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Night Navigation
Night Navigation opens on a freezing-rain night in upstate New the kindling gone, the fire in the woodstove out. Del’s thirty-seven-year-old manic-depressive son needs a ride, but she’s afraid to make the long drive north to the only detox that has a bed.
Through the four seasons, Night Navigation takes us into the deranged, darkly humorous world of the addict—from break-your-arm dealers, to boot-camp rehabs, to Rumi-quoting NA sponsors. Al-Anon tells Del to “let go”; NAMI tells her to “hang on.” Mark cannot find a way to live in this world. Del cannot stop trying to rescue him. And yet, during this long year’s night, through relapse and despair, they see flare-ups of hope as Mark and Del fitfully, painfully try to steer toward the light.
Told in the alternating voices of an addict and his mother, this riveting novel adds new depths to our understanding and our literature of parents and their troubled children.
Through the four seasons, Night Navigation takes us into the deranged, darkly humorous world of the addict—from break-your-arm dealers, to boot-camp rehabs, to Rumi-quoting NA sponsors. Al-Anon tells Del to “let go”; NAMI tells her to “hang on.” Mark cannot find a way to live in this world. Del cannot stop trying to rescue him. And yet, during this long year’s night, through relapse and despair, they see flare-ups of hope as Mark and Del fitfully, painfully try to steer toward the light.
Told in the alternating voices of an addict and his mother, this riveting novel adds new depths to our understanding and our literature of parents and their troubled children.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2009
7 people are currently reading
339 people want to read
About the author
Ginnah Howard
6 books10 followersGinnah Howard's stories have appeared in Water~Stone Review, Permafrost, Portland Review, Descant 145, Eleven Eleven Journal, Stone Canoe, and elsewhere. Several have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her trilogy about two troubled Upstate New York families, which spans the years from 1946 to 2003, is now complete. In Book 1, Rope & Bone: A Novel in Stories (Illume Publications, July 2014) all the Merricks and Morlettis have a chance to give their "take" on their formative years. Book 2, Night Navigation (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2009) focuses on the Merrick familiy. This novel was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Book 3, Doing Time Outside (Standing Stone Books 2013), gives the Morlettis' side of the story. All of the novels stand alone. The National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York State gave Howard their Media Award for work on behalf of those with mental illness and their families. For more information visit: www.GinnahHoward.com
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 3, 2012
Ginnah Howard's Night Navigation is a powerful and unflinching novel about drug addiction and mental illness. It is beautifully written in a terse and spare style that is both rich and evocative. The narrative reminded me of the music of Erik Satie or the pizzicato violin in the andante movement of Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto. The writing is that beautiful and melodic. It made me rise out of myself into the world that Ms. Howard has created.
The story takes place in a one year time period in upstate New York. Del is a retired high school teacher and artist. She is the mother of 37 year-old Mark who has been diagnosed as a MICA, a dually diagnosed 'mentally ill chemical abuser'. Mark is manic depressive and a heroin addict. He has been in and out of rehab and various psychiatric hospitals. As the book begins, Mark is once again wanting to go to detox and then rehab in a therapeutic community. Like a fugue, the chapters switch back and forth between Del and Mark, sharing their thoughts, feelings and actions. They are separate yet superimposed on one another.
Mark is on a lot of psychotropic medications including Zyprexa (an antipsychotic), neurontin (a mood stabilizer), and an antidepressant. He talks about the various side effects of the medications: weight gain, fuzzy tongue, tardive dyskinesia, an incipient manic episode. He has a history of stealing in order to get money for drugs. He once took Del's car, worth $8,000 and sold it for $700. He has drug dealers after him trying to get the money that he owes them. When the novel begins, Mark is living with Del, a living situation that is not working out for her. She is terrified every time the phone rings - that it will be one of Mark's dealers, that someone will be calling to tell her about a crisis, or that she will be notified that Mark is dead. Del is an enabler and is working hard to let go of Mark, to not buy into his life issues. "When the phone rings, think marsupial: once he gets too big for the pouch, out you go." She is torn between being "Mama Marsupial" and being "Mama Bear". What makes it so difficult for Del to let go of Mark is that her husband, Lee, committed suicide when her sons were boys. Mark's brother, Aaron, also committed suicide seven years ago. Del is terrified that she will lose Mark, too.
There is a lot about twelve-step programs in this book and the author is very familiar with them. She writes about AA, NA and Al-Anon with a knowledge that is authentic and wise. When Del is thinking about the family program at Mark's rehab center, in which family "are integrated into the clinical process as thoroughly as possible on an encouraged voluntary basis", her response is "As thoroughly as possible . . .on an encouraged voluntary basis. Between these carefully edited phrases, this chorus: Night after night we expected to find out this person was dead. Hundreds of promises have been broken. You want us to open up, on an encouraged voluntary basis, to hope again, as thoroughly as possible to feel that pain once more". For Del, every day is a challenge. She tries to avoid the telephone, she has to walk past the cabin where Aaron was living when he took his life. "What happens in her gut when the phone rings and whether she can look up this hill or not are the two barometers of how she's really feeling".
Del's life is paved with crisis after crisis. Mark wants everything done right away, yesterday if possible. Del jumps to accommodate Mark's requests and demands. This makes her relationship with her long-time partner, Richard, rocky. He wants her to have clearer boundaries and limits with Mark. He doesn't really get the pressure and fear that Del is living under. Ms. Howard is carefully non-judgmental about Del and Mark, presenting their situations and outcomes in a compassionate and straight-forward way. Even when Del repeats the same errors in judgment that allow her to be used by Mark, there is no condescension or sense of 'I told you so' in the story. Concomitantly, Mark is not judged when he relapses or acts in a profoundly wrong manner. These are two people who love each other, trying to get through their days, one day at a time - - difficult days that Ms. Howard knows no one but them can truly understand.
It is poignant when Del is sitting in her living room and "She sees she's pulled the cushion over to rest on her knees. The pillow to shield against a head-on". For this is the stuff of her life - - head-on collisions with no seat belt. The author understands addicts and addictive thinking, the way that an addict manipulates, is self-centered and loses sight of right and wrong in the desire to get the next fix. She realizes how difficult it is for Mark to try one more stint in rehab, this time in what he calls a "junkie boot camp. Going to tear you down; then build you back up. Mortification and absolution." Of course Mark isn't able to cut the mustard in this type of environment but this is not held against him. He is an addict and addicts do what they have to do to get their way, always. As the saying goes in Alcoholics Anonymous, 'Fake it till you make it'. It's all faking, all the time, until real recovery sets in. For Mark, he's a fledgling at all this and has never had any real time being clean and sober. He's never made it to true recovery.
Anger is a huge issue for both Del and Mark. They have difficulty discussing Lee or Aaron's suicide with one another and their anger comes out sideways at one another or turned inward against themselves. One day, while in rehab, Mark is looking in a mirror, "He is the only one left in the bathroom. The face is a death mask. Shifting into Aaron's face. All his teeth ache. Stuff surging up in front of him that he's pretty sure isn't there. Dad in the pole barn, blood all over. Aaron, drifting down. And always the low hum." The ghosts of Aaron and Lee are always in the background of Mark and Del's lives. They live in despair, fear, if only's, what ifs, and quiet desperation. It's hard to imagine what it's like to be the only two members left of a nuclear family, the only half of that family that has not succumbed to suicide.
Ms. Howard knows mental illness well. She describes the incessant smoking that most manic depressives and schizophrenics need in order to balance their minds. Mark says to himself at one point, "The trembles are back to moderate and transmissions from outer space reduced to occasional". And this is a fairly good day for him. On bad days he hears click-clacking, humming, and feels like his head might explode. His mouth is like mush and it's hard to speak. Del hates to see Mark like this and she sees herself as a rescuer even if she can't be a savior. It is the only action she can live with - - for what would happen to her if Mark took the same route as his brother and father.
One might think this is a depressing book and in some ways it certainly is. However, it is a book about hope and resiliency, about love and coping, and about acceptance and second chances. As Roethke, the poet said, "What is madness but nobility of the soul at odds with circumstance". With Mark and Del, we have two noble souls struggling to survive. Thriving is still a long way down the road. But neither of them give up. They keep at it, one day at a time. This is a remarkable book in its reality and starkness, in its ability to light the way for two tormented souls. It is a book that kept me up all night reading because I could not put it down.
The story takes place in a one year time period in upstate New York. Del is a retired high school teacher and artist. She is the mother of 37 year-old Mark who has been diagnosed as a MICA, a dually diagnosed 'mentally ill chemical abuser'. Mark is manic depressive and a heroin addict. He has been in and out of rehab and various psychiatric hospitals. As the book begins, Mark is once again wanting to go to detox and then rehab in a therapeutic community. Like a fugue, the chapters switch back and forth between Del and Mark, sharing their thoughts, feelings and actions. They are separate yet superimposed on one another.
Mark is on a lot of psychotropic medications including Zyprexa (an antipsychotic), neurontin (a mood stabilizer), and an antidepressant. He talks about the various side effects of the medications: weight gain, fuzzy tongue, tardive dyskinesia, an incipient manic episode. He has a history of stealing in order to get money for drugs. He once took Del's car, worth $8,000 and sold it for $700. He has drug dealers after him trying to get the money that he owes them. When the novel begins, Mark is living with Del, a living situation that is not working out for her. She is terrified every time the phone rings - that it will be one of Mark's dealers, that someone will be calling to tell her about a crisis, or that she will be notified that Mark is dead. Del is an enabler and is working hard to let go of Mark, to not buy into his life issues. "When the phone rings, think marsupial: once he gets too big for the pouch, out you go." She is torn between being "Mama Marsupial" and being "Mama Bear". What makes it so difficult for Del to let go of Mark is that her husband, Lee, committed suicide when her sons were boys. Mark's brother, Aaron, also committed suicide seven years ago. Del is terrified that she will lose Mark, too.
There is a lot about twelve-step programs in this book and the author is very familiar with them. She writes about AA, NA and Al-Anon with a knowledge that is authentic and wise. When Del is thinking about the family program at Mark's rehab center, in which family "are integrated into the clinical process as thoroughly as possible on an encouraged voluntary basis", her response is "As thoroughly as possible . . .on an encouraged voluntary basis. Between these carefully edited phrases, this chorus: Night after night we expected to find out this person was dead. Hundreds of promises have been broken. You want us to open up, on an encouraged voluntary basis, to hope again, as thoroughly as possible to feel that pain once more". For Del, every day is a challenge. She tries to avoid the telephone, she has to walk past the cabin where Aaron was living when he took his life. "What happens in her gut when the phone rings and whether she can look up this hill or not are the two barometers of how she's really feeling".
Del's life is paved with crisis after crisis. Mark wants everything done right away, yesterday if possible. Del jumps to accommodate Mark's requests and demands. This makes her relationship with her long-time partner, Richard, rocky. He wants her to have clearer boundaries and limits with Mark. He doesn't really get the pressure and fear that Del is living under. Ms. Howard is carefully non-judgmental about Del and Mark, presenting their situations and outcomes in a compassionate and straight-forward way. Even when Del repeats the same errors in judgment that allow her to be used by Mark, there is no condescension or sense of 'I told you so' in the story. Concomitantly, Mark is not judged when he relapses or acts in a profoundly wrong manner. These are two people who love each other, trying to get through their days, one day at a time - - difficult days that Ms. Howard knows no one but them can truly understand.
It is poignant when Del is sitting in her living room and "She sees she's pulled the cushion over to rest on her knees. The pillow to shield against a head-on". For this is the stuff of her life - - head-on collisions with no seat belt. The author understands addicts and addictive thinking, the way that an addict manipulates, is self-centered and loses sight of right and wrong in the desire to get the next fix. She realizes how difficult it is for Mark to try one more stint in rehab, this time in what he calls a "junkie boot camp. Going to tear you down; then build you back up. Mortification and absolution." Of course Mark isn't able to cut the mustard in this type of environment but this is not held against him. He is an addict and addicts do what they have to do to get their way, always. As the saying goes in Alcoholics Anonymous, 'Fake it till you make it'. It's all faking, all the time, until real recovery sets in. For Mark, he's a fledgling at all this and has never had any real time being clean and sober. He's never made it to true recovery.
Anger is a huge issue for both Del and Mark. They have difficulty discussing Lee or Aaron's suicide with one another and their anger comes out sideways at one another or turned inward against themselves. One day, while in rehab, Mark is looking in a mirror, "He is the only one left in the bathroom. The face is a death mask. Shifting into Aaron's face. All his teeth ache. Stuff surging up in front of him that he's pretty sure isn't there. Dad in the pole barn, blood all over. Aaron, drifting down. And always the low hum." The ghosts of Aaron and Lee are always in the background of Mark and Del's lives. They live in despair, fear, if only's, what ifs, and quiet desperation. It's hard to imagine what it's like to be the only two members left of a nuclear family, the only half of that family that has not succumbed to suicide.
Ms. Howard knows mental illness well. She describes the incessant smoking that most manic depressives and schizophrenics need in order to balance their minds. Mark says to himself at one point, "The trembles are back to moderate and transmissions from outer space reduced to occasional". And this is a fairly good day for him. On bad days he hears click-clacking, humming, and feels like his head might explode. His mouth is like mush and it's hard to speak. Del hates to see Mark like this and she sees herself as a rescuer even if she can't be a savior. It is the only action she can live with - - for what would happen to her if Mark took the same route as his brother and father.
One might think this is a depressing book and in some ways it certainly is. However, it is a book about hope and resiliency, about love and coping, and about acceptance and second chances. As Roethke, the poet said, "What is madness but nobility of the soul at odds with circumstance". With Mark and Del, we have two noble souls struggling to survive. Thriving is still a long way down the road. But neither of them give up. They keep at it, one day at a time. This is a remarkable book in its reality and starkness, in its ability to light the way for two tormented souls. It is a book that kept me up all night reading because I could not put it down.
May 8, 2009
There were many good things in this novel. The writing was good, it held my interest enough to keep me reading. Howard sets a unique tone and atmosphere. Mostly the story is about a mother's attempt to cope with her adult son's drug addiction and mental illness while still `recovering' from losing her husband and younger son to suicide. She's managed to move on enough to have a long term relationship with her lover and express herself through her artwork but she can't quite separate enough from her son's needs, she can't find it in herself to love him from a distance even though she is told and believes that's the healthiest response. Also, she's mired in a rural community that's isolated and filled with other drug addicts, some violent or threatening violence. Sadly, even when her son is able to stop using his mental illness still leaves him crippled. It's innately frustrating to read about her dilemma and frustrating to see her listen to other's who want to judge how she loves her son. The fact is, in my opinion, she's a mother and can't stop herself from loving her kid no matter how old he is or how many mistakes he makes. The worst, and most peaceful, part is the end. In a way they relive the mother/infant relationship. It's not ideal but it's probably the only thing they can do other than turn their backs on one another. I take that back. She has choices. He's mentally ill and can't live a healthy life with the drugs that both help and cripple him so his choices or nil or limited. The book even at only 300 pages is too long. Or I wasn't up for the angst level. The addiction paradigm is innately hamster wheelish. Did I say the writing was good? It was. Howard's a writer who deserves our attention.
Cliff notes: He's a drug addict and mentally ill. He messes up...over and over. He can't return her love in any meaningful way. He's broken. They have a shared tragic past they don't understand. She loves him. She can't not love him. She's a mom. At the end they recreate the mother/infant bond. There's some obligatory nature metaphor thrown in.
Cliff notes: He's a drug addict and mentally ill. He messes up...over and over. He can't return her love in any meaningful way. He's broken. They have a shared tragic past they don't understand. She loves him. She can't not love him. She's a mom. At the end they recreate the mother/infant bond. There's some obligatory nature metaphor thrown in.
July 12, 2009
In Ginnah Howard's "Night Navigation", we feel the turmoil connected with loving a person who has bipolar disorder and a drug addiction. Del is the mother of 37-year-old Mark (her husband and other son also had mental problems and commited suicide years before the story begins), and she suffers from anxiety due to all she's had to put up with. Medicated and clean, Mark is a sweet and loving person, as witnessed by the love and attention he gives the family dog; off meds and using, he's a menace to himself and the people around him.
Having dealt very closely with real live people who suffer from this, I found the author has done her research. The way Mark uses his mother again and again, the eventual decision that he's doing so great he takes himself off the bipolar meds (always a mistake!!), the way he brings undesirables around to threaten his family when he owes them drug money, the fits of rage when he's desperate, all could have came from real scenarios. I felt sorry for Del at times for what she had to put up with, but wanted to give her a kick in the butt at others when she needed to stand up for herself with some tough love.
The only thing I found a bit off was the extremely mild meds Mark was prescribed for bipolar, the Zyprexa and Nurontin. While both work well for general depression, the are usually too mild for people who have been suffering from manic depression as long as Mark has.
As someone who is related to people affected by bipolar disorder, I enjoyed reading this story, comparing Mark's episodes and progress to the people I know who have struggled with this mental problem and addiction. I think others will enjoy it as well.
Having dealt very closely with real live people who suffer from this, I found the author has done her research. The way Mark uses his mother again and again, the eventual decision that he's doing so great he takes himself off the bipolar meds (always a mistake!!), the way he brings undesirables around to threaten his family when he owes them drug money, the fits of rage when he's desperate, all could have came from real scenarios. I felt sorry for Del at times for what she had to put up with, but wanted to give her a kick in the butt at others when she needed to stand up for herself with some tough love.
The only thing I found a bit off was the extremely mild meds Mark was prescribed for bipolar, the Zyprexa and Nurontin. While both work well for general depression, the are usually too mild for people who have been suffering from manic depression as long as Mark has.
As someone who is related to people affected by bipolar disorder, I enjoyed reading this story, comparing Mark's episodes and progress to the people I know who have struggled with this mental problem and addiction. I think others will enjoy it as well.
August 24, 2009
Harrowing story of addiction narrated by a son and his mother -- explores not only addiction but also co-occurence of mental illness. Gorgeous writing held me spellbound from start to finish. A must read for anyone who has dealt with addiction...
"The strength of this story pulls Howard's readers along, unable to turn away from a fierce mother and son who are determined to negotiate the future without having to "detour around every moment of their past."
New York Times Book Review, July 5, 2009
"The strength of this story pulls Howard's readers along, unable to turn away from a fierce mother and son who are determined to negotiate the future without having to "detour around every moment of their past."
New York Times Book Review, July 5, 2009
December 27, 2010
I really wanted to like this book, but I think it was definitely a case of not being the right read for me. I think this book might appeal to an older demographic...personally, I didn't care too much for reading about 60 year-olds getting it on with oral sex and lubricant. The subject matter was dark, which normally isn't a problem for me, but I guess reading about rehab and inflicting pain on mothers was a little much for me.
Again, this would be a great read for other people...it just didn't tickle my fancy.
Again, this would be a great read for other people...it just didn't tickle my fancy.
October 24, 2009
Painful and absorbing story of a mother and her adult son grappling with a family history of mental illness and the son's addiction. Emotionally difficult but gripping account that rings very true to experience, Night Navigation has some moments that made me want to avert my eyes. Highly recommend for those who are willing to go there.
June 2, 2009
Tackles the part of the story that other novels on this subject miss - the stage when the children are well into adulthood and the parents are aging, and about the new boundaries they are forced to draw as they figure out how to take care of themselves.
March 13, 2010
A must read for anyone who wants to read of the hell of bipolar disorder addictive behavior from the point of view of parents or caregivers who must, like a good friend of mine, either move in again and again to pick up the pieces and aid their loved one--or give up in dispair.
March 28, 2010
I LOVED Night Navigation! I read it last summer, each morning on the dock, at our camp in the Adirondacks and I couldn't get enough of it - Ginnah Howard is a wonderful writer, I was with her every step of the way. She created a world that I was compelled to revisit.
September 14, 2010
Depressing but real...a local author is always good to check out!
June 24, 2024
I thought this was the worst story I have ever read!!I absolutely didn’t like her writing style at all. I kept reading and reading and reading but nothing ever happened!! Yuk!
February 26, 2017
Not for me
I feel like I just wasted my time reading this book. I kept waiting for somebody to wake up, but it didn't happen and I don't really understand.
I feel like I just wasted my time reading this book. I kept waiting for somebody to wake up, but it didn't happen and I don't really understand.
December 26, 2014
This is an interesting novel about a middle-age man who struggles with addiction to heroin and his mother who tries to help him get clean. Del, the mother, helps her son, Mark, enter a rehab program and eventually he moves back into her home. Both Del and Mark have issues - the possible suicide of her son and Mark's brother, Aaron and also the suicide of Del's husband and Mark's father. The book details a year of Del and Mark's lives. There are setbacks and problems for both Del and Mark. The book is very good and unflinching in depicting addiction and the problems it can inflict on families. Additinally, Mark has some mental problems that make it harder for him. The book ends without a significant resolution, but with some hope on the horizon perhaps. But that seems very true to life. Addicts often have relapses and it does seem a story of two steps forward, one step back.
I won this copy in one of the Goodreads giveaways.
I won this copy in one of the Goodreads giveaways.
September 20, 2013
I don't know why I put this on my to be read list and know that I finished it...I'm still not sure.
I never found the humor in this book. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with drug addiction or mental illness but I think it is a fairly realistic view.
Glad I finished it...but I didn't understand the ending
I never found the humor in this book. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with drug addiction or mental illness but I think it is a fairly realistic view.
Glad I finished it...but I didn't understand the ending
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January 14, 2010Night Navigation by Ginnah Howard (no date)
February 7, 2016
disturbing subject matter
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews