The Illness Lesson

Stunning. I will have to reread to get everything out of it–it's rich like that. Caroline and Samuel and Daniel are such complex characters. The rage against the patriarchy is so intricately, quietly built and rippling. But I wish there had been a trigger warning for sexual assault–that bit was truly horrifying.

Written in the style of Dickens, Waugh, Alcott - this harrowing tale of young girls at a forward-thinking boarding school who are caught up in feelings that are labelled hysteria by a medical doctor, told through the perspective of the young female teacher whose father runs the school. Reminiscent of the movie Picnic at Hanging Rock and the play The Crucible.

‘'This is a place of marvels.''

Unfortunately, this novel was anything but a marvel to me...

Set in the USA during the 1870s, this is the story of a daughter and a father who wanted to change the perception of what education actually meant for young women, aspiring to provide the -privileged- young ladies with spiritual talents, breaking the norms of traditional teaching. When the first students arrive at this peculiar school, things go awry very quickly. The daughter of a deceased writer who had provoked much havoc in his lifetime, an Art teacher that can't distinguish two from two and a repressed love complicate everything all too quickly. Add a bunch of strange dreams full of the colour red and a weird flock of red birds that come and go and you have a promising mixture for a novel.

Or not.

I couldn't wait to read The Illness Lesson. Judging from the synopsis, I couldn't see how this could go wrong. And yet, it proved to be my major disappointment for 2020. I had so many issues with the story, the writing, the characters, the execution that I don't know where to begin. Led by my personal standards and having read a ton of Historical Fiction and Magical Realism novels, I fast-forwarded my reading, wanting to reach the last page as soon as possible. I didn't want to abandon it even though it became hard for me to continue as soon as I reached about 40%.

I don't demand the characters in a novel to be of Shakespearean complexity and I don't expect Bronte female characters in every book I read. But I do want them to be at least remotely interesting. I don't even want them to be sympathetic but I need some spark, some ambition, a driving point. I found nothing here. Nothing. Not even a single character that could make me sit up and read carefully, that would make me care for their story. Caroline seemed to be an interesting character but her endless romantic monologues - although I should say ‘'horny'' and be done with it...- irritated and exhausted me. She was so docile and polite even when she should have reacted to set things right that I just couldn't cope with her. My rebel nature took the upper hand and I lost hope. Samuel was an ordeal. I grew tired of his pseudo-philosophical remarks, empty words, ridiculous points, absurd fantasies. David was a caricature, Sophia was another unbearable idiot testing my patience...

And the students? Jesus Christ Almighty! The entire bunch was an awful, hopeless, insolent lot. No motives, no meaningful behaviour. Silly small talk, ridiculous, naive, ‘'girly'' giggles. Repetitive and irritating. Eliza struggling to become the centre of attention is the epitome, the very definition of the worst type of students. Opinionated in all possible negative ways, brassy, and, ultimately, idiots. It takes a teacher to know and this array of stereotyped teenagers pushed all my buttons. I've been dealing with such students for many years and I know how to put them in their place. Caroline didn't. It was unrealistic, infuriating, cowardice.

I can't bring myself to believe that such behaviour would be tolerated at the time - at any time, frankly- even in the most progressive of schools. Somehow, it all seemed too far-fetched. Wives using their husbands' pet names in front of the students. Teachers watching a fellow teacher's lesson like vultures. Students explicitly making advances towards a teacher or disputing a view with absolute rudeness. And what were they taught? Nothing, absolutely nothing. In addition, having the story told through Caroline's eyes and experiencing the ‘'periphery'' of the action only when she manages to creep up on somebody to eavesdrop was constant. And it was tiring and boring. The novel would have benefited from multiple POVs even from this cast of utterly lifeless characters.

It's such a shame...the descriptions of the woods were beautiful and atmospheric and certain passages were haunting. But in the end, I didn't care for any of the characters, I didn't care for the story or the conclusion, or the implications of the Magical Realism subplot that was never fully realized or utilized. I have no doubts that this novel will appeal to the majority of readers but to me, it was an ordeal and a severe disappointment.

Many thanks to Doubleday and Edelweiss for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/