⋙ Download Looking for Mary Gabriel A Novel Carole Lawrence Books

Looking for Mary Gabriel A Novel Carole Lawrence Books

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Looking for Mary Gabriel A Novel Carole Lawrence Books

This author is a brilliant writer! And, 'Looking for Mary Gabriel' is the best novel I have ever read ...but then, I am an older person. The author's characters are unique and true. The effect of the story is nuanced by the social situation of the readers. 'Baby Boomers' will relate well to this story, I think.

This is a book about great suffering, love, courageous fortitude, and reborn love ...warts and all!!

My husband, (who read this novel at my request) was moved to tears immediately, upon finishing this book. This book really touched him.

My husband has mild to severe ASD, (autism) and was born in the early 50's. He was undiagnosed until 2016!


Tags : Amazon.com: Looking for Mary Gabriel: A Novel (9780312285418): Carole Lawrence: Books,Carole Lawrence,Looking for Mary Gabriel: A Novel,Thomas Dunne Books,0312285418,6790006,Sagas,Louisiana;Fiction.,Mentally ill children;Fiction.,Sisters;Fiction.,American First Novelists,Domestic fiction,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction Family Life,Fiction Sagas,General,Mentally ill children,Sisters,Louisiana,Psychological fiction

Looking for Mary Gabriel A Novel Carole Lawrence Books Reviews

After reading some of the critics' comments (as opposed to customer reviews), I have to wonder if the same book was released to the public as was sent to the press. I found Carole Lawrence's novel far from `stilted' and `hackneyed' - I thought it a well-written story, one that is both entertaining on the surface and potentially eye-opening for those who have not had the experience of dealing with people affected by mental illnesses. Reading this book is an experience that could very well lead the reader to a greater understanding and empathy for those of us among us who are touched by mental disease and disability - and allow them to be treated more like human beings and less like freaks.
The cruelty perpetrated on Mary Gabriel in this novel - not only by the neighborhood children and her classmates, but by well-meaning but ignorant and prejudiced adults as well - is hard to watch, but it's unfortunately not too far-fetched. `Kids can be cruel' is the excuse too often mouthed by those who would just as soon ignore the problem when it arises - but there is a lot of guilt bubbling under the surface of the Gabriel family, and it causes a lot of harm when it's ignored, or when it's dealt with in an inappropriate manner.
Dr. Gabriel is like many physicians of his day - suspicious of psychiatrists, seeing them as out to steal the patients of general practitioners and place the blame for the mental illness of children on the shoulders of the parents. Dr. Landry, the psychiatrist who lives across the street from the Gabriels, is firmly ensconced in the professional beliefs of the day (the 1950s), and holds firm that Mary's mental illness is a direct result of a lack of proper attention by her mother. Medical professionals today believe that schizophrenia and other mental disorders are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, some of which might be hereditary. Ironically, Dr. Landry's pronouncement that Mary's mother is to blame for her daughter's disease is - somewhat obliquely - pointing in the right direction. However, suggesting that Mrs. Gabriel's mothering skills - or lack thereof - are to blame for her daughter's condition placed an unbearable amount of guilt on the shoulders of the mother.
Dr. Gabriel himself is not much more help. Eager to keep Mary's problems `within the family', he lays far too much of the burden of her care on the shoulders of Bonita, her older sister. The effect of this on Bonita is shattering - when something bad happens to Mary, she feels like it's her fault, that she's let both Mary and her family down. This guilt piles higher and higher within her until it wreaks its havoc on her own psyche - it's a sad but inevitable result of placing too much inappropriate responsibility on a child.
The author utilizes two time planes in relating the story. One of them is told in the first person by Bonita, and is set in the present day. The other is told in the third person, set in the 1950s, when Bonita and Mary were children. Even though the 1950s portion of the story is told in the third person, the author skillfully - and wisely - gives these chapters the voice and innocent outlook of a child. The time frames alternate from chapter to chapter very effectively, allowing the reader to follow events in the present day and understand what has happened in the past that shapes them. The characters are fully developed - and the author has treated the character of Mary Gabriel with incredible respect and love. She is believably depicted as a schizophrenic patient, and the scenes involving her as a child are heartbreaking - but she is never treated as a caricature, never ridiculed by the story (although she suffers several indignities from other characters). She comes across as her own `whole' person - and it's easy for the reader to understand how much people like her deserve more dignity than they receive in this world.
The tension in the story - both parts of it - builds nicely. I thought I could see where the 1950s story was headed, but some clever (and completely plausible) twists by the author surprised me nicely. The part of the present-day story wherein Bonita comes to terms with her sister's condition at last, and recognizes the place they have in each other's lives, is particularly moving.
This is a book that could be valuable to mental health caregivers - maybe not the doctors themselves, but those who meet the day-to-day needs of mental patients. It's also a very entertaining read for the general consumer.
I read this novel last summer and looked to see if I could purchase it for my . I was very suprised to see that the book didn't have more reviews than it did. This novel is truely moving, poignant, shocking, emotional, and heartfelt. In the author's lyrical prose, the 50s comes alive, and so do the tides of emotions that the narrator experiences in growing up with a sister with a mental illness. This book is underrated. Five stars. Superb.
Loved this book
This is a well-written story populated with tragic figures. Set in October of 1995, Mary's sister Bonita narrates the series of events that followed her and Mary. The story opens with the death of their father and the plans Bonita has to make regarding his burial. Alternating chapters chronicle the girls' growing up years, 1953-54 up to 1965, when Mary graduates from high school.

Mary Gabriel, born in 1948, 5 years after Leo Kanner coined the word "autism" appears to be a severely autistic child. She shuns touch; has strong sensory reactions; has difficulty making connections between appropriate behavior and resonses and is marginally verbal. Her peers cannot understand her behavior, such as why she dumps sand on them or makes noises instead of speaking. Bonita, 5 years Mary's senior takes Mary under her wing and tries to protect her from taunts and jibes. The girls attend a local Catholic school where sympathetic nuns accomodate Mary and do their best to let Bonita have a childhood without worrying constantly over her sister.

The Gabriel family is not without their share of problems unrelated to Mary. There is the matter of the girls' maternal Aunt Diana and her tragic death in 1933, information about which is not readily forthcomng. Dr. Gabriel is a typical mid-20th century small-town doctor. He distrusts psychiatry and this becomes glaringly apparent when a neighbor named Dr. Landry moves into the house across the street. Dr. Landry's wife is mentally ill and their daughter is Mary's age.

Dr. Gabriel's aversion and distrust of pschiatrists of that era is not entirely unfounded as the prevailing belief was that parents were to blame for their children's mental illnesses and, in the case of autism, neurological conditions. Sadly, Kanner's crackpot theory of "refrigerator mothers" and Bettelheim's equally damaging and spurious claim that parents of autistic children were akin to SS Guards have caused generations of harm and many families needless mental anguish. Blaming ANY parents for emotional, mental or neurological problems their children have is stupid and counterproductive. Logic dictates that NOBODY would cause their child(ren) to have these problems and to suggest otherwise is downright cruel.

More current sensibilities have since prevailed and many professionals have determined a hereditary link in schizophrenia, autism and other neuro-chemically based conditions. While Lottie Gabriel did indeed have her share of problems, there is nothing in this book to suggest that she was mentally ill and there was absolutely nothing she did that would cause Mary's autism. Mary does not sound schizophrenic at all, the behavior and verbalizations described in this book make Mary sound like she is severely autistic. In adult life, she would cherish the delusion that she was married to newsman Dan Rather. While that is indeed delusional, it does not appear to take on the more blurry tones of schizophrenia. Mary does not hallucinate; she does not appear to have any real concept of social norms and expectations. She appears to have a very childlike view of the world and does indeed appear to be cognitively delayed. At the opening of the story, Mary is a resident in a local nursing home.

Dr. Gabriel counsels Bonita to keep her sister's behavior under wraps as much as possible. He lives by the credo of "what will the neighbors think?" and "what will people say?" He is adamant about presenting as positive an image as possible to Dr. Landry, a man he views as a patient-stealing rival. Bonita, 10 in 1953, takes on a heavy burden of protecting not only her sister, but her entire family and their small town Louisiana community.

The chapters chronicling the girls' childhood are very compelling; the writing captures their childhood innocence and age appropriate view of the world. A devastating tragedy that takes place in the winter of 1954 could have been the climax of the story, but it is not. Instead of the story languishing at that point, it builds up to a painful crescendo with devastating reverberations.

Each character, including some of the "minor" characters are all tragic figures. The sequencing of the story in alternating chapters is like musical counterpoint. The decades-apart time frames move in opposite directions, yet these two seemingly independent melodies converge in a single literary harmony.

What makes this a good story is not only are the characters plausible and well-rounded, this author stays away from cliches and predictable plots and endings. It does an excellent job of conveying the message of extending compassion to one's fellow human being.
This author is a brilliant writer! And, 'Looking for Mary Gabriel' is the best novel I have ever read ...but then, I am an older person. The author's characters are unique and true. The effect of the story is nuanced by the social situation of the readers. 'Baby Boomers' will relate well to this story, I think.

This is a book about great suffering, love, courageous fortitude, and reborn love ...warts and all!!

My husband, (who read this novel at my request) was moved to tears immediately, upon finishing this book. This book really touched him.

My husband has mild to severe ASD, (autism) and was born in the early 50's. He was undiagnosed until 2016!