Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Ballantine Books (2007), Edition: Reprint, 288 pages
Description
"One morning, Alice Brill awakes with a sudden awareness that something is wrong. There's a hollowness in her chest, and a sensation of dread that she can't identify or shake. Was it something she'd done, or forgotten to do? As she scours her mind for the source of her unease, she confronts an array of disturbing possibilities." "First, there is her marriage, a once vibrant relationship that now languishes in stasis. Then there's her idle, misdirected younger son, who always needs bailing out of some difficulty. Or perhaps Alice's trepidation is caused by the loss of her career as an editor at a large publishing house, and the new path she's paved for herself as a freelance book doctor. Or it might be the real doctor in her life: her father. Formerly one of New York's top surgeons, he now lives in a nursing home, his mind gripped by dementia. And the Eden that was Alice's childhood - the material benefits and reflected glory of being a successful doctor's daughter, the romance of her parents' famously perfect marriage - makes her own domestic life seem fatally flawed." "While struggling to find the root of her restlessness, Alice is buoyed by her discovery of a talented new writer, a man who works by day as a machinist in Michigan. Soon their interactions and feelings intensify, and Alice realizes that the mystery she's been trying to solve lies not in the present, as she had assumed, but in the past - and in the secrets of a marriage that was never as perfect as it appeared."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member BinnieBee
Well, here we go again. What is it with all these 40-something wives that makes them so unhappy with their nearly perfect husbands? Other than that, the book was well-written and an interesting read.
LibraryThing member bobbieharv
A lovely novel, about a woman "book doctor," her affair with one of her younger clients, her marriage breakup and reconciliation, and her discovery about her father's affair with his nurse. Wonderful writing.
LibraryThing member msbaba
The Doctor's Daughter by Hilma Wolitzer is an intelligently written mystery of self-discovery. Ultimately, it is about a woman coming to terms with the person she has become.
In the beginning of the story, the protagonist, Alice Brill, has a strange, malignant feeling in her chest. The book takes
Both Alice and her husband are highly educated literary scholars who married with a lovely dream of supporting each other's successful literary career. But after more than two decades of marriage, Alice only sees herself as "a failed Scheherazade who couldn't keep anybody alive with her stories." Instead of creating literature, she earns her living as an editor, a book doctor. She buries her dream of creating her own works of fiction, instead she doctors others' works. Her husband also must bury his literary ambitions after the financial realities of their first child's birth make him take a position in his family's printing business.
The novel takes us on a journey of recollections through Alice's life. Along the way, we get to know her mother, the successful published poet who suddenly stops publishing. Why? We get to know her father, the brilliant, autocratic, narcissistic surgeon. All her life, Alice has a lived in the cocoon fiction of her parent's marital bliss. But is that true? She sees possibilities that all may not have been right with their marriage. Her father is now in a nursing home in the later stage of Alzheimer's, so he is little help in leading her toward the answers to her questions. There seems to be something important that happened back when she was a child that is somehow at the root of the blindingly white, bad feelings that keep reccurring. Along the path toward Alice's destiny with self-discovery, are subplots of therapy, lust, friendship, and marital infidelity.
The Doctor's Daughter is good, intelligent, psychological fiction. I look forward to reading more by Hilma Wolitzer. In my estimation, this author can rest assured that she is not, like her protagonist, "a failed Scheherazade."
In the beginning of the story, the protagonist, Alice Brill, has a strange, malignant feeling in her chest. The book takes
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us on a quest to find out what ails her. Is it breast cancer? Is it a failing in her marriage—a failing in her career? Why did her mother's literary career suddenly stop when she was a child? What seems to be dying inside her: Is it her body or her soul?Both Alice and her husband are highly educated literary scholars who married with a lovely dream of supporting each other's successful literary career. But after more than two decades of marriage, Alice only sees herself as "a failed Scheherazade who couldn't keep anybody alive with her stories." Instead of creating literature, she earns her living as an editor, a book doctor. She buries her dream of creating her own works of fiction, instead she doctors others' works. Her husband also must bury his literary ambitions after the financial realities of their first child's birth make him take a position in his family's printing business.
The novel takes us on a journey of recollections through Alice's life. Along the way, we get to know her mother, the successful published poet who suddenly stops publishing. Why? We get to know her father, the brilliant, autocratic, narcissistic surgeon. All her life, Alice has a lived in the cocoon fiction of her parent's marital bliss. But is that true? She sees possibilities that all may not have been right with their marriage. Her father is now in a nursing home in the later stage of Alzheimer's, so he is little help in leading her toward the answers to her questions. There seems to be something important that happened back when she was a child that is somehow at the root of the blindingly white, bad feelings that keep reccurring. Along the path toward Alice's destiny with self-discovery, are subplots of therapy, lust, friendship, and marital infidelity.
The Doctor's Daughter is good, intelligent, psychological fiction. I look forward to reading more by Hilma Wolitzer. In my estimation, this author can rest assured that she is not, like her protagonist, "a failed Scheherazade."
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LibraryThing member Alirambles
What I loved about this book is the way all the main character's relationships are complicated. She adores her best friend but there's a rivalry there that prevents complete honesty. She becomes increasingly estranged from her husband but still loves him. She has an affair with a man she has very
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mixed feelings about, and so on. This book made me want to read every other book Hilma Wolitzer wrote. Unfortunately for me, I think I started with her best. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookwormteri
I don't think that I like this book, but I could not put it down. I felt that it was VERY anticlimactic.
Alice Brill is a restless woman that can't quite figure out why she feels that something is very wrong. Her job is fine, her marriage is ok, and her children are grown up. But she can't put away
Alice Brill is a restless woman that can't quite figure out why she feels that something is very wrong. Her job is fine, her marriage is ok, and her children are grown up. But she can't put away
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this feeling. She feels like the secret lies in her past, but her parents are able to talk to her about it because her mother is dead and her dad has dementia. Show Less
LibraryThing member gwendolyndawson
A writer/editor comes to terms with her family history and the fallibility of memory. One morning Alice Brill awakes with a sudden awareness that something is wrong. In her voyage to discover the cause of her feeling, she questions her writing/career, her marriage, her family, her friendships, and
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eventually accepts that life is never as perfect as it appears. Very well-written. I enjoyed the interplay between memory and reality. Show Less
LibraryThing member TimBazzett
Hilma Wolitzer's novel, THE DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER, covers a year in the life of Alice Brill, married and the mother of three grown children, as she muddles through what appears to be a mid-life crisis. Downsized out of her job at a major New York publisher, now a freelance editor, Alice is in her early
So, yeah, this is a story that really sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages. I had a couple of problems with it though. One is that it is told in the first person; all Alice, in other words, which consigns all other characters to somewhat undeveloped bit parts. The other problem for me is a "visceral" one. Alice's life, from her childhood on, has been one of extreme privilege. Her family was upper class, i.e. wealthy with a capital W. Even her room as a child was once featured in a House Beautiful sort of magazine. She went to private schools and college, the Iowa Writers Workshop, etc. (So, okay, she never made it as a writer, but how many hopefuls ever do?) Her life as an adult continued in the same vein as witnessed by her constant stream of references to "luncheon dates" in trendy delis and very upscale restaurants, vacations to Martha's Vineyard or Europe, regular visits to a shrink, special treatment from doctors, etc. Money has obviously never been a problem. I mean this is a wealthy woman from a wealthy background who is accustomed to going straight to the head of the line. So, although I did love the story - Wolitzer is a wonderful writer - as it progressed I began to dislike Alice Brill. I mean, she had a good husband, two of her kids were doing fine, and two outa three ain't bad, ya know? Then, because she has this uneasy feeling about things, she drives her husband out of the house and then cheats on him. I mean, what the hell, Alice? Are you crazy?
And maybe that's the real point of all this. A bit of mid-life craziness. And if you're rich, you can afford it. And I know, I know. This is a purely subjective reaction on my part. My own very middle-class upbringing showing. But there it is, okay?
One of the jacket blurbs, from another writer I guiltily admire, Elizabeth Berg, calls the novel "lovely ... intelligent, perceptive and rich." And I agree, but it's the "rich" that stood out for this middle class Midwest kid. Another favorite writer of mine, Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout, calls the book "intensely readable." Again, I agree completely. I had trouble putting the book down, but by the time I was halfway in, the attraction was becoming more and more like watching a train wreck. I kept wondering what the hell are you gonna do next, Alice?
Enough said. It really was a gripping read. But Alice? You need to finish growing up, lady, and learn to appreciate what you have. A very non-objective and unprofessional comment, I suppose, but maybe it's testament to how well Hilma Wolitzer can draw you into her fictional world. I'm not done reading Wolitzer. She's just too damn talented to dismiss. So I'll say this about THE DOCTOR's DAUGHTER: highly recommended, but you po' folks beware - unless you're fans of those so-called 'reality' shows about the Housewives, then you'll probably eat this up. Aw hell. I LIKED the book, okay? The BOOK, not the narrator.
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fifties and suddenly has an "uncomfortable feeling" which causes her to examine her life more closely. She begins to question her impulsive "we-got-married-in-a-fever" marriage to Everett Carroll, who was an MFA writing classmate at Iowa when her mother succumbed to cancer. She is plagued by vague "recovered" memories about her father, a renowned surgeon who is now in a mursing home with dementia. Her youngest child, Scott, is unsettled and dishonest, a constant bone of contention for her and her husband. Alice begins seeing a shrink to try to sort out all this stuff. Her husband moves out. She has an affair with one of her writer-clients, a much younger man - a purely 'visceral' cathartic relationship (and maybe even a bit sleazy).So, yeah, this is a story that really sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages. I had a couple of problems with it though. One is that it is told in the first person; all Alice, in other words, which consigns all other characters to somewhat undeveloped bit parts. The other problem for me is a "visceral" one. Alice's life, from her childhood on, has been one of extreme privilege. Her family was upper class, i.e. wealthy with a capital W. Even her room as a child was once featured in a House Beautiful sort of magazine. She went to private schools and college, the Iowa Writers Workshop, etc. (So, okay, she never made it as a writer, but how many hopefuls ever do?) Her life as an adult continued in the same vein as witnessed by her constant stream of references to "luncheon dates" in trendy delis and very upscale restaurants, vacations to Martha's Vineyard or Europe, regular visits to a shrink, special treatment from doctors, etc. Money has obviously never been a problem. I mean this is a wealthy woman from a wealthy background who is accustomed to going straight to the head of the line. So, although I did love the story - Wolitzer is a wonderful writer - as it progressed I began to dislike Alice Brill. I mean, she had a good husband, two of her kids were doing fine, and two outa three ain't bad, ya know? Then, because she has this uneasy feeling about things, she drives her husband out of the house and then cheats on him. I mean, what the hell, Alice? Are you crazy?
And maybe that's the real point of all this. A bit of mid-life craziness. And if you're rich, you can afford it. And I know, I know. This is a purely subjective reaction on my part. My own very middle-class upbringing showing. But there it is, okay?
One of the jacket blurbs, from another writer I guiltily admire, Elizabeth Berg, calls the novel "lovely ... intelligent, perceptive and rich." And I agree, but it's the "rich" that stood out for this middle class Midwest kid. Another favorite writer of mine, Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout, calls the book "intensely readable." Again, I agree completely. I had trouble putting the book down, but by the time I was halfway in, the attraction was becoming more and more like watching a train wreck. I kept wondering what the hell are you gonna do next, Alice?
Enough said. It really was a gripping read. But Alice? You need to finish growing up, lady, and learn to appreciate what you have. A very non-objective and unprofessional comment, I suppose, but maybe it's testament to how well Hilma Wolitzer can draw you into her fictional world. I'm not done reading Wolitzer. She's just too damn talented to dismiss. So I'll say this about THE DOCTOR's DAUGHTER: highly recommended, but you po' folks beware - unless you're fans of those so-called 'reality' shows about the Housewives, then you'll probably eat this up. Aw hell. I LIKED the book, okay? The BOOK, not the narrator.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
288 p.; 5.23 inches
ISBN
0345485858 / 9780345485854
Local notes
fiction