Genealogy

by Maud Casey

Meet the Samantha Hennart, a poet with writer's block; her husband, Bernard, obsessed with the life of a nineteenth-century Belgian mystic with stigmata; their son, Ryan, a mediocre rock musician; and their eighteen-year-old daughter, Marguerite, who is quietly losing her mind. A meditation on family, faith, and mental illness, Genealogy is an operatic story of one family's unraveling and ultimate redemption.

Genres: Fiction

257 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2006

About the author

Maud Casey lives in Washington, D.C. She is an Associate Professor of English and teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at the University of Maryland. She also teaches in the low-residency MFA Program at Warren Wilson and was a faculty member at the Breadloaf Writers Conference in 2009.

She has received the Italo Calvino Prize (2008), the St. Francis College Literary Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2008-2009 DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship, and international fellowships from the Fundacion Valparaiso and the Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers.

Her essays and book reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, Salon, Poets and Writers, A Public Space and Literary Imagination.

Reviews

[Andrea MacPherson]

This is one of those rare treasures: a random purchase in a bookstore. I'd never read anything bu Maud Casey before, but was intrigued by the premise: mental illness, stigmata, and a family falling apart.

The novel moves fluidly between the four Hennarts, Samantha, Bernard, Ryan, and Marguerite. Each character faces their own struggles, but they all interconnect, and trace back--in some way--to Marguerite's almost-drowning at five.

This is a complex and dense narrative, but Casey's voice and use of language made it a pleasure to read. I'll be looking for more of her work.

[Jamie Campbell]

I loved this book dearly because the author has a clear love for words and nuanced phrases; like Arundhati Roy in The God of Small Things, she recognizes the power of word and phrase in shaping thought and action. She also possesses a useful understanding of mental illness; like the curmudgeonly Jonathan Franzen in the Corrections, she does a brilliant job of translating the thought processes of mental disease into a strange poetry accessible to sane minds.
Jamie

[Kelly McCloskey-Romero]

Beautifully written, but too depressing. Miserable people for complicated reasons.

[Roberta]

As others have written, this is very intense dense , difficult for me to read as a standard novel until I thought of it as prose and poetic writing, demanding slow reading, going back ro reread sections. It could become an opera with each character and major idea having its own musical theme.

[Susan Gosselin]

Genealogy by Maud Casey is an introspective and beautifully written novel that offers plenty to think about, even if it didn't completely win me over. The prose is elegant and atmospheric, and there are moments that feel genuinely moving. At times, though, the story wandered, and I found it difficult to stay emotionally connected to the characters. While it wasn't a book I couldn't put down, I appreciated its thoughtful themes and distinctive style. It's worth trying if you enjoy literary fiction that values mood and reflection over fast-paced storytelling.

[Jim]

Intense.

[Mindy Gough]

I found this book tough slogging . . . the content was not difficult, but the author's use of psychological imagery became intrusive and obfuscating.

[Miranda]

Poetic writing.

[Deb Brunt]

2.5 rounded up

[Vicky]

This book took me longer than most to get through. It's beautifully written, but more lyrical and abstract than prosaic. The abstract style blends well with Marguerite's mental decline and confusing atmosphere of the story, but it made certain parts difficult to get through.

The story was interesting and I enjoyed the parallels between Marguerite's mental decline and the psyche of Louise Lateau (a 19th century mystic with stigmata), but all in all it was a bit too verbose for my liking.

[Anna]

A book about a family that falls apart and a daughter going mad. The madness was so convincing I felt like I was losing it reading the book, which ultimately did take something away from my enjoyment.

[Jamie]

This was my favorite book this year.

[Cheryl]

Eh, kind of a boring book. Blah.

[Lu]

part road novel, part meditation on family, faith, ...redemption

[Farm Mum]

Too intellectual for my liking, too verbose. However I liked the storyline beneath all the arty fartyness so pushed on through....

[Beth]

I'm updating my Goodreads with books of the past. I read this in 2007 and scrawled a note about it saying "took me awhile, but it was worth it"

[Shannon]

A view like this can save a life.