Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 22, 1990 TAG: 9004220249
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It would be easy to pity Ruth Sienkiewicz-Mercer. Paralyzed in infancy with cerebral palsy, she was literally trapped inside a body that no amount of will or effort could move. Lacking the resources and stamina to care for her, her parents sent her to the notorious Belchertown State School in Massachusetts where she was abused and denied even the most basic human rights.
Ruth, the staff thought, couldn't think or communicate. But she could. For most of the 16 years she lived at Belchertown, only a handful of people knew there was an intelligent - and communicative - person living in Ruth's withering body.
And she can communicate. She narrated much of this book to her collaborator, Steven Kaplan, on word boards - heavy pieces of cardboard with a total of about 1,800 words and phrases. She uses the word boards by directing the listener to a word with her eyes and the few sounds she is able to make. When several words have been found, the listener can then ask a series of yes and no questions to complete the story Sienkiewicz-Mercer began. A frown means no. Raised eyes mean yes.
It would be easy for such a person as Sienkiewicz-Mercer to be filled with self-pity. But she isn't and neither is this book. Her memoir of her time at Belchertown and how she finally was able to leave, live independently and marry is straightforward. She is funny, sad, angry and hurt; she feels pain, loneliness and love.
- STEPHANIE TAMES
Everything But the Squeal By Timothy Hallinan. N.A.L. Books. $16.95.
Hallinan's Simeon Grist, LA private detective, is good. He could become a third-generation successor to Chandler's Philip Marlowe and Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer. Hallinan strains too much for the old cleverness, but is a gifted, clever storyteller. He will probably iron out the wrinkles by the time he gets to his fourth or fifth Grist novel.
I can't recommend "Everything But the Squeal," though, because it is relentlessly obscene. Hallinan's subject is the prostitution, torture and murder of children. His title, an old line from the pork-butchering business, describes his approach. There has to be restraint in fiction about crime; Chandler and MacDonald understood that, and Hallinan should learn from them. For the first time in 30 years of writing book reviews, I threw a review copy in the trash can.
- TOM SHAFFER
Miracles By Susan Hufford. Dutton. $19.95.
Susan Hufford's flowing and hard-to-put-down new novel centers on the lives of two women, good friends whose differences create lasting bonds. The story begins in 1964, at Annie Berger's wedding to Morris Finkleman on beautiful Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island. Ve, Vera Spencer, is Annie's "best person" and best friend, though the girls' backgrounds are widely different. Annie is from France via New York. Ve is from a farm in the Midwest. They are initially drawn together through art - painting for Annie and photography for Ve. The wedding day is a success and proves to be one of their last shared memories as, gradually, Annie and Ve grow widely apart.
The stories come back together in 1986. Ve's star has risen at Vogue magazine while Annie has devoted herself to her artist husband's career. In addition to turning herself into the perfect business woman, Ve is also the perfect partner in the "perfect marriage" which, now, leaves her strangely restless. At the same time, Annie is gripped by a terrible illness for which the only real cure might be a "miracle."
Ve and Annie are human and flawed, but each is capable of the miracles of the title. Hufford's is a thoroughly satisfying novel that will leave readers warmed but definitely wanting more.
- HARRIET LITTLE
by CNB