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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 921 GREENHOUSE | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Lucia Ewing had what looked like an all-American childhood. She lived with her mother, father, sister, and brother in an affluent suburb of Minneapolis, where they enjoyed private schools, sleep-away camps, a country club membership, and skiing vacations. Surrounded by a tight-knit extended family, and doted upon by her parents, Lucia had no doubt she was loved and cared for. But when it came to accidents and illnesses, Lucia's parents didn't take their kids to the doctor's office--they prayed, and called a Christian Science practitioner.
fathermothergod is Lucia Greenhouse's story about growing up in Christian Science, in a house where you could not be sick, because you were perfect; where no medicine, even aspirin, was allowed. As a teenager, her visit to an ophthalmologist created a family crisis. She was a sophomore in college before she had her first annual physical. And in December 1985, when Lucia and her siblings, by then young adults, discovered that their mother was sick, they came face-to-face with the reality that they had few--if any--options to save her. Powerless as they watched their mother's agonizing suffering, Lucia and her siblings struggled with their own grief, anger, and confusion, facing scrutiny from the doctors to whom their parents finally allowed them to turn, and stinging rebuke from relatives who didn't share their parents' religious values.
In this haunting, beautifully written book, Lucia pulls back the curtain on the Christian Science faith and chronicles its complicated legacy for her family. At once an essentially American coming-of-age story and a glimpse into the practices of a religion few really understand, fathermothergod is an unflinching exploration of personal loss and the boundaries of family and faith.
Author Notes
LUCIA GREENHOUSE, a graduate of the Emma Willard School and Brown University, lives with her husband and four children in Westchester County, New York. This is her first book.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
One afternoon just before she turns eight, Greenhouse returns home from school to find her older sister, Olivia, curled up asleep on the couch, covered with little red spots. Lucia anxiously asks her mother if Olivia has the chicken pox. Her mother stiffly replies that Olivia is not sick, because Olivia is God's perfect child. In this one moment, her family's deeply seated beliefs in Christian Science become crystal clear to little Lucia, and she wrestles mightily with these teachings in the pages of this often gripping, sometimes melodramatic memoir. Greenhouse's struggles come to a head when her mother falls gravely ill with cancer; in the early stages of her illness, Greenhouse's parents seek the aid of Christian Science healers. As her mother's health deteriorates rapidly, she is moved to a hospital for treatment, but this move is too little, too late. Greenhouse very weakly tries to resolve the tension between her own beliefs and the Christian Science teachings that she never embraced, and she never works out the anger and resentment she has toward her father for what she believes are his misguided and unloving actions toward her mother. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
In this powerfully affecting memoir, exChristian Scientist Greenhouse tells the story of how her parents' fervent adherence to their religion tore the family irrevocably apart.From the outside, the author's comfortable Minnesota childhood seemed perfect. She and her two siblings grew up going to the best schools surrounded by a host of loving relatives. Unlike the other members of their extended family, however, the Ewingclan was different. They were Christian Scientists who did not believe in taking medicines of any kind, including aspirin. From an early age, the author was all too aware "of the difference between the way my family does things and the way other people do [them]," and of the irony that her mother was a doctor's daughter. Over time, her parents' beliefs deepened. Soon after the author's 13th birthday, the family moved to London so her father could become a Christian Science practitioner (or faith healer) and her mother a Christian Science nurse. Four years later, they returned to New Jersey where they found a home near a Christian Science care facility. Greenhouse became more openly rebellious, expressing her defiance by buying a pair of much-needed eyeglasses. When her mother became sick with a mysterious illnessa "little problem" later identified as cancerunderlying family tensions came to an explosive head. Both parents vehemently denied her mother's rapidly deteriorating condition. For nine horrific months, the author stood helplessly by as her mother fought her disease armed only with the belief that all illness was error. With its meditations on the many whys of this event, the narrative reads like a personal exorcism, but Greenhouse's skill in rendering family relationships under the intersecting stresses of illness and conflicting beliefs make the book worthwhilebut difficultreading.Wrenchingly courageous.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
This unique title may be one of the hardest to find with a search in the catalog, but it perfectly captures the book's focus and flow: its triune breakdown mirrors the book's three-part structure. Written in a first-person, memoir fashion, part one highlights Greenhouse's childhood and adolescent struggles against her devout Christian Science (CS) parents, particularly her father. Whether it's a case of the chicken pox or faltering eyesight, her father's response involves prayer and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy anything but a trip to the doctor. The focus shifts to the mother in the second (and largest) section. Greenhouse is in her twenties and spends most of 1986 watching her mother die. Many of the conversations she recounts from that year involve the particulars of CS, specifically beliefs about healing and medicine. In the chapter-length final section, Greenhouse is 15 years removed from her mother's passing and reflects on her spiritual journey toward God without the strictures of what she considers a misguided religion. A touching book that puts a human face on Christian Science.--Osburn, Wad. Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
In her memoir, Greenhouse writes of being the child of parents who practiced Christian Science and her eventual falling away-she herself was never a member of the church. In recounting growing up in this household, she writes in the first-person present, so readers feel her confusion over the church doctrine that considers sickness and even death as "error." Her father's faith was strong enough that he becomes a Christian Science practitioner who treated other Christian Scientists through prayer. Greenhouse and her brother, not sharing the faith (an older sister did) rebelled in various ways. Despite their disagreements with their parents, the siblings agreed not to tell their extended family when their mother fell seriously ill. Greenhouse's mother finally agreed to be taken to a hospital, where she rallied for a short while before dying. Her death created rifts in the family, some that never fully healed. VERDICT Through this memoir, readers will see how even those closest to us can remain a mystery. Greenhouse's book is unlikely to be read by many practicing Christian Scientists. Those curious about the faith and those interested in stories of life's challenges, though, may find this a gratifying read. [See Prepub Alert, 2/7/11.]-Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Lib., Wisconsin Rapids (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
