Doctor Olaf Van Schuler's Brain

by Kirsten Menger-Anderson

"A thriller that spans five centuries, Doctor Olaf Van Schuler's Brain is entertaining and thought provoking. . . This book is eerie, smart, unique, and very delicately crafted, telling many stories in every layer of time. . . Truly a pleasure to read."--Feminist Review

In 1664 Dr. Olaf van Schuler flees the Old World and arrives in New Amsterdam with his lunatic mother, two bags of medical implements, and a carefully...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565125614
• ISBN13: 9781565125612
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Good but not great.

I was expecting the author to write more on the family history and have heavy medical terminology. The short stories that she wrote about the family through the ages were sometimes told from the clients point of view instead of the family. Sometimes it was hard to pieced together who from the family was who through other peoples point of view.

Elegant, Thought-provoking Tales of Misguided Faith

This beautifully written novel-in-stories follows the lives of twelve generations of New York City physicians who are trying to better the human condition, each in his or her own misguided way. I have to say Dr. Olaf van Schuler's Brain is the most profoundly satisfying book I've read in a very long time. Kirsten Menger-Anderson has a real gift for choosing the perfect resonant detail, creating prose that is both evocative and elegantly spare. Racism, feminism, poverty, the pain of the immigrant experience--each story illuminates the experience of the struggling outsider in a fresh, thought-provoking fashion. What happens in the silences and shifts between the stories is as intriguing as the narratives themselves. Most impressive of all was the way the disparate voices "slur" together in the brilliant conclusion. Rich in historical information, the book offers a light-handed education in medical history as well as an insight into the mixture of arrogance, delusion and faith that still lurks at the heart of medical science today. One chilling refrain is that the doctors, no matter how dangerous their quackery, are always held in the highest popular esteem. "Popular opinion never strayed too far from the truth," muses one character when she reads about the miracle of lobotomies in the New York Times--words of self-comfort as dangerous today as they were fifty years ago. As mesmerizing as a faith healer, this book grabbed me from the first paragraph and never let go. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy intelligent fiction that offers more questions than answers.

A Short Story Collection in the Realm of the Highly Spectacular

Doctor Olaf van Schuler's Brain is a collection of short stories or vignettes, tracing the family of van Schuler, generation after generation, each crazy in their own way. Starting with Dr. Olaf, fleeing Europe to the city of New Amsterdam in 1664, with his lunatic mother, his medical tools and a book of medicines he developed himself, each chapter explores the changes in New York City and medical science through the often highly mad, always medically inclined van Schuler family. In so many ways, this book is special. The premise is wonderful, combining the history of medicine, often quack, all within one family, however odd. Set against the backdrop of New York, the story becomes more interesting, as the city itself almost becomes a character in the book, and you can see the city develop, one generation at a time. The family of Olaf, inheriting his madness (or that of his mother) and obsessed with curing human suffering drive the stories along. The writing is incredibly well done, making these stories all joy to read, and becoming one of those books destined to be loaned to friends with the statement of "You MUST read this." The fact that this is Menger-Anderson's debut book, brings Doctor Olaf van Schuler's Brain into the realm of highly spectacular.

Cure du Jour

Kirstn Menger-Anderson leads us on a mesmerizing romp via something Mary Shelly would have been proud of. In Doctor Olaf Van Schuler's Brain, we are led down a path of medical quakery, or not, depending on the times - in a series of eerie vignettes designed to highlight a cure of the time while tracing a long line of a family of doctors. In the beginning we are led by candle light to envision the soul found deep inside the brain inspired by mutilations of creatures in view of clandestine medical studies. We end up in the more modern day of breast implants, but what lies between is pure astonishment. Each story brings to light the medical treatment for hysteria, craziness, lack of energy, personality testing, and many other maladies. What is also intriguing and wonderful about this work is the atmosphere it portrays in each story. It carries us through history and historical happenings as they pertain to certain illness and complaints. The author has done an amazing job at tracing this family of doctors through the decades while generating the feeling and mania involving some of the cures and causes of the disease and problems of each story. This book will definitely make you think. You may also try to come up with other things that have been used throughout time in the name of modern medicine. I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy, dark little book and recommend it.

If Edward Gorey illustrated Edgar Allen Poe...

The cover art caught my attention, and i was not disappointed - I absolutely loved this book. Dark, stormy, historically accurate, and a completely intoxicating read. Each short vingette melts into the next, illustrating the history of crackpot medicine while simultaneously outlining a family rife with madness and complex interpersonal relationships. Particularly for a first book, I was completely blown away. The author can truly turn a phrase that is both slight and deep.

Dr. Olaf van Schuler's Brain

What a fascinating collection! Menger-Anderson takes readers through a vivid journey of medical history that begins in 1664 when Dr. Olaf van Schuler flees the Old World and arrives in New Amsterdam with his lunatic mother. The vignettes that follow continue through to the present day and introduce readers to subsequent generations of this eccentric family. As a student of psychology, I was familiar with many of the practices explored in this book, including phrenology, animal magnetism, electrical shock treatment, and psychosurgery. What this collection of stories does is place these procedures in the context of the human experience in a way that only good storytelling can. Menger-Anderson's smooth prose and understated tone allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. With her expertly rendered stories, Menger-Anderson has succeeded in giving the evolution of medical treatment a human face. Although I read many really good books, I don't find too many original ones. Dr. Olaf van Schuler's Brain is both a really good read and an original one. Don't miss it!