The Uses of Enchantment

by Heidi Julavits

Book Overview

One Autumn day in 1985, sixteen-year-old Mary Veal vanishes from her Massachusetts prep school. A few weeks later she reappears unharmed and with little memory of what happened to her--or at least... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400078113
• ISBN13: 9781400078110
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Quirky and new

The characters in this novel are complex, like puzzles. It's appropriate that one third of the book takes place in a psychiatrist's office, as he attempts (but fails miserably) to solve the mystery of the main character. And he, too, has skeletons in his closet and too much to prove. The mother, whose funeral opens the tale, is one of the more interesting characters I've read - even though she is only there in the others' memories and stories. Touching on repressed sexuality, power dynamics, and compulsions, I found this novel dark, funny, and always intriguing.

Unmasked

The Uses of Enchantment is a recycled title, borrowed from psychologist Bruno Bettleheim's work, subtitled The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. In this book, he argued that children learn about unconscious psychological conflicts, such as Oedipal issues, by hearing these age old stories, which are nothing like the Disneyfied ones on the screen today. If that is the case, then it follows that Mary, the central character of Julavits' novel, must have missed out on a fairy tale or two. Other reviewers have aptly described this plot. While many readers may be turned off by the twisting nature of Mary's narrative, those interested in psychology, philosophy, and the sometimes devastating impact of society's interests and mores (witch hunts, educational theory, psychobabble, narcissism, to name very few), are likely to find themselves drawn in to the labyrinth of Mary's mind. Much more than a simple mystery or "coming of age" novel, Enchantment raises important questions about truth, deception, adolescence, sexuality, ambition, and reality at every turn. Written from three revolving points of view - now, then, and what might have happened - the central event (Mary's abduction) is examined and re-examined from different angles every chapter. The important characters circumvent ordinary communication. Some play elaborate word games, and some withhold the use of words. The author herself is adept at word play and allusion. Each of the characters is unlikeable because their narcissism is so blatantly revealed, without the masks people usually wear and come to expect. They aren't being "nice" here. There are flashes of wit and humor, and there are also passages fit to turn the stomach. In my experience, the questions unanswered at the novel's conclusion are not aggravating as much as perplexing, just as the motives, actions, and thought processes that make up every life are uncertain. Was Freud correct? Are the feminists? The therapists? There are some jolting surprises in the last quarter of the story. This is not an easy book to read, but if these subjects are of interest, it is well worth the time and effort. It all depends on what you want and expect when you open its pages.

Amazing book, but not for you if you want an *easy* read

Wow! I just finished this book after dropping almost everything to tear through the last third or so. (No easy feat when you've got a 13-month-old toddler to look after.) I was so impressed by it that I was surprised to see all the negative reviews here. But then again, I have to admit that this isn't an easy read. (If you're looking for the narrator to hand you all the answers to all the thought-provoking questions the novel raises, for example, this is the wrong book for you.) What it will do is make you think about how we create our own narratives, how we live inside the stories we tell about ourselves and, ultimately, about what a slippery thing the truth is. The superficial plot isn't so complicated: a teenage girl named Mary may or may not have been abducted in 1985, and this event (or non-event) has special relevance for Mary and those closest to her when her mother dies 14 years later. You'll keep reading (or at least I did) to find out what will be revealed about that event alone. But there's so much more going on here. Julavits has done her homework -- the point of view from the analyst seems spot-on -- and she's really good at dissecting her character's possible motivations (even when those seem to be obscured from the characters themselves) without ever making the narrative seem didactive or overly explain-y. The scenes where Mary and her therapist banter are especially fascinating -- if you've ever been the victim of someone trying to mess with your mind (or if you've ever played mindgames with someone else, and who hasn't?) you'll be impressed with how smart this is. My only complaint about this book is that the most important scene -- the climax of what might or might not have been an abduction -- seems to be missing. But then again, that's probably part of the point. The story is no longer Mary's, it's become what those around her have made of it (her therapist, her mother, her therapist's rival.) I highly recommend this book.

A Complex Intertwined Novel

Mary, the main character in this book is a pretty strange character. You don't quite know how to take her. Is she an innocent victim, a liar, or maybe just a bit crazy. It seemed that a few years ago we went through a period where repressed memory syndrome was in full swing. Since then it has faded from the popular mind as a result of scandals and a general popular skepticism. There certainly is a reluctance now to not attribute as much validity to recovered memories as is placed in memories naturally remembered. This is just one of the three intertwined story lines that are carried forth in this book. Another aspect is the family itself. Mary's mother (who just died and is the excuse for them getting together) and sisters are not exactly what you'd expect to find in an ordinary family, but I'll leave those details to you. This is Ms. Julavits fourth novel. She continues to grow in her characterizations and in the complexity of the story. She continues to provide a psychological tone to her books that I find quite interesting.

This Book Amazed Me.....

It almost hurts me to see all of the terrible reviews of this book that are lined up here. I bought this book because I read a brief description in the New York Times and thought it was intriguing. I was stunned when I found myself reading a book that seemed to take up and consider the intellectual history of women over the past twenty-five years, and do so in such a deft, silverfish kind of way, so that the most felicitous insights seem to slip through my fingers, as so many twists and turns in this gripping tale. But then, I got depressed, because the fact that so many people don't seem to understand what this book is about seemed to prove the very point that the author is making: women are not the authors of their own narratives. Not then, not now. All I can say is hats off to the author. I haven't read a book this thought-provoking in a very long time.