Flesh Wounds [Mass Market Paperback]

Mick Cochrane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

When the police come to arrest Minneapolis salesman Hal Lamm for molesting his thirteen-year-old granddaughter, his whole family is compelled to face its secrets and unhealed wounds. His wife, Phyllis, after decades of denial and emotional estrangement, draws closer to her children and finds the strength to confront her husband. His daughter, Ellie, had relished her distance from her parents, but now discovers strength in the midst of her troubled family. Cal is an attorney whose first instinct is to defend Hal--until he becomes a father himself. Most poignant of all is the story of Becky, Hal's granddaughter: unconsoled by the parties and presents her parents give her, and suspicious of the therapist she is required to visit, she keeps her rage hidden--and nearly tears herself apart. Written with genuine empathy, Flesh Wounds grips the reader and doesn't let go until its climax of hard-earned reconciliation.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this promising first novel, Hal Lamm, the father of four grown children, is arrested for the sexual abuse of his 13-year-old granddaughter, Becky. In support of her daughter, Ellie issues a statement regarding her own childhood sexual abuse by Hal. The arrest is a catalyst for Hal's grown children to attempt to come to terms with their disturbing memories of child abuse. Cochrane writes in clear, simple prose as he tells the story through the minds of the most affected family members. Although Cochrane concludes with reconciliation for most of the family, he fails to bring Becky out of her current state of crisis. For readers with low tolerance to abuse, the novel is not as descriptively harsh as the title suggests. Cochrane is able to measure feeling without going into great detail about the abuse itself. Recommended for most libraries.?Judith Ann Akalaitis, Supreme Court of Illinois Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

In Cochrane's closely observed and confident first novel, three generations of a Minneapolis family struggle to regain equilibrium after the clan's patriarch is arrested for sexually abusing his granddaughter. Hal Lamm, a 60ish grandfather and salesman, is arrested for having molested 13-year-old Becky. The charges are corroborated by Hal's grown daughter Ellie, who tells the police about her own history of abuse by Hal; meanwhile, Maureen, another daughter, keeps quiet. Hal hires a good lawyer and gets off with probation, but the family can no longer sustain its denial. Becky stops eating meat and dutifully attends sessions with a psychologist, while her parents impose a big birthday party on her complete with kids she doesn't know and inappropriately lavish presents. At the same time, Ellie has a hard time sharing her agitation with her lumbering but sensitive husband: The incident has awakened both good and bad childhood memories, reigniting her rage at her father and also at her mother, Phyllis, who never believed her daughter's complaints. Now, Phyllis sleepwalks her way to Partners of Offenders meetings and contends with unfamiliar stomach pains until she numbly manages to file for a divorce. Calvin, the youngest Lamm son, is furiously determined to keep his own daughter, Grace, away from his dad. And so on: The siblings, their spouses, and children come together to help Phyllis sell the family house, in the process fumbling toward new trust. They'll all be tested once again when it's discovered that Phyllis is suffering from cancer. The recovery-from-child-abuse drama is less noteworthy here than the subtle, moving portrait of family secrets, hidden angers, and tentative forgiveness. Cochrane achieves cool control with carefully constructed scenes that yield small, psychologically resonant moments, lending weight and unpredictability to material that's potentially hackneyed. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140277226
• ISBN-13: 978-0140277227
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,394,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mick Cochrane was born and raised in St. Paul, MN. He graduated with an English major from the University of St. Thomas and earned a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Minnesota. He is the author of three novels: Flesh Wounds (Nan Talese/Doubleday), which was named a finalist in Barnes and Noble's Discover Great New Writers Competition; Sport, (St. Martin's), selected for the annual New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age List; and The Girl Who Threw Butterflies (Knopf Books for Young Readers). Currently he is professor of English and Lowery Writer-in-Residence at Canisius College, where he teaches courses in writing and literature, directs the creative writing program, and coordinates the Contemporary Writers Series. He lives in Kenmore, NY, with his wife and two sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Elegant writing, November 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Flesh Wounds (Hardcover)

A novel of pain and regeneration, of characters surviving life's large garbage days. Cochrane peoples this story of child abuse that spawns child abuse with a style notable for its directness. Namely, he doesn't feel the need to show off. Flaws and all, these characters speak on their own. The dialogue is also relentlessly accurate, a rarity in a time when our fictional conversations rarely sound right. This novel has its taproot in honesty, and while the plot summary you'll see above might read like an episode of a horrid talk show, Cochrane instead renders a family torn by abuse with elegance and caring. This is a fine book by a fine writer, one who will no doubt present a equally well-done but richer novel his next time out. Buy the book, remember his name.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Elegant Writing, July 9, 2002

By 

Jack Williams (Atlanta, Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flesh Wounds (Mass Market Paperback)

A novel of pain and regeneration, of characters surviving life's large garbage days. Cochrane peoples this story of child abuse that spawns child abuse with a style notable for its directness. Namely, he doesn't feel the need to show off. Flaws and all, these characters speak on their own. The dialogue is also relentlessly accurate, a rarity in a time when our fictional conversations rarely sound right.

This novel has its taproot in honesty, and while the plot summary you'll see above might read like an episode of a horrid talk show, Cochrane instead renders a family torn by abuse with elegance and caring. This is a fine book by a fine writer, one who will no doubt present an equally well-done but richer novel his next time out. Buy the book, remember his name

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Movie Material, August 15, 2003

By 

Maureen A. Blake (Purcellville, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flesh Wounds (Hardcover)

I couldn't help but visualize this book as a movie. Perhaps because the dialogue is so masterfully written, it read to me like a script with beautifully descriptive passages rounding out the setting as a backdrop to the words of the characters. Yet it is what mostly remains unspoken that is so dramatically conveyed as Cochrane bravely addresses the issue of abuse which though not often talked about is so intregal to the lives of the characters. The story itself seems to be a microcosm of society in which abuse is so often dimissed rather than analyzed. This book captures humanity like a Graham Greene novel, one in which we see the power of forgiveness and are left with a hope of redemption really being a possibility alongside the brokeness of people whose lives still remain shattered. The real victims appear to be those who are not yet able to forgive- whether themselves or others. I highly recommend this book as one which will move you and provoke thought while entertaining with it's intriguing story.