The Healer [Hardcover]

Michael Blumlein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 5, 2005

Payne is a member of a minority offshoot of humanity called Grotesques who have the ability to effect phenomenal healings, which makes them a valuable commodity in their world. Sadly, such gifted healers live a life somewhere between that of a possession and a slave. "The Healer" is a story of human life and death, human rites and rituals, seen through the eyes of an outsider, one who knows humans better, perhaps, than they know themselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Blumlein's haunting literary SF novel, Payne, a "Grotesque" (or "Tesque"), can draw disease from patients into his own body, then extrude the sickness as an abstractly shaped "Concretion" from an organ in his side. Few Tesques—whose misshapen appearance from a bump on the skull distinguishes them from normal humans—develop the ability to heal. Taken from his family to train as a physician, Payne imagines the fulfillment to be found in helping others, despite the prejudice most people have against Tesques. Driven by idealism, he attempts to cure a fellow healer of "the Drain," an affliction that's slowly destroying her talent. But Payne reverses the problem, leaving her too sensitive to work. Later, searching for forgiveness, he works to save a small church, only to be rejected by its new congregation. "Sometimes a patient had to be brought to the very brink of death before... he could be healed," Dr. Blumlein (The Movement of Mountains) tells us, and this original, surreal and extraordinary book shows why. Blurbs from Kim Stanley Robinson and Peter Straub, as well as the author's status as a finalist for World Fantasy and Stoker awards, bode well for sales.
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From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–This haunting work takes place in a well-imagined world populated by two races: humans and grotesques. Although essentially human, grotesques are looked down upon because of their unsightly cranial ridges and distorted, asymmetrical bodies. A small number of them develop the ability to heal others by pulling infected or diseased material into their own bodies and then expelling it through an orifice in their chests. This places these special grotesques, dubbed healers, in high demand and enslaves them to the needs and whims of humans. Overworked, most healers have a short life span–a small blessing. The novel tracks Payne, starting with his recruitment. He spends his early days working for a mining colony, healing the odd broken limb or respiratory problem. Then his superiors discover that he is one of the most skilled and powerful healers in generations, and he becomes a pawn for both human rulers and grotesques fighting for their independence. Payne rarely makes real decisions for himself. The dark and disturbing ending, however, develops fully out of a difficult choice he does make, delivering a glimmer of hope for him and for the world in which he lives. Fresh and surprising, the conclusion delivers a message that lingers.–Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 361 pages
• Publisher: Pyr; First Edition edition (July 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591023149
• ISBN-13: 978-1591023142
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,417,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Written Book, January 1, 2006

By 

W. D LaRue (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Healer (Hardcover)

First off, I am somewhat baffled why anyone would have trouble understanding terms and pronouns used in this book. I had no problem whatsoever.That said, the ending was a bit abrupt but I have no strong issues with that, either.This is a wonderful character study of a naive, idealistic young healer (called Grotesques or "Tesques"; not quite "Humans"). As he develops he loses a lot of his naivety but never his idealism . His is and remains throughout the book a likeable, positive character. Yet, he does question the civilization he is part of and tries to make sense of the way things are and in his quiet way tries to make changes.This is one of my favorite types of books...it is one that is meant to be read slowly, savored, and makes me think.Part of the nature of this book seems to be the relationship between the healer and the healed and fascinating issues are raised here, yet not in any heavy handed way. I was very pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and thought-provoking, May 11, 2007

By 

Susan O'Neill (Andover, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Healer (Hardcover)

Payne is a Candide-esque innocent in love with the healing craft that makes him both a vital commodity and a third-class citizen in the world of humanity (his asymmetrical skull and the mouth-like orifice in his side identify him as a "tesque," which automatically ranks him second-class). In Healer, he strives to find his very particular place in a divided, troubled world much like our own.

Payne's journey pulled me in, and I found myself emphathizing with his struggles to find freedom within discrimination, charity in religion, relevance in activism, and love amid loneliness, confusion and treachery. Blumlein writes of passion with a restrained hand; his infrequent and subtle point-of-view shifts add a wry clarity to Payne's plight as outcast. At times I found myself shaking my head over the young healer's naivité; at other times I wanted to shake Payne himself. In one particularly memorable scene, when he appears before the woman he loves in new clothes, his hair carefully combed, wearing a bit too much scent, I cringed at his comically sad and all-too-human insecurity. What the author says, through his characters and his setting, is interesting and relevant; the way he says it is masterful. He uses fantasy lightly and well to highlight fundamental moral issues that bedevil our own lives.

The ending, another reviewer noted, was sudden. However, I found it a fitting climax to Payne's quest, beautiful and thought-provoking. I would recommend this book to readers, like me, who like their sci-fi more fi than sci, readers who might prefer the likes of Octavia Butler or Ray Bradbury over Michael Crighton.

Susan O'Neill, author: Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Vietnam

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars from a regular reader, November 6, 2006

By 

Brian G. Bayliss "powellgibson" (Winchester, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Healer (Hardcover)

This is a great read full of insight to the human condition. I won't go much further, but did want to recommend this to those in question.