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Marcel Malone
Dr Vera Lewis has a difficult but intriguing patient, Marcel, whose symptoms result from multiple levels of rejection—from family, colleagues, relationships, and those journals that receive his poetry submissions. Desperate to achieve a breakthrough, Vera prescribes a very unusual treatment that begins to desensitize Marcel to rejection, albeit with unexpected side-effects. It is only when Vera brings poetry into their therapy sessions that Marcel begins to reveal his deeper problems, and is able to confront the demons of his past. As for Vera, she has her own problems...
Set mostly in Washington, DC, Marcel Malone is a story of how the love of poetry can lead to personal transformation.
Set mostly in Washington, DC, Marcel Malone is a story of how the love of poetry can lead to personal transformation.
282 pages, Paperback
Published October 23, 2016
2 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Lew Watts
10 books36 followersLew Watts is the author of the novel Marcel Malone. His poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and his first collection, Lessons for Tangueros, appeared in 2011.
Beyond writing, Lew is a member of the governing board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (www.thebulletin.org), an organization that aims to warn the world of man-made existential threats, including nuclear proliferation, climate change, and the risks of emerging technologies. He holds a PhD from the University of Reading, and an honorary doctorate from Bristol University, both in the UK. He maintains a long and deep passion for fly-fishing and lives in Chicago and Santa Fe with his wife, Roxanne Decyk.
Beyond writing, Lew is a member of the governing board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (www.thebulletin.org), an organization that aims to warn the world of man-made existential threats, including nuclear proliferation, climate change, and the risks of emerging technologies. He holds a PhD from the University of Reading, and an honorary doctorate from Bristol University, both in the UK. He maintains a long and deep passion for fly-fishing and lives in Chicago and Santa Fe with his wife, Roxanne Decyk.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 31, 2017
Enter to win a signed copy of Marcel Malone and see my Q&A with the author Lew Watts @
readrantrockandroll.com. The giveaway starts 12am 7/30/17 and ends 12am 8/6/17.
I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this book. Marcel Malone is a first novel for Lew Watts and one that is definitely unique.
Vera and Raymond are a married couple living in DC. Vera is a psychiatrist who lacks attention from her husband as he places more importance on his job as a lobbyist. Raymond worries about his reputation more than anything and lacks the ability to pick up on Vera’s needs.
The focus in the story is mainly Vera and her life with her patients. A particular patient that she becomes almost dependent on is Marcel. Marcel enjoys reading and writing poetry which is something he and Vera have in common. They share their thoughts with each other and Vera looks forward to these conversations. The result of this relationship and Vera’s own curiosity results in a story with interlaced poetry which I thought was unique, and the poetry just might be what they both need to unleash the past.
“Near this rose, in this grove of sun-parched, wind-warped madronas,
Among the half-dead trees, I came upon the true ease of myself,
As if another man appeared out of the depths of my being,
And I stood outside myself,” – lines from The Rose by Theodore Roethke
As Vera learns more about Marcel, she learns that he’s had a hard time with rejection in the past and Vera prescribes a new experiment of paradoxical intervention and journal writing to see if it might help him as a sort of “rejection therapy.” This becomes comical at times, but the outcome she receives from this is unexpected and Vera finds that her own demons and life choices need to be addressed.
The story kept me interested enough to finish it and the ending was quite emotional for me. There were a few times where I became bored with the story as there wasn’t a lot of excitement, but then something would happen or a mystery would be introduced which would yank me right back in again. I’ve always enjoyed poetry, especially Haiku, and I think that anyone who has an appreciation for it will enjoy this book. Even those that don’t particularly care for poetry will more than likely enjoy it. I have a goodly amount of authors and books to add to my list now after reading it and I’d like to thank the author for sharing a complimentary copy of this book with me.
4****
readrantrockandroll.com. The giveaway starts 12am 7/30/17 and ends 12am 8/6/17.
I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this book. Marcel Malone is a first novel for Lew Watts and one that is definitely unique.
Vera and Raymond are a married couple living in DC. Vera is a psychiatrist who lacks attention from her husband as he places more importance on his job as a lobbyist. Raymond worries about his reputation more than anything and lacks the ability to pick up on Vera’s needs.
The focus in the story is mainly Vera and her life with her patients. A particular patient that she becomes almost dependent on is Marcel. Marcel enjoys reading and writing poetry which is something he and Vera have in common. They share their thoughts with each other and Vera looks forward to these conversations. The result of this relationship and Vera’s own curiosity results in a story with interlaced poetry which I thought was unique, and the poetry just might be what they both need to unleash the past.
“Near this rose, in this grove of sun-parched, wind-warped madronas,
Among the half-dead trees, I came upon the true ease of myself,
As if another man appeared out of the depths of my being,
And I stood outside myself,” – lines from The Rose by Theodore Roethke
As Vera learns more about Marcel, she learns that he’s had a hard time with rejection in the past and Vera prescribes a new experiment of paradoxical intervention and journal writing to see if it might help him as a sort of “rejection therapy.” This becomes comical at times, but the outcome she receives from this is unexpected and Vera finds that her own demons and life choices need to be addressed.
The story kept me interested enough to finish it and the ending was quite emotional for me. There were a few times where I became bored with the story as there wasn’t a lot of excitement, but then something would happen or a mystery would be introduced which would yank me right back in again. I’ve always enjoyed poetry, especially Haiku, and I think that anyone who has an appreciation for it will enjoy this book. Even those that don’t particularly care for poetry will more than likely enjoy it. I have a goodly amount of authors and books to add to my list now after reading it and I’d like to thank the author for sharing a complimentary copy of this book with me.
4****
April 4, 2017
This was an very interesting read. First off, it had a subtle or an invisible hook that pulled me right into the story. Initially, I thought it was the finely drawn main characters that I liked despite the two of them having less than admirable traits: Marcel and Vera; patient and Therapist. At our introduction, we see and learn that Marcel routinely curls up in a ball on the floor of his therapist. A shrinking violet? A coward? Flawed? Someone that needs a grip, for sure. Vera is not much better as she willingly accepts a lesser role in her marriage; a marriage that centers on her husband's DC Lobbyist career; along with her supporting position in the circle of their friends and associates. The story eventually has Marcel and Vera in a sought of soft and positive entanglement as Therapist helps patient and patient helps Therapist. The dance starts out when Vera introduces Writing Therapy (poetry in this case) and a curious method of intervention - rejection conditioning (a dating service in this case). Poetry eventually seeps back to the Therapist and it begins to have a good effect on both of them. Throughout the story poetry is used beautifully to move the story along. The Authors writing style was the strongest aspect of the book. A skilled fisherman with an invisible hook embedded in nearly every line. He pulls with barely a trace of tension, save a few necessary moments along the way. Near the end, when I couldn't put the book down, I discovered the truth of it. It was the merging of poetry and prose that put the story in the net. The book might just as well have been titled A Poem Runs Through It.
If you like psychology, poetry and excellent storytelling, Marcel Malone is the book to read. I look forward to Lew Watts next great work.
If you like psychology, poetry and excellent storytelling, Marcel Malone is the book to read. I look forward to Lew Watts next great work.
March 28, 2017
Psychologist Vera Lewis has joined a clinical practice started by co-founders Carolyn and John. Mainly business professionals are referred to her. Most bore her...that is until Marcel Malone. Marcel spends therapy sessions curled in "a pose of rigid fright". He struggles with melancholy and repeated rejection. Vera, John and Carolyn meet weekly to discuss their patients. A plan emerges to try to help Marcel.
Vera's therapeutic method includes Writing Therapy and Paradoxical Intervention. Vera suggests that Marcel keep a journal to express his feelings. He chooses poetry as his vehicle of self expression. Marcel produces sonnets that are stilted. He creates poetic verse and speaks in meter that simulates the beat of music. This beat provides him with cocoon-like comfort. Additionally, Vera recommends that Marcel register with a dating service hoping that each new date and rejection will desensitize him and free him from his social struggles. Personal pain of rejection will be lessened because Vera sets the target behavior absolving Marcel of any responsibility for being rejected.
Vera not only reads Marcel's poetry, she purchases poetry books and explores them as a means to connect with Marcel. As Marcel's life opens up, Vera's life is deconstructing. She needs to learn to embrace her own advice. She needs to journalize her feelings for husband Raymond and her self-absorbed friends. Poetic writings will be the catalyst for Vera as well.
"Marcel Malone" explores the techniques of Bibliotherapy, Writing Therapy and Paradoxical Intervention to help Marcel by using his love of poetry to create clarity, clear the hurdle of deep feelings of isolation, and create opportunities to build self-esteem.
"Marcel Malone" was a very enjoyable tome. An impressive pairing of psychology and poetry. "Marcel Malone" by Lew Watts was a unique, fascinating 5 star read!
Thank you to author Lew Watts for a review copy of "Marcel Malone" in exchange for my honest review.
Vera's therapeutic method includes Writing Therapy and Paradoxical Intervention. Vera suggests that Marcel keep a journal to express his feelings. He chooses poetry as his vehicle of self expression. Marcel produces sonnets that are stilted. He creates poetic verse and speaks in meter that simulates the beat of music. This beat provides him with cocoon-like comfort. Additionally, Vera recommends that Marcel register with a dating service hoping that each new date and rejection will desensitize him and free him from his social struggles. Personal pain of rejection will be lessened because Vera sets the target behavior absolving Marcel of any responsibility for being rejected.
Vera not only reads Marcel's poetry, she purchases poetry books and explores them as a means to connect with Marcel. As Marcel's life opens up, Vera's life is deconstructing. She needs to learn to embrace her own advice. She needs to journalize her feelings for husband Raymond and her self-absorbed friends. Poetic writings will be the catalyst for Vera as well.
"Marcel Malone" explores the techniques of Bibliotherapy, Writing Therapy and Paradoxical Intervention to help Marcel by using his love of poetry to create clarity, clear the hurdle of deep feelings of isolation, and create opportunities to build self-esteem.
"Marcel Malone" was a very enjoyable tome. An impressive pairing of psychology and poetry. "Marcel Malone" by Lew Watts was a unique, fascinating 5 star read!
Thank you to author Lew Watts for a review copy of "Marcel Malone" in exchange for my honest review.
August 1, 2018
Beltway Neurotics
A cautionary chronicle of Yuppie suburban life in Washington, DC. He a lobbyist; she a psychotherapist, enjoying the best money can buy of the professional high-life. There is a name-dropping tour of the latest hip bistros with their selections of rare rums and ten course meals followed by candied strawberries. Their house in trendy Chevy Chase was purchased with daddy's money and their joint incomes only spur the desire for their increase to the next higher income-bracket.
The marriage is somewhat troubled, of course: he, obsessed by order and cleanliness, wants to get on in his career; she, catering to his demands resentfully, wants an intelligent conversation. The friends are banal professionals in places like the World Bank and similar international agencies who travel to less well-off places where they pontificate and negotiate lower prices for jewellery and art. Everyone drinks a bit too much but no one is watching very closely.
The protagonist psychotherapist-wife, Vera, 'makes a contribution' by addressing the neuroses of people unable to fill out a request for a new check book without help, or to date without stress. Her practice is punctuated by the occasional homicidal pedophile whom she dutifully turns over to the cops. When not with her clients, her mind moves from the issues of energy taxation to the poetry of Robert Frost with a facility and understanding enabled by her Georgetown education.
Vera's most important choices in life are what colour underwear to don and what gallery to visit between clients. She likes cracked crab and NPR. Who doesn't? The sex, of course is terrific, except when it isn't. She finds her solace in poetry about blossoming flowers. When her husband isn't selling or destroying new legislation, he watches baseball on the television. She can't tell a bunt from walk but adapts as required, primarily by obsessively speaking in iambic pentameter and ignoring his work for Big Coal.
Marcel is Vera's problematic but rewarding client. He writes her sonnets that report on his life between therapy sessions. She uses a range of apparently standard therapeutic techniques on Marcel - entrainment, paradoxical intervention, rapid-fire questioning - but, in good Jungian fashion, it's the writing and close reading of poetry that floats his boat. And it's the poetry that creates the breakthrough, for her as well as for Marcel.
There are secrets behind the middle-class facade that Vera's work with Marcel catalyses into awareness. Poetry, particularly the haikus she exchanges with Marcel, drown out sounds Vera would not like to hear. And it is poetry that also provokes her, under the veiled excuse of therapeutic necessity, to adopt an alternative persona and engage in online dating, "Just so I know what the experience is like." What could possibly go wrong?
For starters, clients die with uncomfortable frequency. And the therapist herself becomes more than a bit schizophrenic, deciding which persona to adopt with her husband, friends, surviving clients, and her random dates. On the plus side, Marcel has apparently had a breakthrough: his trauma was merely a misunderstanding, his father really had loved his mother after all. Everything tickety-boo on that front, therefore.
The skeletons in the therapist's closet eventually get revealed, however. Why they had to be revealed through an extensive discussion of the aesthetics of poetics is a mystery. Nabokov's Pale Fire is certainly better literature. Sylvia Plaith's Bell Jar is a much better demonstration of how poetry works in the psyche. And Ben Lerner's dope-soaked novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, actually does raise interesting questions about the connections between language and experience. Marcel Malone is puerile compared to any of these.
So, if Marcel Malone is meant to be a pragmatic justification of poetry as a sort of route to the inner self, it fails to make any significant connections between effective therapy and poetic skill. More likely, it seems, the author is someone who has discovered poetry as a sort of alternative universe to the sterile and false Beltway culture he realistically describes. If so, the book is merely trivial rather than inadequate. The poetry, in any case, seems as much a part of middle class pretentiousness as the trendy restaurants.
A cautionary chronicle of Yuppie suburban life in Washington, DC. He a lobbyist; she a psychotherapist, enjoying the best money can buy of the professional high-life. There is a name-dropping tour of the latest hip bistros with their selections of rare rums and ten course meals followed by candied strawberries. Their house in trendy Chevy Chase was purchased with daddy's money and their joint incomes only spur the desire for their increase to the next higher income-bracket.
The marriage is somewhat troubled, of course: he, obsessed by order and cleanliness, wants to get on in his career; she, catering to his demands resentfully, wants an intelligent conversation. The friends are banal professionals in places like the World Bank and similar international agencies who travel to less well-off places where they pontificate and negotiate lower prices for jewellery and art. Everyone drinks a bit too much but no one is watching very closely.
The protagonist psychotherapist-wife, Vera, 'makes a contribution' by addressing the neuroses of people unable to fill out a request for a new check book without help, or to date without stress. Her practice is punctuated by the occasional homicidal pedophile whom she dutifully turns over to the cops. When not with her clients, her mind moves from the issues of energy taxation to the poetry of Robert Frost with a facility and understanding enabled by her Georgetown education.
Vera's most important choices in life are what colour underwear to don and what gallery to visit between clients. She likes cracked crab and NPR. Who doesn't? The sex, of course is terrific, except when it isn't. She finds her solace in poetry about blossoming flowers. When her husband isn't selling or destroying new legislation, he watches baseball on the television. She can't tell a bunt from walk but adapts as required, primarily by obsessively speaking in iambic pentameter and ignoring his work for Big Coal.
Marcel is Vera's problematic but rewarding client. He writes her sonnets that report on his life between therapy sessions. She uses a range of apparently standard therapeutic techniques on Marcel - entrainment, paradoxical intervention, rapid-fire questioning - but, in good Jungian fashion, it's the writing and close reading of poetry that floats his boat. And it's the poetry that creates the breakthrough, for her as well as for Marcel.
There are secrets behind the middle-class facade that Vera's work with Marcel catalyses into awareness. Poetry, particularly the haikus she exchanges with Marcel, drown out sounds Vera would not like to hear. And it is poetry that also provokes her, under the veiled excuse of therapeutic necessity, to adopt an alternative persona and engage in online dating, "Just so I know what the experience is like." What could possibly go wrong?
For starters, clients die with uncomfortable frequency. And the therapist herself becomes more than a bit schizophrenic, deciding which persona to adopt with her husband, friends, surviving clients, and her random dates. On the plus side, Marcel has apparently had a breakthrough: his trauma was merely a misunderstanding, his father really had loved his mother after all. Everything tickety-boo on that front, therefore.
The skeletons in the therapist's closet eventually get revealed, however. Why they had to be revealed through an extensive discussion of the aesthetics of poetics is a mystery. Nabokov's Pale Fire is certainly better literature. Sylvia Plaith's Bell Jar is a much better demonstration of how poetry works in the psyche. And Ben Lerner's dope-soaked novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, actually does raise interesting questions about the connections between language and experience. Marcel Malone is puerile compared to any of these.
So, if Marcel Malone is meant to be a pragmatic justification of poetry as a sort of route to the inner self, it fails to make any significant connections between effective therapy and poetic skill. More likely, it seems, the author is someone who has discovered poetry as a sort of alternative universe to the sterile and false Beltway culture he realistically describes. If so, the book is merely trivial rather than inadequate. The poetry, in any case, seems as much a part of middle class pretentiousness as the trendy restaurants.
August 16, 2017
This beautiful autographed book (it has page holder flaps!) came to me care of the blog https://readrantrockandroll.com/ from which I won a giveaway copy. It is a well-written fictional account of a psychologist who helps a patient overcome his fear of rejection. She uses several clever techniques, one of which is to echo the man's writing.
As she works with the patient, the analyst learns of the poetry the former introduces by way of showing his feelings. She begins to research poetry, becomes consumed by it, and uses it to understand and eventually help the patient get to the bottom of his fear.
Once the patient is healed, the psychologist uses her experience with him to challenge her own situation. I'll leave it you to find out what happens. Her problem was emotionally gripping at times for me and I’m sure loads of readers can identify with it.
The use of poetry in the story is interesting and I learned a lot about how it is written and forms it takes. Although I haven't exposed myself to it enough, poetry is enjoyable and it carries of lot of feeling and metaphor in a short space.
This book rates 4.5 stars. I would have given it 5 stars except it didn't hold my interest after the climax. I will read another book by this author.
As she works with the patient, the analyst learns of the poetry the former introduces by way of showing his feelings. She begins to research poetry, becomes consumed by it, and uses it to understand and eventually help the patient get to the bottom of his fear.
Once the patient is healed, the psychologist uses her experience with him to challenge her own situation. I'll leave it you to find out what happens. Her problem was emotionally gripping at times for me and I’m sure loads of readers can identify with it.
The use of poetry in the story is interesting and I learned a lot about how it is written and forms it takes. Although I haven't exposed myself to it enough, poetry is enjoyable and it carries of lot of feeling and metaphor in a short space.
This book rates 4.5 stars. I would have given it 5 stars except it didn't hold my interest after the climax. I will read another book by this author.
October 26, 2016
Poetry as Healer
Marcel Malone is an unusual and exhilarating novel about the power of human connection and the power of poetry. Marcel has deep-seated psychological issues –and a history of rejection—when he begins seeing a therapist, Vera. His only lifeline is poetry. As Vera begins trying to understand poetry as a way into Marcel’s mind, her own life begins to change as well. In some ways, the novel is also a mystery, as we journey into the lives of both characters and discover the origins of their problems and begin to see what the future might hold. It is that rare story that is a literary novel and also a page-turner. I liked it so much I bought a copy for a friend.
Marcel Malone is an unusual and exhilarating novel about the power of human connection and the power of poetry. Marcel has deep-seated psychological issues –and a history of rejection—when he begins seeing a therapist, Vera. His only lifeline is poetry. As Vera begins trying to understand poetry as a way into Marcel’s mind, her own life begins to change as well. In some ways, the novel is also a mystery, as we journey into the lives of both characters and discover the origins of their problems and begin to see what the future might hold. It is that rare story that is a literary novel and also a page-turner. I liked it so much I bought a copy for a friend.
May 9, 2017
First and foremost, thank you to Lew Watts for providing me with a copy of this book, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.
Working through my pile of independent author reads, I came across this book by Lew Watts. He kindly asked me to take the time to read and review the book, though I had no idea what to expect beforehand. It did push me outside my normal genre, but I strive to open myself up to new and exciting topics. Dr. Vera Lewis is a successful therapist in the DC area, whose interesting cross-section of patients offer the application of many therapeutic techniques. One of these patients is Marcel Malone, an accountant by trade who has forged a close relationship with Vera, while they tackle building his interpersonal skills through social interactions with strangers. During their sessions, Marcel introduces Vera to poetry, something he has been able to use as a form of communication and therapeutic release. Their sessions turn from strict question-answer banter to a varied collection of poetic expression that Marcel has found helps him with self-discovery. Vera soon finds herself interested in the poetry and begins her own journey of expression and analysis. The novel offers a constant development/regression as it relates to life at home for Vera, where she must face her husband, Raymond, who is a lobbyist and appears to place much focus on clients while leaving his wife find solace in drink and solitude. While exploring poetry in its many forms, Vera and Marcel develop a non-spoken bond that surpasses therapeutic discovery, whereby the reader might see it as an infatuation on the part of the therapist. As Marcel tackles some of his deeper issues, he drifts away, leaving Vera to forge her connection through random poetic texts and the odd letter, while also forcing her to turn inward and discover an alter-ego. Finding her own voice in poems, Vera takes hold of her life and makes some life-altering decisions, returning to her roots. A book that opens the mind of the patient reader, Watts is able to capture this story through prose, poetry, and a therapeutic analysis of the human spirit. Recommended for those looking to find a gem in the vast array of busy-body fiction on the market today.
I entered this read slightly hesitantly, particularly since my last independent author read ended in a cataclysmic mess. One surely cannot judge a book by its cover or dust jacket summary. I found myself curious about the therapeutic aspect of the story from the beginning, having read a number of novels with a counsellor-based protagonist. When Watts introduced some of the poetry and embedded extensive verse throughout, I began to worry, as I have never been one to find much pleasure in analysing this form of expression. As Ver and Marcel discover the latter's speech patterns influenced by iambic pentameter, I found myself pacing and beating every sentence he uttered, driving myself mad as I scoured for the iambic flow before I began to dissect my own verbal presentation. However, Watts soon distracts the reader with other interesting therapeutic and poetic notions, steeped in academic and literary roots which are referenced in the narrative. The cast of characters found within the novel helps to push the story forward, offering a variety of individuals whose traits complement one another in certain spheres while they clash and created some needed conflict. Social, professional, and familial connections all emerge within the story and provide the reader with the opportunity to play armchair therapist, if only for brief moments. Vera's growth is readily apparent throughout, though the reader might find periods of stagnancy, causing them to curse the protagonist into finding the epiphany and moving forward. One thing of note that Watts utilises in the novel is a journaling style over formal chapters, pushing the reader to see the world solely through the eyes of Dr. Vera Lewis. The reader will only discover an alternate angle by peering into the thoughts of others when Marcel Malone's journal is quoted during a key point in the story. While this offers a somewhat centric flavour to the story, Watts makes it work and the reader comes out of the experience with a stronger understanding of the struggles presented throughout. A well-paced piece that shows both the author's attention to his readers and has me wanting to see what else Watts may have to offer. Definitely expanded my horizons without pushing me too far out of my comfort zone.
Kudos, Mr. Watts for this great novel, with multi-faceted explorations. I enjoyed your presentation of a number of area of interest/expertise that you possess without inculcating your readers with an excessively academic primer.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
Working through my pile of independent author reads, I came across this book by Lew Watts. He kindly asked me to take the time to read and review the book, though I had no idea what to expect beforehand. It did push me outside my normal genre, but I strive to open myself up to new and exciting topics. Dr. Vera Lewis is a successful therapist in the DC area, whose interesting cross-section of patients offer the application of many therapeutic techniques. One of these patients is Marcel Malone, an accountant by trade who has forged a close relationship with Vera, while they tackle building his interpersonal skills through social interactions with strangers. During their sessions, Marcel introduces Vera to poetry, something he has been able to use as a form of communication and therapeutic release. Their sessions turn from strict question-answer banter to a varied collection of poetic expression that Marcel has found helps him with self-discovery. Vera soon finds herself interested in the poetry and begins her own journey of expression and analysis. The novel offers a constant development/regression as it relates to life at home for Vera, where she must face her husband, Raymond, who is a lobbyist and appears to place much focus on clients while leaving his wife find solace in drink and solitude. While exploring poetry in its many forms, Vera and Marcel develop a non-spoken bond that surpasses therapeutic discovery, whereby the reader might see it as an infatuation on the part of the therapist. As Marcel tackles some of his deeper issues, he drifts away, leaving Vera to forge her connection through random poetic texts and the odd letter, while also forcing her to turn inward and discover an alter-ego. Finding her own voice in poems, Vera takes hold of her life and makes some life-altering decisions, returning to her roots. A book that opens the mind of the patient reader, Watts is able to capture this story through prose, poetry, and a therapeutic analysis of the human spirit. Recommended for those looking to find a gem in the vast array of busy-body fiction on the market today.
I entered this read slightly hesitantly, particularly since my last independent author read ended in a cataclysmic mess. One surely cannot judge a book by its cover or dust jacket summary. I found myself curious about the therapeutic aspect of the story from the beginning, having read a number of novels with a counsellor-based protagonist. When Watts introduced some of the poetry and embedded extensive verse throughout, I began to worry, as I have never been one to find much pleasure in analysing this form of expression. As Ver and Marcel discover the latter's speech patterns influenced by iambic pentameter, I found myself pacing and beating every sentence he uttered, driving myself mad as I scoured for the iambic flow before I began to dissect my own verbal presentation. However, Watts soon distracts the reader with other interesting therapeutic and poetic notions, steeped in academic and literary roots which are referenced in the narrative. The cast of characters found within the novel helps to push the story forward, offering a variety of individuals whose traits complement one another in certain spheres while they clash and created some needed conflict. Social, professional, and familial connections all emerge within the story and provide the reader with the opportunity to play armchair therapist, if only for brief moments. Vera's growth is readily apparent throughout, though the reader might find periods of stagnancy, causing them to curse the protagonist into finding the epiphany and moving forward. One thing of note that Watts utilises in the novel is a journaling style over formal chapters, pushing the reader to see the world solely through the eyes of Dr. Vera Lewis. The reader will only discover an alternate angle by peering into the thoughts of others when Marcel Malone's journal is quoted during a key point in the story. While this offers a somewhat centric flavour to the story, Watts makes it work and the reader comes out of the experience with a stronger understanding of the struggles presented throughout. A well-paced piece that shows both the author's attention to his readers and has me wanting to see what else Watts may have to offer. Definitely expanded my horizons without pushing me too far out of my comfort zone.
Kudos, Mr. Watts for this great novel, with multi-faceted explorations. I enjoyed your presentation of a number of area of interest/expertise that you possess without inculcating your readers with an excessively academic primer.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
March 23, 2017
Classy little read I'd recommend to poetry buffs. :)
October 26, 2016
I was intrigued by the idea of a psychologist treating a patient who communicates only in poetry. The story reads like a mystery as the reader follows Vera, the doctor, through her own journal notes, as she is swept into her patient’s condition. She first enters his world compassionately, and later dangerously. I was quietly seduced by the poetry angle, as the author effortlessly introduces different poetry forms that shelter, restrict, and ultimately liberate the characters.
January 15, 2017
Marcel Malone is the first, short but ambitious novel by the poet / scientist / engineer Lew Watts. Watts has published in many haiku journals over the past decade and it is likely that Marcel Malone inhabits a landscape populated with carefully crafted poems and poets because of Watts’ familiarity with the meter, discipline and beauty of poetry. In this novel insights into life's emotional dilemmas are inevitably revealed by discovering and distilling one’s experiences into a haiku of less than seventeen syllables.
Marcel Malone is also the namesake character of the novel. He is a 30 year old accountant and the only child of an Italian-American mother who died of cervical cancer when he was 15. His father is an Irish American who, in Marcel’s estimation, wanted an athletic engineer for a son and was disappointed with Marcel’s interest in poetry, music and fly fishing. Since the death of his mother, Marcel has become increasingly afraid of both being alone and being rejected. As a result, his relationships with everything, his colleagues, his apartment, his potential romantic partners, his food, and his imagination are fragmented, transactional, and despairingly played out in iambic pentameter.
Finally, “Marcel Malone” is also the title of a journal kept by psychologist Vera Lewis, the protagonist of the story. The first words she writes in her journal more precisely describe the journal’s true subject: “My name is Vera Lewis.” Vera is the Washington D.C. therapist for the character Marcel Malone and she is fascinated by Marcel’s use of poetry to both bury and, eventually, excavate his innermost emotional injuries and the invented behaviors that have locked him within an ever more dysfunctional life. Early in their relationship, Marcel uses the reliable rhythm of sonnets to carefully contain and camouflage every conversation to its least threatening illusion. Vera purchases the 1992 edition of “To Read a Poem” by former U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall to better understand her patient’s staggering reliance upon cadence. Vera discovers the ability of great poems to reveal powerful insight and truthfulness, uncovering a dark cache of her own, long-buried, painful memories.
This novel is ultimately the story of Vera’s and Marcel’s journey towards the adult selves that had otherwise remained undiscoverable, save for the knowledge poet Donald Hall describes as the essence of Haiku: “two images, the second of which is a surprise.” Both characters construct conventionally familiar lives, beneath which lie feelings of hopelessness and subjugation. The behaviors and characters they lock themselves within provide a distraction from the rather hard work of being in charge of their own lives. They both also create surrogate personalities, filling their waking hours with supplemental layers of distraction to help them avoid memories increasingly lurking just beneath the surface and growing in their destructive power at every emotional intersection.
Vera’s constructed identity might otherwise pass for a successful, professional life, filled with good looks, an advanced education, challenging and thoughtful work, beautiful rewards, busy schedules, important responsibilities, smart colleagues and fine food. In Vera’s case, problems begin to emerge when the external forces of life continue to change. A husband decides to trade his moral principles for better pay. A supposed friend leaves the country without a word. Another friend crashes her marriage into a wall of deceitful sexual dramas, making Vera an accomplice. The reliable, static identity Vera has come to depend upon is flatly unable to adapt or respond.
As the novel progresses, Vera increasingly finds herself wanting less scripted and more meaningful interactions than she or her friends and relatives are willing to offer. She finds her husband’s increasingly liquid character traits reprehensible and she resents the lack of emotional reciprocity of her two flaky friends, as anyone would. Somewhat mystically, Vera finds emotional salvation and intellectual fulfillment in the directness of poetry, but even this feels like a false floor upon which Vera hopes to stand. While her exploration of poetry’s ability to reveal truth and experience has an intensity unlike any other ambition in her life, it becomes a distraction, another compulsive layer of new obligations, bolstering the emotional barrier between her and the past that she had previously hoped to tear down.
For Marcel and Vera, rescuing their authentic selves is a difficult process, requiring the candid confrontation of both painful memories and childhood misconceptions. The story that Watts tells feels slightly heroic. Marcel finds the courage to confront his past and attempts to climb out of the emotional enclosure that his rigidly bound, sonnet-filled routine has created. But Vera’s heroism reads far less convincingly. Watts casts Vera as a professionally engaged yet personally distant and passive-aggressive actor. Each step Vera takes serves to create another deceit. Vera lies to herself, to her colleagues to her husband and to Marcel, skillfully avoiding the ugly and painful realities that keep her running towards the exits.
Near the end of the novel there is a dissatisfying rush towards plot resolution that involves a surprise cultural identity and geographic shift for Vera. She abandons her personal relationships, assembled over many years, to escape a life she finds too dissatisfying to continue. Vera trades them for yet another work-obsessed relationship with another man in another place. While I'm not certain this is the resolution Watts was looking for, it underscores the human capacity to run from pain and personal responsibility.
Watts’ first novel is a tale that captures many of the distractions and pitfalls of the fast-forward information age in which we construct our professional adult lives, today. His writing imaginatively captures the flavor of the superficial, obligatory cocktail of corporate friendships and the way children are dragged along behind the tragedies and accidents of their parents’ lives. The novel considers the question of whether contemporary human adults can ever stop the flywheel of self- destructive emotional habits internalized after decades of emotional trauma or chasing the illusion of success along a meandering pathway of least resistance. Ironically, the patient Marcel Malone demonstrates to the healer, Vera Lewis, that a route out of the hell of social pretense can be found. Vera hopes that the magic of poetry can propel her out of that hell and into the arms of an authentic and impassioned life. In her journal, Vera writes about the optimism suggested by the poet laureate Donald Hall: “When we read great poetry, something changes within us that stays changed.” This novel is a splendid way to consider whether personal hope or social convention is the more powerful authority.
Marcel Malone is also the namesake character of the novel. He is a 30 year old accountant and the only child of an Italian-American mother who died of cervical cancer when he was 15. His father is an Irish American who, in Marcel’s estimation, wanted an athletic engineer for a son and was disappointed with Marcel’s interest in poetry, music and fly fishing. Since the death of his mother, Marcel has become increasingly afraid of both being alone and being rejected. As a result, his relationships with everything, his colleagues, his apartment, his potential romantic partners, his food, and his imagination are fragmented, transactional, and despairingly played out in iambic pentameter.
Finally, “Marcel Malone” is also the title of a journal kept by psychologist Vera Lewis, the protagonist of the story. The first words she writes in her journal more precisely describe the journal’s true subject: “My name is Vera Lewis.” Vera is the Washington D.C. therapist for the character Marcel Malone and she is fascinated by Marcel’s use of poetry to both bury and, eventually, excavate his innermost emotional injuries and the invented behaviors that have locked him within an ever more dysfunctional life. Early in their relationship, Marcel uses the reliable rhythm of sonnets to carefully contain and camouflage every conversation to its least threatening illusion. Vera purchases the 1992 edition of “To Read a Poem” by former U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall to better understand her patient’s staggering reliance upon cadence. Vera discovers the ability of great poems to reveal powerful insight and truthfulness, uncovering a dark cache of her own, long-buried, painful memories.
This novel is ultimately the story of Vera’s and Marcel’s journey towards the adult selves that had otherwise remained undiscoverable, save for the knowledge poet Donald Hall describes as the essence of Haiku: “two images, the second of which is a surprise.” Both characters construct conventionally familiar lives, beneath which lie feelings of hopelessness and subjugation. The behaviors and characters they lock themselves within provide a distraction from the rather hard work of being in charge of their own lives. They both also create surrogate personalities, filling their waking hours with supplemental layers of distraction to help them avoid memories increasingly lurking just beneath the surface and growing in their destructive power at every emotional intersection.
Vera’s constructed identity might otherwise pass for a successful, professional life, filled with good looks, an advanced education, challenging and thoughtful work, beautiful rewards, busy schedules, important responsibilities, smart colleagues and fine food. In Vera’s case, problems begin to emerge when the external forces of life continue to change. A husband decides to trade his moral principles for better pay. A supposed friend leaves the country without a word. Another friend crashes her marriage into a wall of deceitful sexual dramas, making Vera an accomplice. The reliable, static identity Vera has come to depend upon is flatly unable to adapt or respond.
As the novel progresses, Vera increasingly finds herself wanting less scripted and more meaningful interactions than she or her friends and relatives are willing to offer. She finds her husband’s increasingly liquid character traits reprehensible and she resents the lack of emotional reciprocity of her two flaky friends, as anyone would. Somewhat mystically, Vera finds emotional salvation and intellectual fulfillment in the directness of poetry, but even this feels like a false floor upon which Vera hopes to stand. While her exploration of poetry’s ability to reveal truth and experience has an intensity unlike any other ambition in her life, it becomes a distraction, another compulsive layer of new obligations, bolstering the emotional barrier between her and the past that she had previously hoped to tear down.
For Marcel and Vera, rescuing their authentic selves is a difficult process, requiring the candid confrontation of both painful memories and childhood misconceptions. The story that Watts tells feels slightly heroic. Marcel finds the courage to confront his past and attempts to climb out of the emotional enclosure that his rigidly bound, sonnet-filled routine has created. But Vera’s heroism reads far less convincingly. Watts casts Vera as a professionally engaged yet personally distant and passive-aggressive actor. Each step Vera takes serves to create another deceit. Vera lies to herself, to her colleagues to her husband and to Marcel, skillfully avoiding the ugly and painful realities that keep her running towards the exits.
Near the end of the novel there is a dissatisfying rush towards plot resolution that involves a surprise cultural identity and geographic shift for Vera. She abandons her personal relationships, assembled over many years, to escape a life she finds too dissatisfying to continue. Vera trades them for yet another work-obsessed relationship with another man in another place. While I'm not certain this is the resolution Watts was looking for, it underscores the human capacity to run from pain and personal responsibility.
Watts’ first novel is a tale that captures many of the distractions and pitfalls of the fast-forward information age in which we construct our professional adult lives, today. His writing imaginatively captures the flavor of the superficial, obligatory cocktail of corporate friendships and the way children are dragged along behind the tragedies and accidents of their parents’ lives. The novel considers the question of whether contemporary human adults can ever stop the flywheel of self- destructive emotional habits internalized after decades of emotional trauma or chasing the illusion of success along a meandering pathway of least resistance. Ironically, the patient Marcel Malone demonstrates to the healer, Vera Lewis, that a route out of the hell of social pretense can be found. Vera hopes that the magic of poetry can propel her out of that hell and into the arms of an authentic and impassioned life. In her journal, Vera writes about the optimism suggested by the poet laureate Donald Hall: “When we read great poetry, something changes within us that stays changed.” This novel is a splendid way to consider whether personal hope or social convention is the more powerful authority.
October 9, 2016
Amazing! A thriller without the crime - I enjoyed this book a lot. I very much appreciated the poetry as well as the suspense as I watched each character's step through therapy and life issues. I really loved the New Mexico references as they played out so well I felt I was there. I am sure as a poetry novice some references may have gone over my head so there is so much more for a more experienced reader. A good read.
December 11, 2016
'Marcel Malone' is a compelling read, not just in the way it meanders through the characters' dramatic emotional landscapes, but compelling in a sheer literary way.
The creative use of iambic pentameter as Marcel's method of communicating, combined with the extracts of poetry and commentary on the subject and its authors, results in a rich smorgasbord of poetic prose, clearly demonstrating Watts' passion for the art.
The juxtaposition of unease and curiosity that Vera experiences as she gets to know Marcel, and test him, makes for gripping reading, and a longing for her own healing. We are on her side, willing her to undergo the same rigour she applies to her patient.
It has made me want to rediscover my love of poetry, and in particular, become acquainted with some of the author's poetic heroes.
The creative use of iambic pentameter as Marcel's method of communicating, combined with the extracts of poetry and commentary on the subject and its authors, results in a rich smorgasbord of poetic prose, clearly demonstrating Watts' passion for the art.
The juxtaposition of unease and curiosity that Vera experiences as she gets to know Marcel, and test him, makes for gripping reading, and a longing for her own healing. We are on her side, willing her to undergo the same rigour she applies to her patient.
It has made me want to rediscover my love of poetry, and in particular, become acquainted with some of the author's poetic heroes.
March 12, 2018
“Marcel Malone,” by Lew Watts (Red Mountain Press, Santa Fe, 2016) is not a mystery, although the book contains many mysterious qualities. Here the forces of poetry, psychological therapy, climate change, self-actualization, sexism, corporate power culture, assumed and real personal histories, collide through the voices of two protagonists and abundant minor anti-heroes. In less than 300 pages, one might expect this to overwhelm the reader. Instead, it is an instant leap inside the minds of a therapist and one of her patients. This character driven story rides on
an unexpected, compelling and completely believable plot.
The astounding through-line of Lew Watts polished first novel is metaphor itself.
This book is a must read for those taken by the circular and surprising ways in which the individual may be shaped by the profound power of words and relationships.
an unexpected, compelling and completely believable plot.
The astounding through-line of Lew Watts polished first novel is metaphor itself.
This book is a must read for those taken by the circular and surprising ways in which the individual may be shaped by the profound power of words and relationships.
April 11, 2017
there are things within our childhood that keep us safe -- mentally, emotionally, physically -- moments, experiences, maybe a loved one's security and presence .. for me, one of them is simply the comforting sound of seashells used upon a wind chime. Their music reminds me of my mom and our trip to Mexico, where I gazed upon and adored carts of chimes swaying in the Caribbean breeze. For the souls within this book, it is the saving grace of poetry .. an intriguing, simmering, beautiful story lies herein, one that will make you reminisce your struggles, and your saviors; I wholeheartedly loved this book and the perseverance and strength it holds within its gorgeous mosaic cover.
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