Genealogy: A Novel (P.S.) [Paperback]

Maud Casey (Author)

Book Description

Series: P.S. | Publication Date: April 25, 2006

Meet the Hennarts: Samantha Hennart, a poet with writer's block; her husband, Bernard, obsessed with the life of a nineteenth-century Belgian mystic with stigmata; their son, Ryan, a mediocre rock musician; and their eighteen-year-old daughter, Marguerite, who is quietly losing her mind. A meditation on family, faith, and mental illness, Genealogy is an operatic story of one family's unraveling and ultimate redemption.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Samantha Hennart is about to die alone from a brain aneurysm; Casey (The Shape of Things to Come) tells her story in flashback. Bernard, Sam's English professor husband, splits the scene in upstate New York (where they live as former urbanites) upon discovering his wife flagrante delicto with the carpenter; Sam had hired him to redo the bathroom so that she might treat her manic depressive daughter, Marguerite, with hydrotherapy. Instead, teen Marguerite runs away, landing in a locked ward in Queens, and son Ryan, a marijuana addict, has already escaped to California, where he haunts morgues. Casey seems to be arguing that the family fell apart because of Sam's essential lack of interest in her children. A better bet of what ails this foursome is utter implausibility: nothing is convincing about these characters, particularly the dialogue, which is heavy on irony and light on authenticity. "Where is your italicist?" Sam asks of her husband. "You know, the little man who jumps up and down behind you whenever you make a really important point?" He's nowhere to be found here. (May)
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From Booklist

The long-married mother of two, Samantha Hennart is obsessed with quoting from the sixth-century Rule of St. Benedict, while her ne'er-do-well English professor husband, Bernard, is obsessed with nineteenth--century Belgian stigmatic Louise Lateau. This all makes for rather moribund conversations around the dinner table on mandatory family dinner night, which is just one of the reasons their son, 25-year-old rock musician Ryan, takes off for California. The other reasons all involve his complicated relationship with his unstable 18-year-old sister, Marguerite, whom he has virtually raised, and who takes off after him only to land in a mental hospital. The hospital scenes are among the novel's best, as Marguerite, in the grip of hallucinations, spews illogical dialogue that makes a crazy kind of sense. Casey injects her family domestic drama with a deeply philosophical base and sonorous meditations on the notion of attaining ecstasy in everyday life, but the novel only really gets cooking midway through. Samantha and Bernard's circular conversations about their dying marriage grow tedious; it's the kids who make Casey's prose sing. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (April 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060740892
• ISBN-13: 978-0060740894
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,971,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great characters, great story, worth every minute, April 3, 2008

By 

Jonas (NE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Genealogy: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

Dear Patient Reader: Don't let the poor reviews fool you. Maud Casey's Genealogy is one of the finest books I've read, in a long, long time. Casey has a great deal of wit in her writing; simultaneously, she creates characters the reader will care for. There is laughter, but there is also pain. There is love, but there is also isolation. Her characters are unique, but when reading this novel, the reader can discover how alike they are in so many ways. Casey's language is poetic, feeling like the gentle tide coming in again and again. Please, invest in this book. You will not be disappointed.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars intriguing character study, April 25, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Genealogy: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

In her forties and all alone Samantha Hennart collapses on her kitchen floor from an aneurysm. No one is there for her as her spouse Bernard left her after he caught her having sex with a carpenter; her son Ryan lives on the other coast; and their teen daughter Marguerite is in a mental hospital. How did she and her once loved ones get to this state that an acquaintance has to tell them what has happened.

Twenty years ago Sam was a poet, but has not written a line since. She failed as a wife and worse as a mother. Her son is on the road with his rock band not looking back; her daughter desperately needs psychiatric help, but no one is there for her; and her spouse finds solace researching information on a nineteenth century Belgium stigmata mystic cholera survivor, Louise Lateau, who has become the love of his life. How they got there is the rest of the story.

This intriguing character study looks closely at how a family got to a pivotal moment in their lives. The story line is fascinating as readers learn what events led to the disintegration of this family of four. Though the husband and children fail to seem fully developed, fans of family drams will enjoy Maud Casey's look at how the shape of things to came into being.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Irritating characters, crummy editing, June 18, 2006

By 

Nanabird "nanabird4" (WICHITA, KS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Genealogy: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

This book looked interesting, but halfway through I am finding it so irritating that I may not finish it. The main characters are unappealing so far; here's hoping they change.

Who edited this book? The editing is poor enough to stand out; the who's for whom's are not as bad, however, as the whom's and whomever's replacing their nominative forms.

For me, this book is a waste of time.