The Reconstructionist

by Josephine Hart

A remarkable novel of startling psychological power, The Reconstructionist , Josephine Hart's fifth novel, explores the reckless quality of exclusive love, the damage done in families, and the way we build our lives from the fragments of memory, hal Jack Harrington is a psychiatrist, dedicated to others, to the examination of their pasts and the reconstruction of their lives. But he has so absorbed himself in the problems of others that he has not quite come to grips with his own-to the detriment of his marriage and his own unexamined past. When Jack is summoned to Ireland for the sale of his family home, however, the burdens of his family's heritage return in full force. Though he has successfully suppressed the anguish of his past, the present threatens to unravel around him. In the house in Ireland terrible truths emerge about what happened years ago in a family tragedy that left indelible marks on those who survived it. The past may have been reconstructed many times, but the appalling truth has not.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Adult Fiction, Ireland

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 29, 2001

About the author

Josephine Hart was born and educated in Ireland. She was a director of Haymarket Publishing, in London, before going on to produce a number of West End plays, including The House of Bernarda Alba by Frederico Garcia Lorea, The Vortex by Noel Coward, and The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch. She was married to Maurice Saatchi and had two sons. She was the author of Damage. Hart died, aged 69, of ovarian cancer in June 2011.

Reviews

[Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a review of this when it first came out that instantly made me want to read it, to find out what happened, but somehow I didn't find it till recently. It's a psychological thriller: what happened that day when Jack and Kate were kids and their father told them to sit in their chairs in the hall, and then they went to London to live with an uncle and their father left their lives? It's revealed gradually, along with how they're doing in the present. Jack seems okay, a psychiatrist, but Kate is more fragile. They're unusually close... maybe some incest in the mix? Both of them have constructed their lives to avoid passion and emotions. Several other characters in the book comment on the destructiveness of passion. Several of Jack's patients show up for appointments and provide windows into other emotional lives. Then a chain of events begins that takes Jack back to his childhood, and reveals what happened.

A few scenes strain credulity, but I found it hard to put down, and very satisfying.

[Cassandra Stirling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book stayed with me long after I checked it out from the library. So long, in fact, that I searched for it in bookstores for five years before I finally found a copy to purchase. And I just reread it and decided I needed to discover why I loved it so much and why it hung around for as long as it did in my mind.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s well-written, interesting and engaging. But it features several chapters of the main character, Jack Harrington, a psychiatrist, listening to his patients. It’s not about Jack in these moments at all, but instead a study of the characters he treats. And yet it is about Jack and the main theme of the book – reconstructing ourselves, our memories, our experiences. 

Digging in deeper, I realized that I love this book because you don’t know what connects Jack with his sister Kate, until the very end of the book. The book meanders through Jack's thoughts, his past, his patients, his very odd relationship with his sister, until the past calls and he has to face it.

He travels to Ireland, the place where he lived until he was fourteen, Kate eight and a half, and a family tragedy abruptly changed his life forever. This occurs midway through the book, so you at least know why the two siblings are so bound, but you don’t see the whole truth of it until the very end. The tie that binds them both and also occasionally pulls them both under as well.

The writing is vague and mysterious, which I also like – the allusion to something more that is never said out loud. You see their connection; you see that it is odd and deeper than most people in the book think it should be. You know there is a reason, but you don’t know what that is until the end. 

I think, though, what speaks most to me in this book is the reconstruction we all do on our lives and on our memories. Sometimes we do it to make it bearable; sometimes to ease our own guilt; and sometimes to create more happiness in the memory than we are currently feeling in our lives. It amplifies the nostalgia we already amplify through the connection of memory, emotions, smells, sights and sounds.

It allows us to rebuild the past memory – whether traumatic or joyful – into something tangible, something we can manage, something that doesn’t make us uncomfortable or something that takes the uncomfortable away. And that’s the power of the book for me.

And it ends on hope. Hope that we too can get past our prior trauma and swim to the surface. 

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even a mediocre Josephine Hart novel is pretty fun. The pleasure, as with several of her other titles, is in the tease and the slow reveal of a terrible truth.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very eruditely written, hard to follow if you aren't paying attention. Difficult emotional story. Josephine Hart is one of my favorite authors.

[Jodell · Rating 2 out of 5]

What??????The..........................Hell was that?????? I really must make a bookshelf called stab me in the eye. What was I thinking?

[Eddy64 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una storia di segreti: porte chiuse per celare un dolore nel passato e allo stesso tempo il ritorno ossessivo ad esso per leggerne la chiave del presente e del futuro. Cercare di vivere come se nulla fosse successo, ma è sempre lì nel nostro inconscio pronto a ripresentarsi fino a che occorre affrontarlo in maniera definitiva anche rischiando di perdersi in esso. Jack e Kate erano ancora bambini quando successe: la polizia, la madre morta, il padre in fuga e loro silenziosi di fronte a tutti. Poi andarono a vivere a Londra, adottati da uno zio e non tornarono più in quella casa. Trent’anni dopo Jack è un affermato psicologo che riceve i pazienti nella bella casa londinese, divorziato con buoni rapporti con la ex moglie (e la ex suocera), prepara convegni e partecipa a cene “upper class”; Kate, ex modella, sta per risposarsi felicemente con un uomo facoltoso e chiede come sempre consiglio al fratello, con cui mantiene un rapporto speciale. Una vita agiata e socialmente piena per entrambi, ben inseriti nella Londra che conta, ma dietro questa facciata emergono come flash improvvisi ricordi, ossessioni, antiche e bizzarre abitudini. Una prima crepa quando il futuro sposo chiede informazioni a Jack sul passato della sorella, poi la vecchia casa di famiglia improvvisamente in vendita: è l’occasione per tornarvi dopo tanti anni e affrontare i ricordi di quei terribili momenti.Una trama che si sviluppa lentamente, un thriller psicologico tutto interiore con Jack che non lascia mai trasparire particolari emozioni (è uno psicologo!) ma macina tutto dentro. Il racconto nella prima parte è particolarmente infarcito di chiacchiere, dialoghi smozzicati, dai pazienti di Jack che si confessano o più semplicemente danno sfogo alle loro paturnie al “gossip” sociale tra discorsi vuoti e sottintesi pettegoli, sempre nei toni giusti, mai un alterco o una parola fuori posto. Poi la seconda parte lascia più spazio al passato, all’infanzia con i genitori in quella casa, alla verità che emerge e che non è mai scontata fino alla fine e che per anni Jack e Kate hanno tenuto nascosto anche a loro stessi. Non avevo grosse aspettative su questo romanzo (e non saprei dire il perché…) ed è anche il mio primo incontro con questa scrittrice poi mi sono ricreduto, non è un capolavoro ma merita se capita. Tre stelle e mezzo.

[Chloe Noland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good one in the Josephine Hart canon! Creepy and psychological, a male psychiatrist struggles how to balance his family’s traumatic past with his “reconstructed” life - and how to do the same for his sister. He was ultimately a very empathetic character, good-intentioned above all, and I feel like this is unusual for a J. Hart character - usually they are beautiful sociopathic women, or narcissistic men. They really give you something to hate while at the same time digging into the psyche, redeeming them in an uncomfortable way. This one was missing some of that tart evilness that brings such a spark to Hart’s dialogue and prose. But still, I a very good story with lots of rich moments.

[Lisa Lepic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a slow moving book but now that I’ve finished I realize that was an intentional element of the art. The prose was great. I especially liked it at the end when the title of the book was explained to the reader. Here are a couple examples:
****
No one is more cruel than an honest lover who is not in love.

I must take to the next few hours like a skier on a black run — disciplined but relaxed, allowing myself to surrender to the momentum of speed, without ever losing control.
****
I was surprised at the end. This is another quality of the book I appreciated. I may have given this book three stars but my evaluation changed while reading the final 2-3 chapters.

[Abby K · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unexpected delight, Hart masterfully weaves a languished narrative style and pained characters that both thrill and move with each chapter, leaving a lasting emotional resonance. It is a dark tragedy that Hart explores, one that is both terrifyingly obscure and at times, deeply uncomfortable, yet structured in a psychologically relatable tone.

[Mom2nine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is worthy of four stars because it is unusual and so well written. It is not an easy or upbeat read and is full of triggers. Well done, character-driven story.

[Paola · Rating 1 out of 5]

Premessa:
Ho comprato questo libro all’usato (meno di due euro) il giorno che ho sentito alla radio della morte dell’autrice. Mai letto niente di suo, la sapevo autrice de “Il danno”, da cui hanno tratto l’omonimo film, mai visto.
L’acquisto alla mia piccola ma fornita libreria dell’usato ha, anche, il fine di comprare libri di autori per me “nuovi”, di cui non comprerei i libri a prezzo pieno, onde evitare di mangiarmi le mani una volta letto e scoperto che non é il mio genere.
La Hart la di cui produzione mi era ignota, mi ha incuriosita, letta la quarta di copertina, che mi ha stuzzicato, l’ho portato a casa.
A fine lettura affermo che questo é uno di quei casi per cui mi felicito con me stessa per essere divenuta così saggia nell’uso che faccio dei miei soldi, (almeno per quello che é dell’acquisto di libri) e gioisco dell’avere a pochi km da casa la mia piccola libreria dell’usato. (fine premessa)

Dunque l’ho iniziato ieri sera, arrivata a pg 79 mi girava la testa.
L’ho finito stamattina, faticosamente, e ho dovuto pure mettermi la giacchetta di pile perché avevo freddo, (sia perché qua l’estate pare un’utopia, ma credo anche che sto libro emana un gran freddo, come quello che esce quando apri il congelatore) perché a me le prose “cerebrotiche” (cervellotiche+nevrotiche) e psicoletterarie mi irritano i neuroni in un biz. (soprattutto in casi come questi dove c’é troppa carne al fuoco, e il fuochista non é un professional)
(dalla terza di copertina:
“La Hart, in pagine bellissime di analisi dell’inconscio, descrive l’ossessione e la tragedia in uno stile minimalista che costringe il lettore a scavare in ogni singola frase. La sua prosa, fredda, dettagliata, lontanissima dal melodramma, delinea i contorni di una vita desolata, tragica e al tempo stesso seducente.” )
La Hart però, ahimè, nell’analisi dell’inconscio ci mette di tutto sulla griglia:
complesso di Edipo, Laio e Giocasta, scena primaria, tabù dell’incesto, Freud, Jung e Lacan, Deleuze&Guattari, Lévi-Strauss, linguaggio, parola, (anche il tono della voce!) memoria, storia che sono quello che siamo ma che possiamo anche manipolare al fine di sapere, capire, cambiare, ricostruire… (anche rimuovere e negare), e la domanda di fondo su cosa sia meglio per la qualità di vita e la salute mentale di un individuo che ha vissuto un trauma importante, ossia se confrontarsi con la propria storia e gli eventi (e il dolore/sofferenza) che la compongono oppure non avvicinarsi alla materia incandescente, tenere tutto a bada, con riti appropriati, in un oblio artefatto, mettendo in scacco la memoria, ricostruendo un passato, un tessuto storico altro. (la Hart fornisce la risposta la quale non é che mi ha soddisfatto molto, un po’ “tirata via” rispetto a tutto il resto del racconto dove invece si dilungava troppo, pazienza).
Il quesito é di quelli molto interessanti ma il tutto é “glassato” da una scrittura a volte così artificiosamente complessa da farmi sentire i neuroni impantanati nelle sabbie mobili. (per intenderci quel tipo di linguaggio usato per dire concetti semplicissimi complicandoli in maniera tale per cui non ci si capisce niente, ma in apparenza é tutto così “intelligente” e ti vengono i dubbi sul tuo QI come non mai prima, ma poi quando togli il superfluo scopri che semplicemente volevano dire che l’acqua é calda…).
Il ritmo della prosa inoltre é decisamente discontinuo, un inizio lento, poi un accelerazione quando il protagonista va in Irlanda e i ricordi affiorano, e un finale dove si percepisce la difficoltà di tirare le fila di tutto quanta la carne messa sulla graticola.
Per concludere ho avuto l’impressione che l’autrice sia stata folgorata sulla via della psicanalisi, lacaniana soprattutto, ma il cercare di farla transitare nel racconto non le sia riuscito molto bene.
Senza dolenzie, informo che la Hart ed io abbiamo deciso di non più frequentarci.
Libro che verrà rimesso in circolo.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book originally appeared on my blog at http://thetop100bookclub.wordpress.co... Please feel free to stop in and look at some of the other posts. I would love to be in contact.


Reading ‘Damage’ revealed that Josephine Hart has an immense talent for exploring the underbelly of our darkest psychology as humans and turning it into fiction that is both gripping and revelatory. ‘The Reconstructionist’ is no exception.

Jack is a psychiatrist and it is revealed early on that his relationship with his sister Kate (and, it would seem, his relationships in general) is somewhat unhealthy, although the reason for this is only uncovered as the story unfolds. It doesn’t take long to realise that what binds them is the cause for why Kate is so broken and fragile – the deep-seated underlying issues that urge the reader on in a flurry of curiosity. Stylistically, Josephine Hart has mastered the technique of laying clues for her readers; facts we can think back on as the story unfolds, as pulling past and present together.

As Kate is about to be re-married, we get the sense of an ending between them. What was the catalyst that turned their relationship into such an unconventional one? What made Kate so needy and Jack so bound to her as protector and guide through the darkest avenues of life?

The story takes something of an erratic path, with descriptions sometimes void of real detail, until the mystery starts to unravel, which it does at pace. Once I started to get my answers from ‘The Reconstructionist,’ I realised that one of the reasons this was so satisfying was because the writing and the story appealed to some of my deepest questions by virtue of living – is there futility in looking for a happy life when, perhaps, the best we can hope for is reasonableness and content? Is this the only way to carry on after life has dealt its tragedies – through reconstruction? And, if so, is this real or will grief’s sediment stay with you always?

It seems almost unusual that subject matter that may go against the grain of the comfortable, conventional scenarios for a lot of readers can be the source of such a personal identification – a universality in a set of circumstances from which we would naturally shy away.

Going back to Ireland, to his family’s home, opens the floodgates on their history and shows that, no matter how many times you may try to reconstruct the truth during the course of a lifetime, it persists whether we choose to disguise ourselves from it or not.

[T Fool · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once or twice a sophisticated reader might second-guess what’s happened and what will in this novel. And be wrong. After all, this is the world of psychiatry, of the personal world of the psychiatrist, of the past haunting the present looking to start up again, a future. Wounded figures being held together by filaments.

They often link sex and death, the Freudians and their cousins, and the intricacies of passionate impulse are known to literature, need feeding on itself, bodies of attraction – if not disappearing into a black hole – being spun in some such vortex so as to be struck with permanent dizzy disease.

Jack is a therapist in London. His marriage is over. His sister Kate is about to marry a third time. She is ‘delicate’ and close to her brother. As children, in Ireland, they were in the habit of spying on their parents at delicate moments. During once such moment, an act of violence changed all their lives. Now in London 25 years later, they find themselves at a point where ‘resolution’ must occur. The family’s estate is to be sold. They must revisit it, a place with its own cast of revenants. Where old events need to be re-examined, old understandings be reconstructed.

He’s a shrink. He should be good at it. After all, we see as he quietly evaluates patients, his flamboyant (and flirty?) ex-mother-in-law, and we see how gingerly he handles his fragile sister as they physically . . . dance. Perhaps a picture is forming. But don’t form conclusions yet. They’re bound to be off.

[Kristel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel is the fifth by Josephine Hart, an Irish author living in London, explores the relationship of Jack and his sister Kate and their parents. Jack is a divorced psychiatrist living in London. We know he is still connected to his first wife because the story starts with his agreement to babysit his wife’s children. We know that Jack’s marriage never resulted in children and the reader knows that another reason the marriage failed is his sister, Kate. What and why Kate is to Jack is really unclear but the reader is afraid that they know the reason. Jack returns to Ireland for the sale of the family home where the past is finally faced and terrible truths emerge. The story is about the damage done in families and how lives our rebuilt from memory, half truths and what we what the truth to be. It is a quick psychological read. I liked it well enough. I bought this one in 2007 because it was on Nancy Pearl’s list THE PEARL 100, as a book about brother and sisters.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was good nice twist at the end. HOWEVER, trying to extrapolate the story from the French, German, and god knows what other language she decided to use was very difficult (Sturm und Drang)(a duex-what's wrong with dinner for two?)(quenelles)(litteratuer verite)(Tu es merveilleux, Du bist erstaunlich, and on and on). Her vocabulary was text book "ecclesiastical"! The story was about a family of four, Mother on the wacky side (died when children were young), a father who was admittedly lazy (and was shot and died), a brother and sister. The brother and sister are adults now - with an unnatural closeness, and by the end of the book you understand why...great loving and psychologically fulfilling. BUT, a lot of unnecessary showing off detail, theatre, language, and god help me - the words. I don't want a dumb downed version - just tell the story in English.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I found this particularly compelling because I'm a psychotherapist; can certainly appreciate the psychoanalytic aspects being psychobabble to some. I found The Reconstructionist interesting and quite consuming, finishing in just a couple of sittings because I was so drawn in to the characters and whatever the mysterious "event" in childhood had been. Hadn't anticipated the twist at the end although had to read several times to be sure I actually understood what actually happened given how obtusely the event was described. In all likelihood would only recommend to fellow practitioners.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book reminded me a teeny bit of the Prince of Tides because of the whole brother trying to rescue his sister who is unstable due to an event in their past. And you don't find out the details of the traumatic event until the end of the book. But The Prince of Tides was much better.

[Allison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did what I could to stick with this book to finish it. But I couldn't. Half way through and there is still no plot - its all the psychoanalysis of the main character. No thanks. I enjoy using my time to read books not have my characters analyze themselves analyzing other characters.

[Kell-y Turnbull · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a subtle thriller. I was sold on the introspective writing style - well-paced, clever, entertaining to read - but kind of wishy-washy about the drama until the very end. Then it hits hard and well. I think I'll be reading this again.

[Lupurk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il libro mi è piaciuto...devo ammettere che in alcuni punti facevo un po' fatica ad appassionarmi, ma soprattutto verso la fine, quando viene spiegato quello che successe anni prima non riuscivo a smettere di leggere, e il finale mi ha davvero sconcertata.

[Dawn Fratrin]

So far, the incredibly pithy, quotable prose of this book makes up for the hastily-drawn nature of its plot. I hope I can still say as much after I've finished the last page

[Saundra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not care for it all at. Characters were not likable to me and the writing was very static.

[Charlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Jill Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely written story with a twist. Wouldn't be in my top ten but enjoyable

[Georgette]

Reconstructionist by Josephine Hart (2002)

[Talie]

While reading this book, it is not clear how it all fits together but the last chapter is a coup de grace. It all falls into place then and wow you are reminded of every piece of the story and sigh, nice. It was at times dark and twisty and difficult to read without a clear story line until the end.

reconstructionist (noun)
person who builds a new past in order to live a more satisfying life. used as a survival skill