- Paperback: 1 pages
- Publisher: Riverhead (TRD) (July 8 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1573227315
- ISBN-13: 978-1573227315
- Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 12.9 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 240 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #996,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
From Amazon
In Thomas Moran's first novel, The Man in the Box, his title character was a Jew hiding from Nazis in a tiny, hidden space at the back of an Austrian farmer's hayloft. In his second novel, The World I Made for Her, Moran once again confines his protagonist--this time making him a prisoner of his own body. James Blatchley is the victim of a freak illness--chicken pox, a normally harmless disease that can, on occasion, kill otherwise healthy adults. One of the unlucky few, Blatchley ends up in an intensive-care ward, unable to eat or even to breathe without machines. Numbed by morphine, his body ravaged by one infection after another, the one anchor in his life is Nuala, the Irish immigrant nurse who is assigned to his case: "Nuala means 'white shoulders' in Irish, but no one much remembers these old things anymore.... Nuala's small, not above five and a half feet. Her shoulders are thin but broad, like a young boy's and creamy white where I've glimpsed them." Nuala's shoulders may be thin, but it's her strength that is keeping James Blatchley alive. Though he slips in and out of coma, and when conscious, is able to communicate only by mouthing words or spelling them out on an alphabet board, Blatchley manages to develop relationships with his nurses, and he becomes fascinated by Nuala in particular. The little he knows about her difficult life leads him to imagine a better one for her--a cozy cottage in Ireland, a trip around the world. Eventually, however, Blatchley's fantasies become more intimate and soon the line between imagination and a real, if unspoken, love becomes blurred.
The World I Made for Her is an intensely personal novel and one straight from the heart. For five months, Thomas Moran hovered at the brink of death, a victim of the same rare condition that afflicts his fictional alter ego. He was given only a 5 percent chance of surviving. The fact that he lived is something of a miracle; that he was able to take such suffering and turn it to the service of this memorable, profoundly moving novel is a testament both to the author's talent and to the power of art to make even the most uniquely individual experience universal. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Moran follows The Man in the Box (1997) with a surprisingly compelling tour of the inner life of a young man on life-support. James Blatchley lives in the Intensive Care Unit. A bout of chicken pox turned lethal, and now he breathes with the help of a ventilator, eats via tubes, and mouths words but can't produce sounds. His muscles are so atrophied that he can barely move. Once an NYC detective with an active social life, now Jamess only real-life respite from his fantasy life is his friendship with two nurses, Brigit and Nuala. The two emigrated from Ireland together, and they entertain him with stories of their nocturnal adventures at a bar called the Belle of Hell. Flirty Brigit secretly shoots up the fentanyl that keeps Jamess pain at bay. Nuala is more solid and, to James, more poetic: He recognizes the vulnerability that is almost hidden by her forthright, no-nonsense style. As he drifts in and out of consciousness, James makes up a better life for Nuala. First, its set in a cottage in Ireland; then he even imagines squiring her around the world. But as time passes, the fantasies become more mundane and more intimate. James's mind takes him to Nualas apartment, where the walls are deep colors and the furniture consists of hammocks and a picnic table. Soon the two are communicatingin dreams? in reality?about the things that matter: Nuala serves up childhood vignettes and oblique glimpses of her own pain; James circles endlessly around his questions about death. The boundaries between nurse and patient waver and melt as James takes a turn for the worse, leading to a profoundly startling scene between the two. Moran deftly combines the smells, tastes, and politics of the ICU with a haunting, unhackneyed exploration of loneliness and its antidotes. Despite the grim premise and the graphically rendered bodily functions, Morans hospital- stay novel is fast-paced, filled with vivid human detail, and ultimately deeply affecting. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A powerfully original and moving story,
By
This review is from: World I Made For Her (Paperback)
James Blatchley, the narrator of Thomas Moran's second novel, "The World I Made for Her" finds himself in a terrifyingly real predicament: stricken by a minor childhood disease that leaves him unable to walk, speak, or breathe on his own. Completely helpless, he is cared for by two Irish nurses--the bawdy, outgoing Brigit, who has a penchant for shooting up the narcotics meant for her patients, and the graceful, softspoken Nuala, nicknamed St. Nualala by Brigit for her demure behavior. James fixates upon Nuala and begins a love affair with her that exists only in his mind. As the days wear on, James drifts in and out of consciousness, envisioning Nuala's daily routine, her past, and her aspirations and desires, as it soon becomes clear that Nuala needs James almost as much as he needs her. The story is augmented by Moran's vividly straightforward prose and utterly believable characters. Told from James's point of view, the novel is also highly personal, as Moran himself fell ill with a minor childhood diease and spent five months in the hospital as the virus attacked his organs and nearly killed him. He recalls his own visions in hypnotic detail that underscores the redemptive, life-affirming power of love.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A perfect piece,
By Sean Hoade (Las Vegas, Nevada USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: World I Made For Her (Paperback)
This is a small book, but one you'll never forget. It's like the work of Nicholson Baker in a way, but with even more heart. It made me cry and made my wife cry. I also loaned it to my friend, and he hasn't returned it, so this book has made me cry twice.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting and Beautiful,
By Addie (San Diego, California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: World I Made For Her (Paperback)
Years of reading independently, and then what was required of me as an English major have left me clinging to and re-reading just less than a handful of books. As Moran suggests, in the end, what matters are the few true connections we have made to those we love. Books function in much the same way for me; few stories remain compelling regardless of how often I return to them. This book passes the test again and again. Much like reading about the noteless, but wildly expressive world of the death, Moran's book explores the human capacity for expression on many subtle levels. James is unable to speak, but his dreams, his fantasies, his honed abilities to observe and reflect, all merge to create a character as rich, if not richer, than any imaginable speaking character. How to sum up this story? It's chilling, luminous, perspective-altering.
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