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What's Wrong With Dorfman?

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"What's Wrong With Dorfman?" may just turn out to be L.A. writer John Blumenthal's "breakthrough" book, bringing him the national audience he really deserves. And the title of his novel, What's Wrong With Dorfman?" (WWWD) may turn out to be the battle cry of the first decade of this new millennium, bringing to mind other questions such as "What's wrong with America?" and "What's wrong with everyone?" Martin Dorfman may go down in literary history as John Blumenthal's liveliest creation. What's wrong with Martin Dorfman? Plenty. The book is great! The novel is a thoughtful, hilarious read, from beginning to end. If any US satirist deserves to be "discovered" at this point in time, it's Blumenthal, a veteran Hollywood screenwriter who knows the ins and outs of Tinseltown, and has honed his craft in the belly of the beast. The book is a witty, LOL study of Americana, and brings to mind the works of Nathaniel West. If you are looking for a summer pick-me-up, Blumenthal's latest book is perfect for the beach, the airplane or your air-conditioned living room.

Martin Dorfman is sick and no one knows what is wrong. John Blumenthal turns this story of illness into a very human and funny look at life. Dorfman is the son of a physician, and he knows all about illnesses. He spends thousands of dollars on tests, owns a personal medical library, but won't to talk to his father about his health.

Through flashbacks we learn the family history. Blumenthal masterfully maintains the shifting timelines throughout his story and easily avoids the confusion of when, where and who is speaking. During the lively, distinct conversations I never wondered "Who is talking?" He avoided the overuse of "he said/ she said" by clearly defining people by their words -- I felt as if I were listening to conversations rather than reading them in a book.

The story is also about the difficulties in Dorfman's screen writing career, and what it takes to turn a script into a movie. In the end, Dorfman's writing career is back on-track and he has found an answer for his health.

I recommend this book with five stars or 10/10 points; it brought me laughter even through my own difficult personal trials.

This was an interesting book to run across when I was looking for something light to take me away from the constant War news and my own health issues.

The scare of Anthrax and other biological or chemical weapons threatening America, and our reactions, made this the perfect book to capture the essence of humanity.

Martin Dorfman knew he was sick, and went through a barrage of painful tests several times. Haven't you ever felt sick, and nobody could help you get enough energy back to even venture out of the house? Martin whines, but the last time I was in the hospital, I did too.

What I found most encouraging about the book is Martin:
1-- never gave up
2-- took responsibility for his health
3-- studied medical and drug interaction books for clues
4-- was ashamed of his lethargy
5-- faced the suicide question that happens in long term illness, and chose life.

What I found entertaining:
1-- Wry wit
2-- Same personal trials we all face
3-- Very few "he said, she cried, he yelled" -- they weren't needed because it was clear who was talking by the words and the manner they spoke.

There are some negative reviews on this book, and if I had only read a chapter I might be one of them. But as I began to know Martin I laughed with a perfect whiner's plight...

Meet Martin Dorfman, a just-turned-40 wannabe Hollywood screenwriter who, after a decade of struggling, has yet to have any of his scripts picked up by a Tinseltown studio. Now, if life in Paradise wasn't imperfect enough, he begins suffering from bouts of nausea, dizziness, abdominal discomfort, loss of appetite, and a general malaise. What does the local medical establishment diagnose after blood tests, CAT scan, MRI, colonoscopy, and stool exam for parasites? Absolutely nothing. (And what part of "zilch" doesn't he understand?) Well then, WHAT'S WRONG WITH DORFMAN?

As Marty's condition becomes long-term chronic, he resorts to the usual medley of Southern California remedies: exotic herbal treatments, special diets, and psychotherapy. (I mean, how LA!) His only comfort comes from a friendship with a fellow sufferer and wannabe actress whom he meets in his doctor's office. His attraction to Delilah is based on symbiotic self-pity and a quirky fascination:

"(Delilah) is now fiddling with her brown recycled napkin, tearing it into shreds and carefully arranging the shreds in a line around her fork. Bored with this, she begins turning the shreds into little spitballs. Curiously, I find this neurotic display attractive."

Author John Blumenthal takes the reader back and forth between Dorfman's miserable present, and his miserable childhood past in a household headed by his father, Felix, and mother, Gloria. The former is a dysfunctional physician, who over-diagnoses his own family's minor afflictions, and the latter is simply long-suffering. Then there are the other important characters in the plot: Martin's sister Phoebe, wife Ursula, daughter Amanda, agent Gavin, and shrink Nora.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH DORFMAN? starts out acceptably amusing, and continues in that vein for about two-thirds of the book. I grant it that. Then, the humor seeps away, like blood from an open cut, to an anemic conclusion. None of Dorfman's relationships, except perhaps that with his father, are developed beyond the superficial. For example, the reader barely becomes acquainted with the three women in Martin's life that would seemingly have importance: Gloria, Phoebe, and Ursula. I finished the novel with a marked feeling of disappointment. I wanted to know more about the storyline's critical path, and less about the tangential subplots. For instance, why did Gloria absent herself from the family for six months when Martin and Phoebe were just children? In any case, by the time I finished the last page, I couldn't muster even a chuckle, and my overall response was "OK, so?" Perhaps, the author would have done better not to write this as a humorous piece, but beef it up and present it as serious fiction about the psychological harm sometimes inflicted by parents on their offspring.

I thought this was a fun book to read. As Dorfman goes back and forth between doctors and charlatans looking for a cure to his unknown ailment, he enlightens us about his past and his childhood, which of course, involves his somewhat strange parents. John Blumenthal has written a hilarious novel with a refreshing originality. I pictured the protaganist as a Martin Short type character that he had played in the movie 'Inner Space'.

One complaint I have is the quality of the publishers binding. The book was starting to fall apart when I started reading it and I had to treat it with great care to finish it. Not to worry. With the quality of writing that John Blumenthal is coming out with, I see a bigger and better publisher waiting in the wings.

Highly recommended for fun and laughs. You might just see a bit of your own self.

Funny, poignant, intelligent and intensely entertaining, author Blumenthal writes with the instincts of an accomplished screenwriter and master comedian. In the style of Woody Allen and Jerry Seinfeld, he sifts moments of brilliant humor from both ordinary and extraordinary everyday events. As his main character, Dorfman, begins to peel back the layers of experiences and events that have shaped who he is, we alternately laugh out loud, marvel at, and identify with the wonderful mix of drama and comedy that comprises his life. Watching Dorfman triumph is a hoot--- universally appealing and uplifting...so ANYONE (with a working sense of humor) will enjoy this book! It's well-written, thought-provoking and funny as hell. What's Wrong with Dorfman is a great read---immensely satisfying and memorable. I highly recommend it.

John Blumenthal's "What's Wrong with Dorfman" offered me something I sorely needed--an escape from the troubles that life has to offer. It's entertaining, provocative, laugh-out-loud funny, and never boring. The author has a great gift with written words, and he takes us into the life of a troubled man with a dysfunctional past, something so many people can relate to, with surprising ease.

As I closed the book at the last page, I realized that life is a journey we all take. How successful that journey is, I suppose, depends upon how capable we are of laughing at ourselves.

"What's Wrong with Dorfman?" Read the book and find out. You won't be sorry.

What's Wrong With Dorfman is a funny, yet incisive look at the middle years when you deal with getting older and finding that you may not reach the top of your profession. Coming from a truly twisted family (didn't we all?), Dorfman has to deal with finding himself seperate from his career and looking at his eventual mortality. Dogged with self doubts and a non-fatal but otherwise truly uncomfortable set of symptoms, Dorfman has to struggle his way through the Hollywood thicket of politics and petty theives to get his manuscript purchased and produced. Truly a delightful book. A great read.

Life is collapsing for Los Angeles screenwriter Martin Dorfman. In his mind the end of days have arrived as the signs are obvious since film producers ignore his efforts and his agent refuses to answer his calls or return them. He feels like death as a mysterious disease attacks his body; neither his doctor, other physicians, an herbalist nor a New Age "chiropractic allergist" can identify the illness let alone cure it. After paying out thousands of bucks his mentally aching spouse thinks Martin is a hypochondriac and suggests he visit a psychiatrist.

Martin agrees to try her more radical solution to his physical woes by seeing a psychiatrist. The shrink's diagnosis is that Martin suffers from screenwriter neuroses bordering on psychosis. If he wants to be cured he must find new employment. Psychosomatic illnesses may cause pain, but not as much as not writing scripts even if rejection seems the norm right now.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH DORFMAN is an intelligent very amusing tale starring an intriguing protagonist whose one-liners would make the novel fun to read, but also provides a serious undertone that catalogues the book as a not to miss tale. The support cast adds jocular "sincerity" as they stereotype their treatment of Dorfman. The tale cleverly reflects on inheriting ancestral mental baggage such as Dorfman knows he has all types of diseases because his father the doctor described the symptoms to him when he was a child. Fans of an amusing look at childhood environmental impact on the adult will appreciate WHAT'S WRONG WITH DORFMAN. One warning: don't run to see your doctor because what Dorman has is contagiously funny.

Harriet Klausner

What's Wrong With Dorfman?
By
John Blumenthal

Did you like The Wedding Singer or The In-Laws? This wonderfully funny and poignant novel looks at a man's middle age crises with the same kind of humor. I can see it with Adam Sandler in the title role. Or even Hugh Grant. Fast and entertaining to read, there's a continuous play on words. In the vein of "disease of the week" paranoia Martin tries to figure out what's gone terribly wrong.

A favorite quote from the book is:

"It is close to midnight and Ursula and the kids are asleep. The house is quiet. I am standing alone in the kitchen, holding one of the Little Pink Pills between my fingers, turning it, observing it, wondering if it will really be my magic bullet. Or if, like all the other cockamamie cures and nostrums and panaceas, it will go down as a failure. Do I have faith in Dr. Igor? Frankly, no."

Trust me. You will laugh and you'll identify with Martin and cheer him on.