[.ca] The Law of Similars: A Novel (ISBN 0679771476)

From Amazon.com:
In Chris Bohjalian's fine follow-up to Midwives, individual judgment and the unconventional again clash with the medical and legal forces of tradition. In rural Vermont, two years after his wife's sudden death, an exhausted state's attorney can hope for little but a quiet life with his 4-year-old daughter. Leland Fowler's only goal is a cure for the common cold--his own, that is, which has dragged on for months. As it turns out, his appointment with the town's only homeopath will set to rights his physical and emotional symptoms. At least for a while. Alas, another of Carissa Lake's patients isn't quite so lucky. Despite her warning that Richard Emmons not go off his prescription drugs, he does exactly that. In fact, during an asthma attack, he takes the homeopathic law of similars--the belief that "like cures like"--to an entirely new level. This tragedy embroils Carissa in an investigation of her practice and forces Leland into a decision that is to alter not only her life but his: Upstairs, my daughter slept. And for a long time we sat on the floor before the tree, neither of us saying a word, as I worked out in my mind exactly what I would have needed to prosecute this case if a summer cold had not lasted into the fall, and I had not met Carissa Lake. Once I knew, nothing seemed quite so hopeless, and I began to sketch aloud for her exactly what we would want to create in the morning, and exactly what we would want to destroy. Chris Bohjalian is an artist of the small but seismic instant. As this gripping novel proves, he knows all too well the awful daring of a moment's surrender. --Siobhan Carson

Passions and Moral Imperatives:
This was my first reading of a Bohjalian book and I will definitely read others. It was a compelling, discomforting, frightening, and very readable book. I feel that most of the other reviewers missed the essence of this book: how people swept up by their passions can and do violate their most deeply held moral convictions to protect themselves and the ones they love during times of stress. Leland and Carissa represent two very grounded, moral characters who find each other and become passionately involved. When Leland feels Carissa may be threatened, he compromises his own knowledge of what is right because of how he feels for her. As he proceeds down this path, he comes to believe (and convinces Carissa) that the ends justify the means. Leland comes to learn that he can live with himself and what he has done. Carissa learns that she cannot. I found Bohjalian's protrayal of characters swept up in passions to be entirely realistic. I see this happen every day in real life. Anyone who does not, just isn't looking. It's shocking to realize that people we care about, even look up to, are capable of behavior they would ordinarily excoriate in others. People are very complex and rarely one dimensional. Like other reviews, I found Leland sympathetic in the beginning, but reprehensible by the end. He is a mix of the most admirable (good father, community member) and morally corrupt (self-serving rationalization) features of humanity. I liked Bohjalian's style. While I did not find Leland to be ultimately heroic, I liked the way his character was developed by Bohjalian. I will recommend this book to others.

The Law of Similars:
I was disappointed in this book. I expected it to be as good as Midwives. I found Midwives believable. However, in The Law of Similars, I could not imagine a man of Leland's caliber putting himself at risk by helping Carissa, a woman,who at the early stage of knowing her, would put himself in jeopardy of losing his license and his job. What I found most disturbing was the way Bohjalian focused so much on Leland's sexual appetite. It really turned me off. I found it hard to get into the serious part of the story when Leland's sexual fantasies came into focus. It was done in very poor taste. I'm not sure I'd want to read another book by Bohjalian...

Slow and Not realistic:
I found the book to be well written but very slow. The story about alternative medicine seemed realistic. What I found to be difficult to believe is that a man, who has seen a woman only a few times, would put his career on the line to falsify records. There seem to be no real evidence against Clarissa even without changing her patient notes. In addition, after a while the dialogue on Leland's infatuation with Clarissa became tiring. I won't read another book by Chris Bohjalian.

Passions and Moral Imperatives:
This was my first reading of a Bohjalian book and I will definitely read others. It was a compelling, discomforting, frightening, and very readable book. I feel that most of the other reviewers missed the essence of this book: how people swept up by their passions can and do violate their most deeply held moral convictions to protect themselves and the ones they love during times of stress. Leland and Carissa represent two very grounded, moral characters who find each other and become passionately involved. When Leland feels Carissa may be threatened, he compromises his own knowledge of what is right because of how he feels for her. As he proceeds down this path, he comes to believe (and convinces Carissa) that the ends justify the means. Leland comes to learn that he can live with himself and what he has done. Carissa learns that she cannot. I found Bohjalian's protrayal of characters swept up in passions to be entirely realistic. I see this happen every day in real life. Anyone who does not, just isn't looking. It's shocking to realize that people we care about, even look up to, are capable of behavior they would ordinarily excoriate in others. People are very complex and rarely one dimensional. Like other reviews, I found Leland sympathetic in the beginning, but reprehensible by the end. He is a mix of the most admirable (good father, community member) and morally corrupt (self-serving rationalization) features of humanity. I liked Bohjalian's style. While I did not find Leland to be ultimately heroic, I liked the way his character was developed by Bohjalian. I will recommend this bood to others.

Conflict of interest:
The heart of the book is the essential conflict of interest between Leland Fowler and Carissa Lake. Leland is a state prosecutor and Carissa is being accused of a crime. What tangles it all up is Leland's feelings for Carissa. While I agreed with some of the other reviewers that it did seem odd that Leland, a successful legal mind and a father, would sacrifice everything for Carissa, it was more believable in light of the fact that he is a widow who terribly misses his dead wife. Carissa reawakens something in him that two years of greiving have depleted, and he doesn't want to lose it. I didn't find Leland Fowler terribly likable, nor did I find myself rooting for Carissa. But, the book somehow worked nonetheless. It was well-written, and as usual Bojhalion tackled an interesting subject, in this case whether homeopathy is a viable alternative medicine. I read it raptly, and although it wasn't as good as Midwives, I recommend it.