What's Wrong with Dorfman? A Novel [Paperback]

John Blumenthal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 16, 2003

Meet Martin Dorfman: cynic, hypochondriac, and burned-out screenwriter. In the midst of navigating his latest film script through Hollywood Development Hell--an agonizing journey even for a healthy person-- the forty-year-old Dorfman wakes up one morning with a mysterious disease. After a battery of medical tests, his doctors conclude that he is in perfect health, but Dorfman is convinced he is dying and sets out on an odyssey to find a diagnosis.

Heralded by the Wall Street Journal as "a funny and surprisingly moving story written at the intersection of shtick and angst," What's Wrong With Dorfman? follows Dorfman into the lunatic fringes of alternative medicine, where he encounters his innermost demons, as well as the beguiling Delilah Foster, a fellow hypochondriac. Will Dorfman find a cure? Will his movie get made? Will he run away with Delilah Foster? And most importantly, what indeed is wrong with Dorfman?

More than just the plight of one man, What's Wrong with Dorfman? reflects the angst of modern society and asks the question "Aren't we all a little nuts?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A neurotic Hollywood screenwriter turns hypochondria into an art form in Blumenthal's debut novel, a monotonous, under-plotted affair that revolves around the ever-expanding, pseudo-imaginary symptomology of Martin Dorfman. As the book opens, the 40-ish Dorfman's career is on the skids, which causes him to suffer everything from belly pains to cold sweats and vicious headaches. Dorfman imagines the worst with each successive symptom, but despite his gloomy predictions of cancer or some deadly, obscure disease, the best the doctors can come up with is a case of intestinal edema that they treat with a one-week prescription for a common drug. Blumenthal pens a few funny scenes around his protagonist's medical maladies, particularly when Dorfman meets an equally neurotic actress named Delilah Foster, and they match symptoms and try to one-up each other with medical horror stories. Unfortunately, Dorfman's ailments prove severely limiting as a vehicle for an entire novel, and the closest Blumenthal comes to developing a real plot is a series of scenes featuring Dorfman's screenplay, which undergoes a labyrinthine adventure of its own that involves a prominent Hollywood producer, Dorfman's 300-pound agent, Gavin, and the usual cast of anonymous movie development sharks. The narrative flows smoothly, but spending an entire book with the whiny, sniveling Dorfman makes for a trying, tedious read. Blumenthal has written humorous essays for Playboy and Punch, and some wry wit surfaces here, but not enough to keep this novel from becoming the literary equivalent of a long wait in a doctor's office.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Hypochondria and self-love, mostly. Fortunately, young Martin Dorfman has a way with words and occasional moments of perception. His dysfunctional family also includes an overwhelming Teutonic physician father with more than a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder, a mother who knuckles under to that father, and a sister, Phoebe, the only ordinary human among them, who believes she is not as smart as her brother. Martin, a writer, pictures himself rolling in wealth generated by produced movie scripts. His varied working career, which includes several months polishing whale teeth for a Nantucket scrimshaw carver, and many of his friends have prepared him for just such success, albeit not for the business aspects of it. Meanwhile, his friend, Delilah, suffers from unidentified medical problems, dresses in black, and adopts a pessimistic outlook; and his therapist, Nora, leads him to some self-understanding, without ever resorting to (justifiable) violence. Ultimately, Martin hits Hollywood paydirt. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First edition. edition (August 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312311885
• ISBN-13: 978-0312311889
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,204,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A former Playboy magazine editor and columnist, John Blumenthal is the author "The Official Hollywood Handbook", "The Tinseltown Murders", "The Case of the Hardboiled Dicks", "Hollywood High: The History of America's Most Famous Public School", "Love's Reckless Rash" (co-author) and the novels "What's Wrong with Dorfman?" and "Millard Fillmore, Mon Amour", both BookSense76 Picks. His work has appeared in such publications as "TV Guide", "Punch", "Playboy", "Oui", "Today's Health", "The Los Angeles Times", "The Christian Science Monitor", "Autograph Collector", and "Publishers Weekly".

He has also written for television and is the co-author of the movies "Blue Streak" and "Short Time". His blog posts appear regularly on Huffington Post.

A new novel,"Three and a Half Virgins" has just been published.

www.ThreeandaHalfVirgins.net

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for our times..., June 25, 2000

By 

Daniel Halevi Bloom ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What's Wrong With Dorfman? (Paperback)

"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.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh -- it is the best medicine!, November 11, 2000

By 

Victoria Tarrani "writer, editor, artist, des... (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What's Wrong With Dorfman? (Paperback)

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Be true to yourself., October 17, 2001

By 

jeffie-123 "jeffie-123" (Garden Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What's Wrong With Dorfman? (Paperback)

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...