read thousands of books and loved hundreds and hundreds. This is really, nothing less than, art.
I was surprised to see the authors photo and how young he is. (Not that young people can't make great art and write magnificent stories.)
I had a bit of a problem with some of the wording. Not much in the usual sense but there are a lot of words, not used every day, that are inserted for what can only be called no good reason. It felt a little like, 'See how smart I am? I can use this word, in the right way, and it sounds great!' Blah. That didn't do much for me and I think it's going to turn a lot of folks right away from the book sadly. There were a decent number of words I'd never heard before and since, oh say, about 3rd grade I've always been told how fantastic my vocabulary is. An example:
**Please note** - this sentence was taken from an ARC copy and may differ from the actual book. Used for obvious purposes here.**
"Ambivalence: Rita felt forces all at all times pulling her in their contrapuntal direction, had always experienced argument and counterargument in simultaneity, had seemed always to want everything; to be pure and base, to make love to boys and to resist all boys, to join up with the communists, the anarchists, and also to deliver tirades on the absurdity of children of comfort and privilege dabbling in communism and anarchy."
'contrapuntal'. Never heard the word but without looking it up anyone with common sense and a decent grasping of context clues knows what it means. Was it necessary? I say no. I say it takes away from the book. A lot.
The authors intelligent isn't in those words. It's in all of the "little" words. It shined bright and clear and can't be missed IMO. It doesn't need to be packaged up in words like 'contrapuntal'.
That's my only complaint quite honestly.
A beautiful quote -
"The shame we have brought we have brought. The injury we have caused, we have caused. Why not try to turn that history into art? Why not say what happened?"
Another -
"...Perhaps everyone must walk the same tenuous bridge over the same rushing water, but most have the fortitude not to look down."
The Storm at the Door is a brilliant story. The author should be commended not only for bringing it to life and delving so far into his family's history but for writing about sensitive subjects with such tenderness.
I'm going to look into The Story of Forgetting: A Novel but honestly, unless I can tell the vocabulary isn't along the same lines as in this story, I won't take the chance. I can only imagine what the author might create without going to such vocab lengths. Something beyond what most people have ever experienced I'm sure.
April 18, 2011
The Book Report: What happens when a naive young woman meets a tall, dark, and handsome young man on the eve of WWII? He's charming, he's witty, he's intense, and he's going away to war in the Navy. Give up? They get married! When TD&H comes home after only a few months, spends some time in a hospital for the non-physically wounded, and is discharged, the course of the future is set.
The author's maternal grandparents are the protagonists of this novel. He wrote it as a novel, in my opinion, because the drama inherent in this tale of madness, manic depression, motherhood, and untimely death demands things that mere reportage can't deliver. I can't imagine how Mr. Block's mother must feel, seeing her parents' hellish agonies spread wide for the world to view. I can't think it was done without at the minimum consulting her. But this act of revelation, this telling of the disintegration of a family, of a man's mind, and of the consequences of naivete, cannot have been easy for the lady to take in, even fictionalized and told through her son's eyes. I don't know if this is a brave book, or merely a sensational appropriation of the pain of the past.
My Review: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH. The scenes in the fictionalized madhouse outside Boston are extremely hard to read with equanimity. It's not some neo-Victorian hotbed of cruelty; no, it's far worse; it's modern bureaucratized Kafkaesque insensitivity, callousness, and self-aggrandizement causing the final dissolution of a man's mind and spirit. It's horrible, in that sense. The author's rather dead-pan prose makes this quality of coldness so much more vicious than a highly emotive or overblown and descriptive style would have done.
The author's grandfather died many years before he was born. His grandmother, however, lived on to be a burden to her family during her own descent into dementia. Mr. Block deals with every strain of mental disease in this book. It isn't a jolly little bagatelle, but it is quite an accomplishment for someone so obnoxiously young (not even thirty!) to come to grips with so many strands of the pain of the past in this public way. It makes up in courage and rightness for what it lacks in smiling, sunshiney pleasures of reading. It's the kind of book I don't exactly recommend to people, so much as alert them to it and allow them to decide what to do with the knowledge. Don't be fooled. This book will change you, it will challenge you, and it will make your synapses fire in strange and new constellations of emotion and empathy.
You may not like that. Prepare for it. I think you'll be better off for having read the book.
The author's maternal grandparents are the protagonists of this novel. He wrote it as a novel, in my opinion, because the drama inherent in this tale of madness, manic depression, motherhood, and untimely death demands things that mere reportage can't deliver. I can't imagine how Mr. Block's mother must feel, seeing her parents' hellish agonies spread wide for the world to view. I can't think it was done without at the minimum consulting her. But this act of revelation, this telling of the disintegration of a family, of a man's mind, and of the consequences of naivete, cannot have been easy for the lady to take in, even fictionalized and told through her son's eyes. I don't know if this is a brave book, or merely a sensational appropriation of the pain of the past.
My Review: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH. The scenes in the fictionalized madhouse outside Boston are extremely hard to read with equanimity. It's not some neo-Victorian hotbed of cruelty; no, it's far worse; it's modern bureaucratized Kafkaesque insensitivity, callousness, and self-aggrandizement causing the final dissolution of a man's mind and spirit. It's horrible, in that sense. The author's rather dead-pan prose makes this quality of coldness so much more vicious than a highly emotive or overblown and descriptive style would have done.
The author's grandfather died many years before he was born. His grandmother, however, lived on to be a burden to her family during her own descent into dementia. Mr. Block deals with every strain of mental disease in this book. It isn't a jolly little bagatelle, but it is quite an accomplishment for someone so obnoxiously young (not even thirty!) to come to grips with so many strands of the pain of the past in this public way. It makes up in courage and rightness for what it lacks in smiling, sunshiney pleasures of reading. It's the kind of book I don't exactly recommend to people, so much as alert them to it and allow them to decide what to do with the knowledge. Don't be fooled. This book will change you, it will challenge you, and it will make your synapses fire in strange and new constellations of emotion and empathy.
You may not like that. Prepare for it. I think you'll be better off for having read the book.
June 15, 2011
There are a lot of words that have been used to describe this unique book based on the lives of the author's grandparents: lucid, heart-wrenching, passionate, fascinating. I would have to agree that all of those words aptly describe this book. It's also been described as a 'beautiful love story', but I have to admit I do not see it as such. Granted, I do not read a lot of books in the romance genre, but this, to me, is not what I consider a love story.
I honestly did not know what to expect before I started reading THE STORM AT THE DOOR. I knew the foundation for the story, but I had no idea where Stefan Merrill Block was going to take me. As I started reading, I was looking forward to getting to know the characters and connect with them. However, I was disappointed when half-way through the book, I still hadn't developed an emotional connection with either Katherine or Frederick. I had compassion for both of them on a general level but not the deep connection I was anticipating.
I believe that one reason I lacked a connection was the sterile, almost clinical writing of the author, in my opinion. The chapters alternate between Katherine and Frederick's viewpoints yet I didn't feel passion coming from either person.
That being said, the second half of the book garnered more interest from me than the first and I began to get immersed in the story, especially Frederick's experiences in the asylum and the repercussions he endured due to information he discovered about Dr. Cannon, who was in charge of the hospital.
Stefan Merrill Block shares a difficult story focusing on his grandfather's mental illness and the subsequent journey his family endured during those years in the 1960's. He brings to light that in those days people suffering from Bipolar Disorder often went untreated or were simply labeled 'mentally ill'. Late in the book, Block even reveals some similarities between himself and his grandfather.
THE STORM AT THE DOOR is a troubling look at one man's life as he dealt with mental illness and the constant guilt and doubt that it brought to his wife after committing him to a hospital for the insane. Instead of bringing her some measure of relief that Frederick was getting the help he needed, it made her question her decision and even the life she thought she had with her husband.
I'd like to thank TLC Book Tours and Stefan Merrill Block for including me in this tour. Please visit TLC's website for other stops on the tour. THE STORM AT THE DOOR will be released June 21st from Random House.
I honestly did not know what to expect before I started reading THE STORM AT THE DOOR. I knew the foundation for the story, but I had no idea where Stefan Merrill Block was going to take me. As I started reading, I was looking forward to getting to know the characters and connect with them. However, I was disappointed when half-way through the book, I still hadn't developed an emotional connection with either Katherine or Frederick. I had compassion for both of them on a general level but not the deep connection I was anticipating.
I believe that one reason I lacked a connection was the sterile, almost clinical writing of the author, in my opinion. The chapters alternate between Katherine and Frederick's viewpoints yet I didn't feel passion coming from either person.
That being said, the second half of the book garnered more interest from me than the first and I began to get immersed in the story, especially Frederick's experiences in the asylum and the repercussions he endured due to information he discovered about Dr. Cannon, who was in charge of the hospital.
Stefan Merrill Block shares a difficult story focusing on his grandfather's mental illness and the subsequent journey his family endured during those years in the 1960's. He brings to light that in those days people suffering from Bipolar Disorder often went untreated or were simply labeled 'mentally ill'. Late in the book, Block even reveals some similarities between himself and his grandfather.
THE STORM AT THE DOOR is a troubling look at one man's life as he dealt with mental illness and the constant guilt and doubt that it brought to his wife after committing him to a hospital for the insane. Instead of bringing her some measure of relief that Frederick was getting the help he needed, it made her question her decision and even the life she thought she had with her husband.
I'd like to thank TLC Book Tours and Stefan Merrill Block for including me in this tour. Please visit TLC's website for other stops on the tour. THE STORM AT THE DOOR will be released June 21st from Random House.
May 10, 2011
I received this book through the Goodreads giveaway program and was so excited to start reading. I have to say it took me awhile to get used to the author's writing style and thus took me quite awhile to feel connected to the story.
Around page 75 or so I was finally truly interested in the characters and their outcomes. The rest of the way through I was pulled in and kept reading on thinking some big breakthrough or shocking revelation would happen. Unfortunately, I got to the end of the book and felt a little disappointed. With all of the buildup of each of the characters I felt more was going to happen. I do not want to downplay the events Block describes, as his family has been through some very difficult times. However, with his fictionalized account and detailed description of some of the patients and the institution's director, I always felt more was just beyond the next page, but never quite got there.
Thank you to the first reads program and the publisher for sending me this book. The Storm at the Door gives the reader an interesting story of institutionalized mental illness in the 1960's, but more importantly, a look from various perspectives, patient's, family and staff, allowing the reader to see all sides.
Around page 75 or so I was finally truly interested in the characters and their outcomes. The rest of the way through I was pulled in and kept reading on thinking some big breakthrough or shocking revelation would happen. Unfortunately, I got to the end of the book and felt a little disappointed. With all of the buildup of each of the characters I felt more was going to happen. I do not want to downplay the events Block describes, as his family has been through some very difficult times. However, with his fictionalized account and detailed description of some of the patients and the institution's director, I always felt more was just beyond the next page, but never quite got there.
Thank you to the first reads program and the publisher for sending me this book. The Storm at the Door gives the reader an interesting story of institutionalized mental illness in the 1960's, but more importantly, a look from various perspectives, patient's, family and staff, allowing the reader to see all sides.
July 18, 2011
The language in which this book is written makes it sound more important and richer than it is. The sentences are dense and ripe but, in the end, I was left wondering about the whole story. The author's grandfather is crazy and put into a famous mental hospital in Boston where he meets several memorable characters. My impression is that the bum was an incorrectly diagnosed alcoholic who did what alcoholics do and got sent away for it because his wife couldn't resist the decisions made by the men around her. I guess it has always been easier to be crazy than to be an ordinary, garden-variety drunk. The author is a good writer but the writing is more interesting than the story.
May 8, 2011
I'm surprised by the poor reviews this novel has been given by Goodreads readers. I won this in a Goodreads giveaway and my review will be simple.
This novel should win a National Book Award. I haven't read anything this good since Nicole Krauss's The History of Love.
Rarely does one encounter a young contemporary American writer who is both a compelling storyteller and an adept user of the English language.
This is about as good as it gets in American writing. So, when it's published in June go read it.
This novel should win a National Book Award. I haven't read anything this good since Nicole Krauss's The History of Love.
Rarely does one encounter a young contemporary American writer who is both a compelling storyteller and an adept user of the English language.
This is about as good as it gets in American writing. So, when it's published in June go read it.
July 9, 2012
THE STORM AT THE DOOR is a fascinating exploration of Stefan Merrill Block’s family history, both of what actually and what might’ve happened following his grandmother’s fateful decision to commit his manic depressive grandfather to a mental institution. Told with intelligence, a poetic ear for language, and empathy, THE STORM AT THE DOOR is a captivating story about separation and enduring love.--Lisa Genova
Want to read
October 17, 2011won this book as a first-read! Just got it in the mail today and it looks REALLY good! Can't wait to read it!
September 21, 2019
There is something so haunting about this book…this imagining of a time in the author’s family that is veiled in secrecy. This imagined account of Stefan Merrill Block’s grandparents and one of the darkest times in their marriage grabs at the reader’s imagination.
In a time in our culture when we know so much, many times FAR too much about other people’s lives…Block takes us back to a time when much of what was negative in life was kept secret or at least rarely discussed.
Katharine and Frederick Merrill are the tortured husband and wife in the center of “The Storm at the Door” – he tortured by bipolar disorder and she tortured by the mystery of her husband and his illness. After a series of disturbing events, he is committed to a mental institution, and neither see or really even communicate with one another for months. Katharine tries to maintain some semblance of a normal life for her children and Frederick tried to come to grips with his new circumstances and what brought them about.
“Frederick rises from his bed, paces around the room, in a small fit, trying to will the medicine out of his awareness. But his words are trapped. Even his body feels trapped. An invisible molecular net has descended. And now, again, the ever-present question: how, drugged, left to long empty days, is one supposed to get better in such a place, when the omnipresence of the sedatives never admits clarity?”
The prose is very evocative, though more flowery than is my usual preference. Some sentences feel too weighty…the sort that bring to mind the thought, “Why use one word when three will do?” But once settled into the book, the rhythm worked better for me and the poetic style did not detract from the reading. The poet Robert Lowell is featured in the book, as are several of his poems…but by the end of the book, the author’s prose had a stronger impact on me.
“In the soil of a New Hampshire forest, on a summer day of 2007, the words are no longer words, now only particles of ash. At a Massachusetts pencil factory, on a spring afternoon of 1959, the words are not yet words, only a few inches of charcoal in a rod. At the bottom of a milk crate in a cluttered attic, on a winter morning of 1976, the words fade slowly on yellowing paper. Inside the glow of a Franklin stove, on a July day in 1989, the words curl into one another, embrace one another with their sloping appendages, as they incinerate. Ascending the chimney of Echo Cottage in a plume of white, they could have been anything.”
This was a book, for me, not only about the crushing weight that mental illness can put upon a marriage, but about the secrets that all families seem to have. Secrets that might fade away with the death of those involved as well as the secrets that grow and sometimes consume a family history. No one except those that were there will ever know the full truth, a fact that Block points out in many ways, but the effects of the past upon the present can be far reaching.
In a time in our culture when we know so much, many times FAR too much about other people’s lives…Block takes us back to a time when much of what was negative in life was kept secret or at least rarely discussed.
Katharine and Frederick Merrill are the tortured husband and wife in the center of “The Storm at the Door” – he tortured by bipolar disorder and she tortured by the mystery of her husband and his illness. After a series of disturbing events, he is committed to a mental institution, and neither see or really even communicate with one another for months. Katharine tries to maintain some semblance of a normal life for her children and Frederick tried to come to grips with his new circumstances and what brought them about.
“Frederick rises from his bed, paces around the room, in a small fit, trying to will the medicine out of his awareness. But his words are trapped. Even his body feels trapped. An invisible molecular net has descended. And now, again, the ever-present question: how, drugged, left to long empty days, is one supposed to get better in such a place, when the omnipresence of the sedatives never admits clarity?”
The prose is very evocative, though more flowery than is my usual preference. Some sentences feel too weighty…the sort that bring to mind the thought, “Why use one word when three will do?” But once settled into the book, the rhythm worked better for me and the poetic style did not detract from the reading. The poet Robert Lowell is featured in the book, as are several of his poems…but by the end of the book, the author’s prose had a stronger impact on me.
“In the soil of a New Hampshire forest, on a summer day of 2007, the words are no longer words, now only particles of ash. At a Massachusetts pencil factory, on a spring afternoon of 1959, the words are not yet words, only a few inches of charcoal in a rod. At the bottom of a milk crate in a cluttered attic, on a winter morning of 1976, the words fade slowly on yellowing paper. Inside the glow of a Franklin stove, on a July day in 1989, the words curl into one another, embrace one another with their sloping appendages, as they incinerate. Ascending the chimney of Echo Cottage in a plume of white, they could have been anything.”
This was a book, for me, not only about the crushing weight that mental illness can put upon a marriage, but about the secrets that all families seem to have. Secrets that might fade away with the death of those involved as well as the secrets that grow and sometimes consume a family history. No one except those that were there will ever know the full truth, a fact that Block points out in many ways, but the effects of the past upon the present can be far reaching.
September 2, 2018
Sublime sentences, "this is all there is, the pain of remembering, the drinking to forget." The Storm at the Door is evocative of a time and place, the early sixties, a lakeside summer cottage in New Hampshire, near Boston and a now defunct private mental institution and its archaic practices. Katherine and Frederick, wife and husband, mother and father to four girls are the the main characters. Katherine is the caretaker, matriarch and grandmother when this compelling, sad story about Susie's madman grandfather begins. Told from the granddaughter, Susie's point of view at times, and through letters, a recurring narrative device, not always successful there is little action in the conventional sense but much happens. The research on mental health, intellect and poetry is genuine and makes the interwoven love story all the more poignant and compelling. I'm a Susie too trying to understand a difficult past and tumultuous present, this book will stay in my personal library. Intense but worth the effort.
September 12, 2017
I was drawn to this book because of its strong sense of place (New England) and the genre (psychological theme). I was initially intrigued by the premise - after two decades of marriage to a mentally unstable man, a woman commits her husband to a mental institution modeled after MacLean Hospital. While beautifully written, the book did not hold my interest beyond 100 pages or so. Perhaps I will give it another try at some point.
October 5, 2020
28-year-old Merrill’s novel is based on the story of his grandparents’ marriage.
His grandfather, Frederick, ended up in Boston’s premiere mental hospital while his grandmother Katharine kept the show on the road in the family home in New Hampshire.
This ambitious and beautiful debut that deals with the emotive topic of Alzheimer’s disease is made all the more poignant by the author’s personal connection.
Merrill is a writer to watch! I would 100% read more of his work.
His grandfather, Frederick, ended up in Boston’s premiere mental hospital while his grandmother Katharine kept the show on the road in the family home in New Hampshire.
This ambitious and beautiful debut that deals with the emotive topic of Alzheimer’s disease is made all the more poignant by the author’s personal connection.
Merrill is a writer to watch! I would 100% read more of his work.
January 22, 2022
An outsiders view (the grandson, gathering information from family and medical records) of what a marriage can be like in the midst of a mental health crisis. Although the subject matter was fascinating, I never really connected to either main character. The author's use of language was sophisticated and at times I felt like I needed a dictionary...although sometimes I like that challenge! I'd be interested in reading another book by this author before forming an opinion on his storytelling.
May 23, 2018
Except for the words thanatotic, avuncular, metonymy, senescent and pointillism which I had to look up, The Storm at the Door was a pretty easy read. Since Frederick was supposed a genius the use some more unusual vocabulary made sense.
The only place the pace dragged was in the linguistic explorations of Schultz.
The only place the pace dragged was in the linguistic explorations of Schultz.
June 2, 2018
A family and their struggles with mental illness. The father is hospitalized in fictional hospital like McCleans. based on actual facts
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