Brain Work

By Michael Guista

Book Overview

Michael Guista's emotionally adept, psychologically acute debut collection explores the vast mysteries of the human mind and the fascinating intricacies of the soul. Turning a keen fictional eye to the rich terrain explored by Kay Redfield Jamison and Steven Pinker, Guista confronts modern mind-body dilemmas with an extraordinary mix of compassion for his characters and awe at their situations. A disillusioned psychiatrist discovers too late the folly of his professional obsession with unusual brain injuries. A son confronts the legacy of his father's schizophrenia, with surprising conclusions. An endearing late-life romance blooms between two patients in a nursing facility, one of whom is discovering life anew as the other sinks into the confusion of Alzheimer's. Disquieting, funny, and deeply human, these stories offer wise comment on the ambiguities of life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618546723
• ISBN13: 9780618546725
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Everyday Madness

This is a fascinating study of brain malfunctions. A little on the intellectual side, but definitely worth the trouble, especially the stories "Filling the Spaces Between Us" and "The Year of Release." "Down to the Roots" was heartbreaking.

A Soulful Search

This is a life-altering kind of book that kind of creeps up on you unawares. You think you're just wandering into a regular book of psychological fiction--with characters suffering from OCD, Tourette's, brain trauma, and so forth--but somewhere in the middle of it all Guista transports you to a search for the soul, or at least the mind, or a Self with a big S. But you don't know, after reading these often moving, sometimes humorous, always challenging stories whether it is your mind or soul or SELF reading the book or if it's merely brain chemistry. There's plenty here: psychological disaster, philosophical rumination, drug-induced euphoria. But there is always more. This book will stay with you months later.