[.ca] Doctor Bloom's Story (ISBN 0676976034)

Amazon.ca:
Dr. Bloom's Story is perhaps the finest Russian psychological novel ever to be written by a Canadian. In the three-generation-drama-clogged annals of CanLit, this is a refreshing turn, but it isn't surprising for Don Coles, one of Canada's finest poets, who habitually places the Old World at the centre of his books. Coles's protagonist, Dr. Nicholaas Bloom, is a Dutch cardiologist with a recently deceased wife, a near-obsessive love for Chekhov, and a desire to write. He leaves Europe with plenty of money and not much else, sets himself up in an undemanding Toronto practice, and enrols in a writing workshop at Ryerson University. He is quickly fascinated by one of his classmates, Sophie Führ, a younger Swiss woman with a literary pedigree and a weakness for saints. His interest isn't the usual old-man-eroticism that typifies the sort of book that Dr. Bloom's Story initially seems to be. It is initially intellectual, sparked by a discussion of Strindberg, but soon becomes a matter of Sophie's well-being, for Dr. Bloom soon begins to suspect that she is being viciously beaten by her husband, the absurdly named and thoroughly villainous Rollo Maggione. Things become especially interesting when Maggione places himself in Dr. Bloom's care, worried about his heart while stubbornly denying that anything could be wrong with his superior Swiss genes. This opens a very moral dilemma that Coles could have swiped from Dostoyevsky: should Dr. Bloom use his power to kill Maggione and free his wife, a woman who refuses to free herself? Dr. Bloom's Story aspires to be a thriller, but it is too soaked in the quirks of its eponymous narrator, and in hagiographies and mystical martyr-narratives, to be mistaken for genre fiction. It's not a "poet's novel" either, for it's short on amorphous imagery and impressionistic murk. It is clear, though, that its carefully wrought and thoroughly achieved language came from the pen of a poet--and a good one at that (fans of this novel should check out Coles's verse, especially the Trillium Prize-winning Kurgan). Dr. Bloom's Story bucks any and all generic expectations, offering a very rare experience: an original and well-plotted literary novel. Readers should enter prepared for plenty of highbrow material (sly allusions to Robert Musil, an un-Atwoodian meditation on victimization, and so on), but will find a polished and enthralling story. Coles' turn to fiction at this late stage in his career (this is his first novel, and he was born in 1928) should make us all grateful. --Jack Illingworth

I really wanted to like this book.:
Thirty years ago I was a student in one of Don Coles' classes and he was such nice man, that I really wanted to love his book. I will admit that it is VERY well written and erudite, two aspects of literature that really appeal to me, but I could not identify with the characters at all. No one felt real to me and I could not see what the narrator wanted me to about either the villain Rollo or the innocent victim Sophie. Everyone loved Sophie, yet I could not understand why at all. Also considering the number of Creative Writing classes that Professor Coles has conducted, the course portrayed in the book did not seem at all believable. I can understand Doctor Bloom's love of Chekhov, Iris Murdoch, and all those books on his shelves, but I have no understanding of the real motive behind his feelings for any of the people he describes. The whole guilt over a possible crime at the end did not feel real and the whole murder mystery plot was telegraphed too broadly to make it seem shocking. I hope that Don Coles does write more novels, but I also hope that he develops more identifiable characters in those works.

Dreary and implausible novel:
I had heard the critical praise of this novel and when I read the description on the paperback cover, i thought this is just what I needed to read. First off, it isn't a thriller. There is no suspense or mystery to the brutal beatings of the woman in this story. Neither is there much true sympathy for her very disturbed plight. If anything the two characters Dr. Bloom and his bedmate treat her more as a fun specimen to study then a person who may genuinely be in pain. And to portray a victim of spousal abuse in this day and age as someone who feels she deserves it for some obscure religious higher purpose, is just irresponsible. I too tried to like this novel as the writer has an ability with language. But most of the plot is unbelievable and huge passages of the writing is incomprehensible. The Dr. is erudite and somewhat interesting, but his grasp of english (being an immigrant) is ridiculous and his dreams of becoming a writer is tiresome. The creative writing instructor is also an embarassing cliche as is the tough European (germanic)husband of the abused woman. I would have stopped reading this novel on page ten, if I didn't feel I needed to give it a chance. But the effort wasn't worth it. Three points for competent prose, but no other praise from me for this highly overated new CDN. novel.

I could not suspend my disbelief:
This novel strains under its basic premise. For a summary of the work, see the reviews above. As for my reaction: from the start, I struggled with disbelief at the central character's interest in a young woman in his writing class. (To give the author his due, Coles does suggest that the young woman closely resembles an "anima" figure from the doctor's past.) Later, after the doctor witnesses an assault on the young woman and realizes that the assault may have been committed by her husband (and though he has little more than a passing acquaintance with her at this point,) Bloom phones her home. To get to the bottom of the violent episode, Bloom's plan is to interview the husband, ostensibly about "the effect of art on the artist's spouse". Well, I couldn't help it--I just found that too ridiculous to be true! Furthermore, the protagonist's ongoing ruminations about his past and about literature--some of which are quite obscure and not obviously connected to the plot--became rather tiresome. Neither could I believe for a minute that Bloom had really been a doctor! For me, Doctor Bloom's story suffered, as so much modern fiction does, from the lack of a real story to tell. It's worth adding that an interest in Jung and Simone Weil might make your experience of the novel altogether different from mine. For me, the story itself was just too slim and insubstantial to make the reading satisfying.