Blog Tour: The Storm at the Door by Stefan Merrill Block
Please welcome Stefan Merrill Block, author of The Storm at the Door, who is touring the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours!
Reviewed by Vera Pereskokova (Luxury Reading)
The Storm at the Door opens with Katharine Merrill – now a grandmother whose memory is starting to blur with the onset of Alzheimer’s – resolving to burn the letters her husband, Frederick, sent while at a mental asylum. We are then taken back about 20 years to hear from Frederick, the new patient at Mayflower Home, an asylum teaming with intellectuals, on the brinks of both brilliance and madness.
Katharine dreamed of a joyful life with the husband she thought she knew, with the man he was before leaving to fight in World War II. To her dismay, that man was no longer. Frederick could lead witty conversations one moment, and descend into erratic mania the next. Katharine kept up appearances, covered for her husband and hoped for the best. However, when his antics lend him in handcuffs, Katharine makes the decision that she believes is necessary for her own sanity and that of her children: to commit her husband to the Mayflower Home mental asylum.
At Mayflower, Frederick resolves to act like himself, to act normal, so as to escape the asylum’s walls as soon as possible. Soon, his surroundings, the ramblings of other patients and the solitude leave him teetering between depression and insanity, unsure of the difference between the real and imagined.
The Storm at the Door is a fictional account based on the author’s, Stefan Merrill Block’s, own grandparents. It is a story of great love and of learning to live with one’s choices, no matter how justified. Katharine believes that she made the right decision, but her conviction does not prevent her from wishing for the life she once had with her husband.
That said, The Storm at the Door was not my cup of tea. It is a well written piece of literary fiction, but is not one that I could enjoy or get interested in. There are many literary books that I absolutely loved and enjoyed, despite the sometimes difficult writing styles. With The Storm at the Door, I could not get through more than three pages without dozing off. Despite the hints at something big to come from the very first pages, I could not master up the interest nor the investment in the characters.
I think The Storm at the Door will appeal to diehards of literary fiction, but will be a difficult sell for the average reader.
Rating: 2/5
The review copy of this book was provided free of any obligation by Random House. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
Category: Literary, Literature & Fiction
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Darn, I’m sorry this one wasn’t a good fit for you – the premise is so intriguing!
Thanks for being on the tour. Hopefully your next read will be a better fit.
Thank you for the review. The fact that the author based the book on his own grandparents knowing what happened to his grandfather must have been extremely hard to write. Asylums back then were not a place that people wanted to send their family members to and to do so must have been very hard. Having lived in one, must have been incredibly challenging for anyone involved.
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I think this sounds wonderful! I love a gripping, difficult read especially when it deals with history. I am intrigued to see what Frederick had to deal with at the institution since they were often extremely cruel. Thanks for the review!
Thank you for your honest review. I have “met’ books like that before. An observation that I have had is that when you give negative ratings to books, no one “likes” your review. Well, I did have one, I must confess. But aside from that I applaud your honestly, the book will not be on my list and you have my “like” for your review.
Carol Wong