Hidden Under a Mountain of Words

Given how patients relate their stories slowly and often piecemeal to their psychological therapists, these professionals need lots of patience, probably more than the average person. With this low-key psychological suspense novel, readers will have to exhibit a great deal of forbearance to get to the nut of the story. Wasserman throws a lot at you in the forms of emotions, medical jargon, point of view shifts, and hops between past and present, thus turning what begins as the mystery of woman’s memory loss into a complicated journey through the minds of the three principal protagonists: Lizzie/Elizabeth, alternately the young researcher and the older widow; Alice, in search of her mother; and Wendy/Karen, the woman who can’t or choses not to remember her past.

In 1999, Lizzie presents herself as one of a group of protégées selected by the renowned memory scientist, Dr. Benjamin Strauss. Your radar immediately turns on when you learn from kibitzing among the group that, among other things, Dr. Strauss has a reputation as a predator, and also that Lizzie considers herself a lightweight compared to the others in the group. So, what’s one to think when Dr. Strauss picks her to work closely on the case of Wendy, the mystery woman with no memory of her past, a project that could open her great research success or ruin? It soon becomes apparent that Lizzie has issues that make her vulnerable to a man life Strauss. One thing leads to another, and early on we jump to the present to learn she and Strauss carried on, he divorced, and he married her. Lizzie/Elizabeth has lots of barrage to sort through, parents, friends, profession, and the like, and readers are there for every thought, or so it feels like.

In her life as the widow Strauss, out of science and contemplating getting about her writing, Alice turns up in search of her mother, Karen, who might have been patient Wendy. At 18 and on her way to college, she decides it’s time to understand why her mother disappeared when she was a baby. Feelings of abandonment stir all kinds of psychological turmoil, relationship problems and father-daughter issues not the least, along with self-worth. Alice and Elizabeth, now a widow, connect and talk about Wendy/Karen, particularly what Elizabeth might have learned and what became of Wendy. It’s during this storyline that finally you get a focused picture of what transpired, and it’s not very pretty, but anticipated.

Wendy, while critical to everybody involved, sort of gets short shrift. Of course, when someone has no idea who they are, not a shred of memory, you can understand. (Joyce Carol Oates built an entire novel around this idea of truncated memory in her very good The Man Without a Shadow.) Wasserman gives her short chapters to express herself, and a bit more character building in interchanges with Lizzie, who comes to treat her a friend/patient. But by the end, you know with certainty who she was in one of her past lives, for she has a history of entering dissociative fugue states, a condition wherein you forget your past, establish a new life, then remember you past and forget her amnesia life.

Recommended only for the most patient readers, though readers might do better with Oates’ aforementioned novel. ( )

Hidden Under a Mountain of Words

Given how patients relate their stories slowly and often piecemeal to their psychological therapists, these professionals need lots of patience, probably more than the average person. With this low-key psychological suspense novel, readers will have to exhibit a great deal of forbearance to get to the nut of the story. Wasserman throws a lot at you in the forms of emotions, medical jargon, point of view shifts, and hops between past and present, thus turning what begins as the mystery of woman’s memory loss into a complicated journey through the minds of the three principal protagonists: Lizzie/Elizabeth, alternately the young researcher and the older widow; Alice, in search of her mother; and Wendy/Karen, the woman who can’t or choses not to remember her past.

In 1999, Lizzie presents herself as one of a group of protégées selected by the renowned memory scientist, Dr. Benjamin Strauss. Your radar immediately turns on when you learn from kibitzing among the group that, among other things, Dr. Strauss has a reputation as a predator, and also that Lizzie considers herself a lightweight compared to the others in the group. So, what’s one to think when Dr. Strauss picks her to work closely on the case of Wendy, the mystery woman with no memory of her past, a project that could open her great research success or ruin? It soon becomes apparent that Lizzie has issues that make her vulnerable to a man life Strauss. One thing leads to another, and early on we jump to the present to learn she and Strauss carried on, he divorced, and he married her. Lizzie/Elizabeth has lots of barrage to sort through, parents, friends, profession, and the like, and readers are there for every thought, or so it feels like.

In her life as the widow Strauss, out of science and contemplating getting about her writing, Alice turns up in search of her mother, Karen, who might have been patient Wendy. At 18 and on her way to college, she decides it’s time to understand why her mother disappeared when she was a baby. Feelings of abandonment stir all kinds of psychological turmoil, relationship problems and father-daughter issues not the least, along with self-worth. Alice and Elizabeth, now a widow, connect and talk about Wendy/Karen, particularly what Elizabeth might have learned and what became of Wendy. It’s during this storyline that finally you get a focused picture of what transpired, and it’s not very pretty, but anticipated.

Wendy, while critical to everybody involved, sort of gets short shrift. Of course, when someone has no idea who they are, not a shred of memory, you can understand. (Joyce Carol Oates built an entire novel around this idea of truncated memory in her very good The Man Without a Shadow.) Wasserman gives her short chapters to express herself, and a bit more character building in interchanges with Lizzie, who comes to treat her a friend/patient. But by the end, you know with certainty who she was in one of her past lives, for she has a history of entering dissociative fugue states, a condition wherein you forget your past, establish a new life, then remember you past and forget her amnesia life.

Recommended only for the most patient readers, though readers might do better with Oates’ aforementioned novel. ( )

Mother Daughter Widow Wife is a riveting psychological novel but one that can be difficult to follow at times. For those who enjoy a good thriller/mystery and juggling a lot of characters with complex backgrounds, this book is for you. The characters in this novel are very complex and intertwine A LOT so the reader needs to be able to keep them straight. The plot moves fairly quickly, at first, then slows down for the last half. I enjoyed the novel and found it binge worthy. I recommend this novel to those with a basic knowledge of psychology and for those who like to put in a little brain power while reading. ( )

A premise with a late shocker of a conclusion, this unique novel follows the career of Elizabeth Epstein, a brain researcher who wins a prestigious fellowship at a Philadelphia institute that was formerly a women's asylum. She becomes obsessed with Benjamin Strauss, a married older man who runs the Meadowlark Institute. Elizabeth's research topic is Wendy Doe, a woman who is brought to the facility with no memory. Years later, after Strauss dies and Elizabeth, who becomes his second wife, is widowed, Wendy's Doe’s adult daughter Alice appears at the Meadowlark after her mother disappears a second time. The most potent voice is Wendy's, as she seeks to learn about her mother's altered state and decisions to run away from her family. The most pitiful dampened and muted thoughts come from Elizabeth, whose career and future are completely surrendered to the selfish, domineering, and serial sexual predator Strauss. It's a disturbing read that spends too much time on Elizabeth's self-pity and not enough on Wendy and Alice's spunk and bravery. The missing voice of Dr. Strauss is also noteworthy.

Quotes: "In his presence she felt more like the person she was when alone, only better."

"She'd done her best to build a life that would be a bulwark against the inevitable. She allowed nothing to feel essential except that which she could control."

"No one would be inconvenienced if I disappeared from my own life."

"Doctors told you what was wrong with you and why it couldn't be fixed. Doctors told you when it was time to give up."

"He performed reassurance and she tried to perform reassured." ( )

Wasn't crazy about the writing so started skimming; not a good idea when it's written from 4 different points of view and one of the characters has lost her memory! Kept getting mixed up about who was who - part of the problem (in addition to my own lack of attention) was that the characters' voices weren't distinct enough. ( )