Summary
[Mary Veal]'s mother, fanatical and socially self-conscious, feels particularly threatened by her daughter's apparent lack of memory. To keep up appearances, she sends Mary to a therapist in hopes of procuring a respectable story.
Having grown up and moved out West, Mary is called back home 15 years later to attend her mother's funeral. Despite feeling "aggressively unnoticed" upon her return, Mary aims to tie up loose ends with her sisters, father and even Dr. [Hammer].She also has a sense of humour. Hypothetical diversions, psychiatric notes and Mary's musings all bloom darkly with wit. She writes that an acquaintance's "lips had not retracted into his mouth, lending him that inwardly seething puppet look so many men his age suffered from."See the full content of this document
Extract
Clever Writer Provides Substance Behind Drama
The Uses of Enchantment
By Heidi JulavitsDoubleday, 354 pages, $33Reviewed by Sasha AmayaHENRY James once said, "Nobody tells fibs in Boston," but in hotshot Amer...See the full content of this document
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