September 18th, 2008
Book Talk: The Cure for Modern Life by Lisa Tucker
I picked up The Cure for Modern Life as part of a writing exercise for a writing conference I attended last month. It was the only one of five novels that I actually wanted to read, much less pay full price for at Barnes and Noble. I’ll be honest, what first attracted me to the book was its pretty cover. Nice job, whichever department of Atria Books did that. I have to admit I found the title intriguing as well.
It was however, the way the book started that kept me reading. Lisa Tucker had an excellent hook! She opens her story with the protagonist, Matthew Connelly, as practically a villain. He is confronted, one cold night, by a vagrant street child named Danny, age ten, who is begging for help for his three year old sister Isabelle, who is ill. The children’s mother is an addict, and Danny needs money for medicine to keep Isabelle from throwing up any more, as he’s afraid she will die.
Reluctantly Matthew helps the two children who eventually wind up living in his posh Philadelphia apartment instead of the crack house where they had previously been residing. The scaffolding for the story is Big Pharma. Matthew, who happens to be a bit lacking in ethics, is a key executive for a major pharmaceutical company. Enter, Amelia Johannsen, a bioethicist, and Matthew’s ex-girlfriend from college. She however, is now with Ben Watkins, a renowned researcher, and Matthew’s best friend from college as well. Thus a love triangle ensues.
Tucker does a beautiful job in developing Matthew as a character. He grows tremendously throughout the story, becoming, although a bit begrudgingly, a decent human being by the novel’s end. I also liked that she named each chapter, which had me searching for what was going to happen in the story to tie that chapter’s name in.
On the flip side, Danny’s character was a little hard for me. He’s ten year old and plays a major role in the novel, yet I found his enormous responsibility in basically raising his three year old sister to be a bit of a stretch. As an educator of fourteen years, and mother of two, I have yet to see a ten year old that disciplined. And, really, I have worked in some not so nice areas in my career, areas similar to the ghetto where Danny grew up.
I have to say, I was a somewhat disappointed in the ending as well. I wanted more. Although Tucker technically ties up the lose ends, I would have liked to have seen a stronger resolution. Okay, I’m a sucker for a happy ending. I guess the author does get to have artistic discretion after all.
All things considered, The Cure For Modern Life was a good read. The writing was clean, and the plot was easy to follow. It wasn’t stellar, but it did entertain me. For the most part, that’s what we’re all looking for right? You can check out Lisa Tucker and her other books at her website: Lisa Tucker.com
