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The Uses of Enchantment: A Novel
 
 

The Uses of Enchantment: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Heidi Julavits (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. On November 7, 1985, Mary Veal, 16, a not especially distinguished upper-middle-class girl, disappears from New England's Semmering Academy. A month later she reappears at Semmering, claiming amnesia, but hinting at abduction and ravishment. The events in Believer editor Julavits's third, beautifully executed novel take place on three levels: one, dedicated to "what might have happened," is the story of the supposedly blank interval; another is dedicated to the inevitable therapeutic aftermath, as Mary's therapist, Dr. Hammer, tries to discover whether Mary is lying, either about the abduction or the amnesia; and the present of the novel, which revolves around the funeral of Mary's mother, Paula, in 1999. There, Mary feels not only the hostility of her sisters, Regina (an unsuccessful poet) and Gaby (a disheveled lesbian) but Paula's posthumous hostility. Or is that an illusion? This structure delicately balances between gothic and comic, allowing Julavits to play variations on Mary's life and on the '80s moral panic of repressed memory syndromes and wild fears of child abuse. While Julavits (The Effect of Living Backwards) sometimes lets an overheated style distract from her central story, as its various layers coalesce, the mystery of what did happen to Mary Veal will enthrall the reader to the very last page. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From AudioFile

Heidi Julavits slips back and forth between past and present to tell the circuitous story of Mary Veal as she returns to West Salem, Massachusetts, for her mother's funeral. Mary mysteriously disappeared as a teenager, only to reappear two weeks later with no explanation for what had happened. Shelly Frasier stays in control of the story's changes in chronology, narration, and dialogue. She excels when portraying Mary's aunt and Mary's manipulative therapist. Frasier's voice remains steady even through detailed psychological analyses and discussion of Freudian theory as Mary tries to come to grips with her past and her less-than-perfect family. Frasier keeps the pace moving and brings a much needed depth to ordinary characters struggling with their disordered history together. H.L.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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The Uses of Enchantment: A Novel
88% buy the item featured on this page:
The Uses of Enchantment: A Novel 4.0 out of 5 stars (1)
CDN$ 26.36
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4.0 out of 5 stars What Might Have Happened, Feb 7 2007
By Kelly Rossiter (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
The title of this novel by Heidi Julavits refers to the classic book The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim regarding the telling of fairy tales and their effects on the minds and development of children. While the story unfolds we begin see the connection. As a teenager, the character of Mary is abducted and returns one week later. But was she abducted or is it an elaborate fantasy that she has concocted? The novel is broken into three interlocking sections. We see Mary as a teenager with The Man who may or may not have taken her, notes from Mary's psychologist and then Mary as an adult returning to her childhood home after the death of her mother. This is a compelling novel that keeps you wondering about fact and fantasy, about the secret lives of girls and their sexuality and how they come to view themselves in the world.
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