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The Storm at the Door

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Stefan Merrill Block's "The Storm at the Door" is an astonishingly original, quite compelling, fictional exploration of mental illness and its devastating impact on a family; a splendid jewel of fiction that establishes him as one of the greatest writers of his generation. It is a most courageous feat of high literary art, not merely because Block has opted to imagine anew the lives of his maternal grandparents, rendering into fiction what others might regard as mere memoir, as those worth noting via his exquisite, often lyrical, prose. It is courageous in examining the legacy of his grandfather's mental illness across the vast gulf of three generations. It is courageous too in its depiction of his grandfather's residency at Mayflower Home, the fictionalized version of McLean Hospital, one of the leading mental health hospitals in the United States. And it is there, at Mayflower Home that Block depicts in prose, a dismal portrait of a 1960s mental health hospital that is as bleak as the refuse and disease-laden lanes of Limerick, Ireland portrayed so vividly by Frank McCourt in his memoir "Angela's Ashes".

Block traverses easily between the realms of fact and fiction as he spins a captivating, quite engrossing, tale that is based loosely on the real lives of his maternal grandparents, Frederick and Katharine Merrill, his mother and her sisters. His characters are richly drawn and credible, and they include not only his grandparents, but especially those at the Mayflower Home; Schultz, a Harvard professor who hears the voices of his dead relatives, victims of the Nazi Holocaust, who live on in his poignant, often all too painful, memories, Robert Lowell, a poet (a fictionalized version of the real Robert Lowell, whose poetry is cited several times), Marvin Foulds, severely afflicted with multiple personality disorder, and Albert Canon, a Harvard psychiatrist whose cruel stewardship of Mayflower House leads to Frederick's electroshock therapy "punishment" and the suicides of several inmates. And yet, as memorable as these characters are, the one who holds our greatest attention is Katharine herself, an unlikely heroine struggling to keep her family intact as her husband descends into madness.

Block has written a most moving testament on the love affair between Frederick and Katharine, and of a marriage that endures despite Frederick's infidelity and insanity. But it is also a personal, quite heartfelt, act of discovery from Block himself, seeking to reclaim a "blank page" in his family's history while transforming it still into a great work of literary fiction destined to linger in the minds of its readers. Though some have regarded "The Storm at the Door" as this generation's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"; it is quite simply, much more; an affirmation of Stefan Merrill Block as one of the greatest American writers of his generation.

Stefan Merrill Block's new book, The Storm at the Door, is a must read. As a fan of The Story of Forgetting, I anxiously awaited Block's newest work. I certainly was not disappointed in the result. This beautifully written novel is a poignant blur between fact and fiction of a family in crisis spanning three generations. The characters take readers on a journey of a failing marriage and a wife's attempt to reconcile her love for her husband and the well being of her children. Eventually, she is forced to commit her beloved Frederick to a mental institution filled with famous writers, including Robert Lowell. While the novel is based on the true story of a grandfather Block never knew, the characters inside the mental institution are fictitious accounts of their experiences in treatment.

But the glimpse inside the mental institution is just one aspect of the novel. Block also delves into the lives of his grandparents, both when Frederick lives at home and when he is in the mental hospital. His wife, Katharine, and their four daughters must carry the burden of hurt and shame while trying to appear to live normal lives. Katharine's love for her husband never diminishes and for the rest of her life she struggles to keep her family together while learning to cope with mental illness. At times the gut-wrenching novel is harsh and other times a sweet view of true love through the eyes of the grandmother. Each character is vibrant and real to the reader and Block moves through time flawlessly, alternating the narration between Frederick and Katharine.

The Storm at the Door is beautifully sculpted to place the reader right into the center of the story. Block takes us to places most never see; the reality of those struggling with mental illness and the families that must hold on to each other to survive. In Block's process of piecing together a history of his family, we all have an opportunity to take this emotionally charged journey and can extend this to find meaning in our own lives.

The summer release is perfect timing so that the book can be packed with vacation luggage. This is a must read because every reader will find a connection to the characters; in the end, we will all reflect on our own lives and find meaning in the promise for tomorrow. This book will be part of many book clubs and bookshelves for many years to come. It is a page-turner. I'm so glad I read it and had the opportunity to fall in love with it, like so many other readers will.

The first fiction book I read based on real incidents was Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD. It was a revolutionary genre. Decades later, we are presented with a brilliant chronicle of the author's grandparents as he integrates his research into a lyrical story of mental illness and love.

Frederick Merrill (note the author's middle name) is the husband of Katharine and father of four daughters. He is usually an exhilarating man with a ferocious intelligence and charming wit. Merrill served during World War II and returns as an anorexic which instantly puzzles his wife. She accepts his volatile personality and behavior often bolstered by liquor. Forward to the next twenty years as Frederick Merrill, who sporadically provides for his family, is a victim of manic passions and dangerous depressions. Bourbon often served as a catalyst for the manic episodes which seems to be a familiar theme in many intellects, such as Hemingway who also suffered from mental illness and alcoholism.

Katharine is a devoted wife, dedicated to making excuses for her husband's outrageous behavior until one night in 1962 when his actions reach a public display of nudity on a highway and he is led away in handcuffs. Katharine's friends and parents convince her to commit him to the Mayflower Home for the Mentally Ill. The story takes place near Boston and Mayflower becomes the asylum of choice for the famous; one voluntary patient is the poet Robert Lowell.

Merrill's tenure at Mayflower is a depiction of the helplessness of the mentally ill and for that matter, any prisoner. Locked up, deprived of freedom, learning the landscape to avoid solitary or electroshock treatments, is a heartbreaking commentary. Mayflower is represented as an upscale institution with the latest treatments and theories. Miltown (the Xanax or Valium of today) was distributed to reduce outbursts and ultimately alleviate energy. Since Block was not bound by fact, he used his creativity to expose his grandfather's incarceration as a man held against his will. He is at the mercy of doctors who are engulfed with their own egos. Ironically, his father-in-law pays the high fees until he tells his daughter he can no longer afford it. At this point in the story, I expected Merrill to be released as a non-paying patient but he is not.

Katharine suffers from lack of money, an unsympathetic society and a difficult life. She has mixed feelings but her anger is clouded by her constant struggle to survive economically and protect her four daughters from the social stigma of a "crazy" father.

Everyone was a prisoner. Block enlightened the reader about mental illness treatment in the 1960's but he brought the despair to an agonizing roadblock. He puts us inside of Frederick's insane and lucid mind. Entrenched with Merrill's demons and Katharine's isolation and the other inhabitants of Mayflower, Block brilliantly overlaps fact and fiction and left me breathless.

The Storm at the Door, is a brilliant, insightful, compelling look at the devastating effects, not only of mental illness itself, but of its legacy. Stefan Merrill Block, masterfully brings to life the conflicts experienced by the family of Frederick Merrill, a character modeled after the author's grandfather. The book pulls you in as you feel the tension of trying to understand this engaging, intelligent, erratic man. Block holds back nothing in describing the anguish felt by Frederick's wife, both in loving such a complicated man, and in committing him to treatment. Block masterfully describes Frederick's troubled attempts to understand his own behavior, and his conflicted love for his wife, while being treated at the Mayflower Home. Such treatment as he receives there is complicated by the somewhat arbitrary, capricious and self-serving approaches taken by Mayflower's changing administrations. Psychotropic medication is used heavily, and seems more designed to subdue the patients than to help them recover.

Even more problematic is the use of electro-shock therapy on Frederick--given to him by a psychiatrist perhaps motivated even more by his own needs to silence Frederick for something he observed, than to reduce Frederick's emotional distress.

Block's evocative descriptions of Frederick's fellow patients at the Mayflower Home, offer their own compelling stories. Perhaps the most intriguing is that of a schizophrenic linguist, whose hallucinations and obsessions raise questions about the nature of mental illness, and even about the difficulties of capturing feelings and thoughts in language. Another patient at Mayflower is the American Poet Laureate, Robert Lowell, who appears as a somewhat minor character in the book. Lowell's famous poem, "Waking in the Blue" (which is included in the book), is echoed throughout Frederick's hospitalization in a most unique manner.

In the end, Frederick's wife, Katherine, emerges as the heroine of the book, bravely balancing her own family (including four daughters), dealing with financial difficulties, struggling with keeping up appearances, and being forced to rely on her increasingly-reluctant father for financial support.

The Storm at the Door is a book, that in very lyrical, provocative and truthful fashion, raises difficult questions, and, without providing answers, contains many insights that resonate long after you are done reading.

I was prepared for many things when I sought out this book. I looked forward to references to my familiar Boston and New England. Having deposed physicians at McLean Hospital, I anticipated an enlightening, albeit fictionalized, view of its earlier history. Having a repeatedly institutionalized relative, I hoped for further insight into certain aspects of mental illness and its effects on family and loved ones.

In many respects I found what I sought. Mr. Block - particularly for one so young -- brings a fresh and descriptive eye to his fictionalized account of his grandfather's illness and his grandmother's struggle with her complicity in his institutionalization. I had been prepared for - feared even -- a searing evocation of the chaotic internal life of the patients and their brutal treatment by the medical bureaucracy. In this I was disappointed. Although lyrical, Block's writing also lacks a certain immediacy. For me, at least, Block's writing style very distancing, losing the impact of the horrific events described.

Readers may not find this an easy book. Psychiatric illness is often considered the last frontier - on the wrong side of the dividing line of what can and cannot be acknowledged and discussed. This is a frontier about which, in my youth, one heard the polite middle class nicety of "He has (voice lowered to a whisper) *cancer*." (Or is *divorced*.) We truly can argue that much has improved since the time characterized in "The Storm at the Door" - that we have left behind the sense of shame and failure which had been attendant in how mental illness was perceived and treated even in medical settings. Any book which advances us along the path of understanding and empathy is a very good thing.

Storm at the Door is pure eloquence.

There is no other way to say it. There is no other way to see it. Stefan Merrill Block grabbed me from the first sentence, and his novel still hasn't let me go.

Using the lives of his grandparents as inspiration, Merrill Block added realism to the story, even adding his own concerns to the words. Frederick is described as a creative, very bright man. He can't handle his inner world and the outer one, and as you read Storm at the Door you can see Merrill Block wondering how this DNA affects him as well.

Storm at the Door beautifully travels through time and setting: allowing the readers to see this terrible and difficult situation from all sides. We get to experience the trauma through all the players, and I found my time inside this novel mesmerizing.

Stefan Merrill Block has written a novel so irrepressibly beautiful and poetic that it left me stunned. The Storm at the Door is based on the life of his grandparents, Frederick and Katharine. Partly imagined and partly based on fact, this is the story of a troubled family dealing with mental illness, secrets, and denial. It is also about the horror and the power of a psychiatric hospital, along with the myriad patients who have enacted their trust in this institution.

Frederick and Katharine met on the cusp of World War II and were married six months later. Theirs was a love affair based mostly on correspondence and the desperation of wartime. For some unknown reason, Frederick does not finish out his service and is placed in a naval hospital. When he is released he looks like a victim of starvation. The reasons for these events are never truly clear to Katharine.

Frederick is charismatic and the life of the party. He is also rowdy and loves his bourbon. He begins to be unfaithful to Katharine early on in their marriage. He disappears for days at a time and comes home promising to change and be a better man and husband. He has lots of plans and aspirations, none of which seem to come to fruition. He cannot hold down a job for long although he has an MBA from Harvard. When he drinks, which he seems to do to self-medicate, he is inappropriate but he is usually able to steer clear of getting into all-out trouble. Katharine's goal in life is to please others and she constantly and consistently forgives Frederick his transgressions.

One auspicious evening in 1962, Frederick drinks at least five bourbons and leaves a party, borrowing a friend's raincoat. He is naked underneath. He walks up to the nearest road and flashes either his rump or his genitals to oncoming traffic. Most of the cars just peer and go on. However, two old ladies call the police and Frederick is handcuffed and taken to jail. He has the option of prison or entering a psychiatric hospital. Katharine, with the help of her friends and relatives, decides to commit him to Mayflower Hospital , a fictional hospital based on the actual McClean Hospital in Massachusetts. McClean has been a shelter for the poet Robert Lowell, singer James Taylor, and mathematician John Nash. It is supposedly the best psychiatric hospital in the country. What Katharine and Frederick do not realize, however, is that Frederick's hospitalization is not strictly voluntary. He is to remain at Mayflower until the chief psychiatrist sees fit to release him.

When Frederick first enters the hospital, it is very laid back and the patients have privileges and room to move - physically and psychically. There are cows in the pasture and the setting is idyllic, designed by the great landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted on 65 beautiful acres. Frederick has been diagnosed with manic depression and the diagnosis appears to be quite accurate.

Stories of different patients are shared with the reader. Robert Lowell, the poet, suffers from manic depression. Professor Shultz, the Harvard linguist hears sounds in the words he read. His life of loss and tragedy most likely contributed to his first psychotic break as well as his subsequent ones. Marvin, the most famous patient at Mayflower, is a man of 15 distinct personalities ranging from a French poet to Carmen Miranda. James Marshall, a war veteran with only one limb (and not all his limbs were lost in the war) folds the U.S. flag with his one remaining arm, raises it on the flag pole daily and takes it down lovingly every night to refold.

Unfortunately, the administration of the hospital changes and a psychiatrist with sadistic tendencies and a desire for complete control takes the helm. During group therapy, he delights in bringing up painful aspects of each patient's illness and they cringe in the mandated group therapy with him. He greatly betrays each and every one of them.

The novel is told in alternating viewpoints; one chapter from Katharine's and the other from Frederick's. The structure works well. We understand what Frederick is going through in the desperate situation of his hospitalization, which goes on for months. He struggles with multiple solitary confinements and ECT (electric shock) treatments. We also see how hard it is for Katharine to sustain her family as a single parent and to maintain the strength she knows that she needs to have in order to find herself. She is gaining insight on codependency and sees that her desire to please helps everyone but herself.

All of the characters are given great depth. The patients, and the extent of their illnesses, is poetically described. Block gets mental illness, both the beauty and despair that go along with it. His poetic imagery and narrative never falter and the beauty of the book is sustained until the end. This is by far one of the best books I have read in the last ten years. It is a phenomenal feat of love and writing.

Stefan Merrill Block's novel, "The Storm at the Door", uses real characters and real situations but imagines a storyline. Quite a few novels lately, including "Loving Frank", "Say Her Name", and "A Paris Wife", are written this way, and the results are hit-and-miss. I think Block - who includes both sides of his family as plot points - in "Storm", carries it off very well.

"The Mayflower" is a renowned mental health sanitarium, located near Boston, and affiliated with Harvard Medical School. The real name of the sanitarium is "McLean", and it has treated many famous, and not-so famous - patients over the years. Frederick Merrill, the author's grandfather, was treated there for depression after a life time of mental health issues, in 1962 for a few months. That's the truth, but what Block writes of his stay is fiction. Block uses the poet, Robert Lowell, in his story, but as he writes, it isn't the same "Robert Lowell" as the famous poet who was an off-and-on patient at McLean. Other patients and hospital administrators in the story are real, but, are they really? The lives of Frederick Merrill's wife and four daughters outside the walls is contrasted with Frederick's inside, with Frederick's story alternating with his wife, Katharine's.

Frederick Merrill had lived a life of emotional ups-and-downs. I suppose he would today be diagnosed as "bi-polar" (forgive me because I'm not really "up" with the psychological terms). The everyday manifestations of his illness made home life with Katharine and their daughters difficult, at best. Which Daddy would be home that night after work? Which husband would share Katharine's bed? After a spectacular breakdown - flashing old ladies on a country road - Frederick was clapped into the "Mayflower" for treatment. What happened to him there. the other patients he interacts with, and the staff who help him are the subject of Block's book.

But how easy is it for the reader to suspend belief and just go with the narrative? That's the problem with these novels based on true life, but without - possibly, anyway - the truth of the life. I'm just going to say that the reader should read the book, as I did, and go with the flow of the narrative. That's all you really can do, I think. Block's writing is beautiful.

Although this story is inspired by the author's grandparent's lives, I was disappointed that I didn't develop a better emotional connection with Frederick and Katherine. The potential was there, but I never felt it. The writing, although very good, was a bit sterile for me and that probably accounted for my lack of emotion towards the characters. I did enjoy learning about the other patients in the mental hospital and Dr. Canon, the head doctor did give it an interesting twist. Bottome line, it was just OK for me.

Stupid stupid stupid - 1 click purchase for kindle.

I read all the horrible reviews and accidentally hit purchase with on my touch screen... so regrettable.

I tried to read, in order to get my moneys worth, but could barely get through the first 50 pages and had to put it down.

Since then, I haven't returned to it and don't intend to finish it.

Disappointment. It's a romance novel in disguise!