Brothers
Edina, MN: Keen Editions, 2014. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Trade paperback. [4], 185, [3] pages. Signed by the author on the title page. Brothers is truly a gem of a story featuring sixty-year-olds, Ben and Nick, brothers from North Dakota. Ben is still teaching Latin in North Dakota, but Nick left early and has ended up finally sober in a nursing home after almost dying on the street. Their raucous and rare reunion is one readers will never forget. Growing up, Nick and Ben were close, but from the time they were young boys, their view of the world began to diverge. So did their life paths. While Ben stayed in North Dakota and taught in the local high school, Nick went to the place he had set his sights on from the time either of them could remember. Sunny California, the land of free-spirits, free love, abundant psychotherapy and drugs. And from then on their differences became greater than their common beginnings. Now the are in their 60s, and life has caught up with both of them, especially Nick, whose hot light as a therapist has not only faded, it has brought him to the brink. His brilliant mind dulled by drugs and alcohol, and his grasp on reality fragile at best, Nick needs family, and Ben is all he has. Ben can find no more reasons to stay away from his brother. In fact, he has a particular reason for going to California. Seeing Nick again is the only way he may ever find the answer to the question about his wife's death that keeps the flame of his resentment burning slow but steady. Even the best sibling relationship is complicated, but when they are two brothers, and one is the 'good' son and the other is the prodigal son, resolution can take a lifetime--if it happens at all. Mohrbacher recently retired after working at the Science Museum of Minnesota for 33 years, first in communications and later working on programs to make the museum accessible to people across the economic strata. “Brothers” is his second novel. The first, “The Magic Fault,” is a thriller in which a band of priests steal the Shroud of Turin in an attempt to save it from an increasingly Muslim Europe, hoping to bring about the second coming. His play, “The Chancellor’s Tale,” chronicles the struggles that a church experiences after a pastor witnesses a union ceremony between two women. Derived from a Kirkus review: Set in 1997, Mohrbacher’s novel explores the reunion of two estranged brothers. Even in their 60s, Nick and Ben don’t get along. A specialist in clinical psychology, Nick is a hedonist in California while Ben is a straight-edged academic in his hometown, Bismarck, North Dakota. Ben learns that Nick is ill and in assisted living. Not having seen him in 12 years, Ben reluctantly travels to San Mateo to visit him. But he has ulterior motives. Jeanne Marie, Ben’s wife, passed away, and he is convinced Nick knows something about the circumstances surrounding her death. On the brothers’ first night out, they meet two women: Bonnie and Joyce. Immediately, the four grow close, and both women help Ben take care of “Doctor Nick,” who often makes a scene. For example, the three heard Nick “smash a bottle, probably against the bathtub, and then another one, and then a third. He had finished all three. We could hear cabinets slamming.” Over the years, Nick became a miracle worker helping sundowners—people with dementia who grow uneasy as the day goes by—overcome their anxieties. Before Ben’s arrival, Nick fell into a diabetic coma and was found homeless and unconscious. He recovered but now suffers from severe memory loss. In several affecting scenes, Ben tries to reconstruct Nick’s memory by visiting Nick’s old haunts: a McDonald’s, his old apartment, a homeless shelter, and Stern Grove Park. Mohrbacher develops his characters with great attention to detail. The strength in the brothers’ newfound fraternity will move readers. A heartfelt exploration of brotherhood and the hardships of growing old. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Fiction, Novel, Siblings, Family, Relationships, North Dakota, San Mateo, Death, Dying, Dementia, Sundowners, Memory, Drug Abuse, Homeless
ISBN: 9780984660353
[Book #82342]
Price: $125.00