Mendel's Dwarf

by Simon Mawer

Book Overview

Hailed by the New Yorker as furious, tender, and wittily erudite, Mendel's Dwarf is a novel that explores the brave new world of genetic science and the depths of the human heart. Like his great,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 014028155X
• ISBN13: 9780140281552
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

DISTURBING AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING

I found Simon Mawer's novel of a modern geneticist afflicted with achondroplasia -- dwarfism -- to be a well-written, compelling read. The book is filled with information on the theories of genetics that were pioneered by Georg Mendel 150 years ago -- a man whose genius was unrecognized in his own day. The scientific content is very relevant to the story told, and, to Mawer's credit, does not present an obstacle to the enjoyment of this novel -- on the contrary, it allows the reader a glimpse deep into the character of Ben Lambert, a man with an understandably intent mission: the isolation and identification of the gene responsible for his own mutation.Lambert is an intelligent, acerbic, somewhat bitter character -- he has learned through his life to endure the polite and not-so-polite stares, the prejudices, the patronizing smiles of so-called 'normal' people. He has even learned to use his all-too-obvious condition in his studies and lectures -- making self-effacing jokes to lull his audience into a sense of relaxed cameraderie and submission, only to turn around and make a stabbing point with the determination and aim of Captain Ahab going after Moby Dick.There is a love story here as well, in Lambert's relationship with Jean Piercey Miller. It is told very movingly -- it allows us to see fondness and emotion flourish in the heart of one who has been hardened by the treatment he has received at the hands of the world. There is also a purely erotic side, darker. It is tinged with a definite sadness, for we can see other, less healthy emotional undercurrents in both characters as well -- there is joy and sorrow in the cup from which they drink.The book is written to include a series of flashnacks, allowing us a glimpse into the life of Georg Mendel, the Austrian friar who is also by chance (or by fate?) a distant relative of Dr. Lambert -- his great great great uncle. The difficulties encountered by Mendel in his day in gaining deserved attention for his pioneering work present an apt parallel to Lambert's modern-day struggles.Near the book's climax, Lambert delivers a lecture on eugenics that is worth reading over several times -- given the current level of progress in the Human Genome Project, he presents some thoughts that we would do well to consider.The novel presents an intelligently conceived, relevant story in an entertaining, engrossing way -- the book picks up its pace distinctly as it moves along, and the characters are well-drawn and compelling, making it difficult to put down.

AN AUSPICIOUS, AFFECTING DEBUT

Although the incongruity of the pairing startles, Mendel's Dwarf is an achingly beautiful love story.. It is also an account of scientific progress, of the strides made in the field of genetic research. And, it is poignant reminder of the paucity of our understanding regarding the human heart. Dr. Benedict Lambert, Ben, a distinguished geneticist, is the great-great-great-nephew of Gregor Mendel, the Augustinian friar whose research in the inheritance characters in plants and hybridization provided the platform for modern genetics. Ironically, Ben has achondroplasia - he is a dwarf, a mutant as he calls himself, who "possesses a massive forehead and blunt, puglike features. His nose is stove in at the bridge, his mouth and jaw protrude. His limbs are squat and bowed, his fingers are mere squabs. He is one meter, twenty-seven centimeters tall." Yet he is brilliant, so esteemed that he is called upon to address members of the Mendel Symposium some 100 years after his great-great-great uncle's death. Aware of the surprise, revulsion and pity in the eyes of his audience, he has steeled himself to ignore the "there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I sort of stare," yet he is cagey enough to use their sympathy, "the guilt of the survivor," to win over his listeners. Following his address Ben visits the monastery at Brno where Mendel worked. It is here that their life stories begin to interweave. Through Ben's voice we learn that they share a devotion to research, while each is hampered in his own way - the eccentric friar by his humble background and the parameters imposed by the Augustinian order he follows, while Ben is fettered by his physical deformity. As men they are both frustrated sexually. Mendel, bound by vows of celibacy, finds his muse in the safely wed Frau Rotwang, wife of a wealthy cotton mill owner, to whom the friar shyly presents a plant he has bred and named for her - the Adelaide fuchsia. His gift is received with "A small exhalation of breath. A shock. It is the first time that he has ever hinted at her Christian name, the first indication that he even knows it." Ben's desire for intimacy is hobbled by his physical appearance. He finds a modicum of comfort and dismissive acceptance with prostitutes: "It'll be extra for you. Sorry dear, but that's the way it is. Market forces....extra for gross deformities." The pain of that encounter is small compared with his unrequited love for Miss Jean Piercey, a librarian at London's Royal Institute for Genetics, where Ben is on staff, determinedly working to identify the gene for achondroplasia. Only a writer with the compassion and skill of Simon Mawer could elicit empathy rather than sideshow curiosity when describing their unlikely coupling. As the pair of biographies unfolds, the men's scientific discoveries are meticulously recounted. Although delivered clearly and succinctly, at times the complexities of such information as "You follow the riflips with radioac

Inescapable

I was drawn in by the idea of a narrative told by a dwarf, and found the storyline compelling and irresistable. The brutal honesty and self-disclosure of the protagonist kept me riveted, though that seems to have put some readers off. Since I admittedly have only the basic layman's knowledge of genetics, the ethical issues raised by the story seemed very thoughtful to me. But don't get me wrong: the story itself is what stays primary, sticking with you between readings and drawing you back in for what happens next. I suspect much of the story will stay with me for a long time.

Thinkers will love this thought-provoking novel.

This novel is well worth reading. Mawer combines science and history and fiction in a remarkable way. Benedict the dwarf is an "Everyman," and his experience in life is a thought provoking, sometimes heartbreaking account of how people who are different see the world through the eyes of the "normal" who look at them with pity or shock. Benedict is not a saint, and his actions are not saintly. However, the author weaves together a story of Benedict and his distant famous relative Gregor Mendel that is brilliant. The love story is tender, touching, believable. And the bioethical dilemmas raised in this book are very thought provoking. I find myself thinking about different parts of this book without the book in front of me. That is a sign of a great novel. If you are a thinker who likes to ponder long after the last word of the last page is read, read this novel.

Fascinating, absorbing, thought provoking story.

Simon Mawer interweaves the seperate stories of the lives of Gregor Mendel, 19th Century Monk and the unrecognized (during his lifetime, anyway) discoverer of the basic properties of genetics and Dr. Ben Lambert, Mendel's great-great-great nephew, world recognized leading-edge geneticist who's the victim of a genetic mistake--he's an achondroplastic dwarf. In juxtaposing the stories of the "normal" monk unrecognized as the genius he was and the highly recognized dwarf who yearns to be normal Simon Mawer has created a fertile groud for examining a broad rage of questions: What is "Normal"?, courage?, accomplishment? What results from genetics as opposed to environment? The two men sahre many real life situations (the sex starved monk, a not very religious or pious fellow who makes chioces based upon expedience rather than faith, who is involuntarily cleibate by virtue of his outward vocation, and Dr. Lambert, the largely sex starved dwarf who is involuntarily celibate due to his outward deformity) but by virtue of their circumstances are alloted very different ranges of choices by fate dealing with their situations. A novel full of irony, philosophical questions and a trememdous trove of information about genetics as practiced in this modern age, Mendel's Dwarf is a fascinating book that will lead the reader to question his own definitions of "normal", to see the effects of abnormality, both upon it's victims as well as upon society and the "normal" population in general. A unique, entertaing, troubling and educational read.