Generosity: An Enhancement / by Richard Powers

Russell Stone is a new teacher of Creative Non-fiction at a small Chicago-area college. It's a dismal prospect for the once highly regarded author, a step down after a promising career went south. But his class holds something special for himself, and indeed for everyone else, in the form of a uniquely exuberant Algerian refugee named Thassadit Arnzwar. Thassadit isn't just a happy-go-lucky type of person; she's not merely a high-energy optimist, expressively spiritual or just another average perky personality. She is the only genuinely blissful human being Russell Stone has ever met. That goes for everyone else as well, the other class members inspired by the young woman's (really just a girl in her mid-20's) almost superhuman charisma and benevolence. Her joy and contentment (unshakeable to its core) warrants all the more recognition considering the horror-show past she's endured. Thassadit's experiences include a harrowing childhood spent in a war-zone, the violent deaths of several family members, multi-cultural displacement (she's lived in 5 different countries on 3 separate continents) and a currently near-destitute housing situation.

The girl is such an anomaly that Russell starts seeking out answers on the nature of her happiness and the subject of happiness in general, starting with general psychological research and expanding his investigation into the human genome project which has simultaneously begun to map the various traits which apparently endow an individual biologically with natural happiness. He concludes temporarily that Thassadit must have some form of hyperthymia, an extremely rare personality condition characterized by an infectious, elevated mood, boundless positive energy and unparalelled optimism. Wanting to confirm his hunch, Stone engages psychologist Candace Weld who, upon meeting Thassadit, can only conclude the same to the point that she sponsors the girl for clinical research. Something of a public novelty now, Thassadit, nicknamed Miss Generosity by her classmates, swiftly comes to the attention of the scientific community, specifically renowned geneticist Thomas Kurtin, a scientist mapping the genes for human happiness who soon begins to publicly exhibit Thassadit as his prototype.

It would have been better if this book based its story on an actual case study, or at least structured its premise around more likely events. Powers, a commendable writer, likely researched his topic carefully and based his content on solid scientific principles, but the plot suffers from too many manufactured sequences. No doubt people like Thassadit exist--Hyperthymia is a valid condition. But the nuance associated by her instant emergence into society, in an academic setting no less, and subsequent rise through the ranks from anonymity to celebrity defies plausibility and makes the book play out like a fairy tale. The concept is an intriguing one, but maybe not quite enough for a novel. There's a little too much emphasis on psychology and not quite enough on characterization. A conspicuously omniscient narrative tells the audience a lot about each character but doesn't particularly engender them with any distinctive intimacy. Russell's very cognitive but isn't rendered substantially enough to promote sympathy and Thassadit, whom he falls for, simply doesn't seem real. Powers won the National Book Award for his previous novel, The Echo Maker, a book with a similarly cutting-edge medical science theme and one which evidently resonated a more credible scenario. He's a good writer, no question, casually loquacious without pretension, his prose reading very much like the work of a talented, experienced author who knows what he's talking about. Those wanting a story about genetic engineering or curious as to why some people just seemed programmed for more happiness will discover a story that's not just based on a hypothesis, but a factual account that's been proven in some capacity. (FIC POWERS)

The Cure For Modern Life / by Lisa Tucker

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Lisa Tucker's tried her hand at quite a diversity of occupations in addition to writing. Once a computer programmer, she's also been a waitress, math teacher and touring jazz musician. Having penned three popular novels prior to her latest, The Cure For Modern Life, Tucker's developed a loyal audience with her well-written books often chronicling the parallel lives of loosely connected characters from opposite ends of the social spectrum.

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40-year-old Matthew Connolly is a successful research scientist and executive for the prominent drug company Astor-Denning. Having helped cultivate a wonder drug called Galvenar which has since exploded onto the scene, Matthew's a major reason why Astor-Denning is currently sitting atop the market. But not everyone's so excited. Amelia Johannsen is a chairperson on a bioethics committee which is evaluating Galvenar in its early treatment phase, closely monitoring its counterbalanced side effects and not-unfrequent adverse reactions in patients. Amelia also knows Matthew personally. The pair were once amorous young lovers engaged to be married before the whole thing dissolved over an illicit affair. Now she's dating Ben Watkins, Matthew's longtime best friend and the doctor who helped develop Galvenar.

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Even if he is only 10 and despite the fact that he's had virtually no formal education, Danny knows how to work the streets. As is so often the case these days living with his undependable junkie mother, Danny must do what needs to be done so that he and his toddler sister, Isabelle, can survive. Its only through his savvy in creating pity and empathy from passers-by which enables them to get any food at all, much less the medicine that a sick Isabelle badly needs. But even Danny's not expecting what the tired-looking man in the suit does when Danny asks him for bus fair. Before long, Danny and his sister find themselves swiftly caught up in quite an unexpected turn of events.

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Tucker is a nice writer but this story's just too multi-faceted. The problem has as much to do with content apportionment as quantity. It's difficult to accurately get a handle on the characters as they wind their way through a quagmire of weighty issues like world-saving medical cures, relationship woes, serious ethical dilemmas, instances of charity gone haywire, drug addiction, pregnancy and abortion. Aspects of the backstory are hard to concede as well, mainly in the premise that three people as different as Matthew, Ben and Amelia have been best friends since college--not to mention each's awkwardly depicted livelihood as semi-famous yuppie science nerds. While largely unveven and overly sentimental, the book's message of mutual integrity in the medical profession--whether within corporate pharmaceutical policies or the domestic well-being of the underpriveleged--is easily understood by the end.

More Than It Hurts You / by Darin Strauss

David Strauss received lots of attention for his two previous novels, Chang and Eng; The Real McCoy, both of which were fictional recreations of notably curious historical figures. His latest, the more contemporary and less lighthearted More Than It Hurts You, is a rather somber testimony on the subtle ways in which preconception and prejudice are still active in society.



Josh Goldin is a can-do man. All his life he's been the guy who could do anything he put his mind to. Now a successful salesman for a large marketing firm, he's sure that his life can't get any better with his beautiful wife Dori loyally by his side and their infant son, Zach, growing up before their eyes. But even if things weren't so good, Josh knows he's capable of fixing it. So when he and Dori's parenting skills are called into question and the right to raise their own child is jeopardized, Josh takes the steps he feels are necessary to protect his portion of the American dream, even if it might end up costing him everything.

Dr. Darlene Stokes is a the head of pediatrics at a large city hospital. A physician of extraordinary skill as well as a professional of unquestioned integrity, Darlene has never made a wrong diagnosis . . . and she knows this time is no exception. Having attended Zach Goldin after he was twice brought to the emergency room exhibiting life-threatening symptoms, Darlene is prompted to make a difficult decision, one that involves accusing the Goldins--Dori in particular--of harming their own son. Darlene knows she's putting everything at risk, everything; including her own reputation, the hospital's image, the profession's credibility and--most of all--the life she'd worked so hard to create for herself. But she also knows her concluding analysis is correct and that no matter how threatening the situation to herself may be, her professional ethics and the well-being of the infant patient demand she come forward with her convictions.

While it's in no way perfect and definitely not as fun as 'Real McCoy', Strauss's More Than It Hurts You is a book which won't be soon forgotten, if only for its intimate portrayal socio-economic bias and underhanded media exploitation. While the book's characterization of both Josh and Darlene is thoroughly comprehensive, the story leaves (perhaps intentionally) some questionable loose ends concerning both, prompting the reader to contemplate whether each's actions were really as conducive to the outcome as Strauss would have you believe. Darlene is the book's most solid character and while sympathy is clearly intended more towards her circumstances, it doesn't necessarily convince the reader that Josh's actions are wholly unjustified, just as the media frenzy and its ensuing victimization of Darlene's not altogether believable. (FIC STRAUSS)