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|summary=This is a crisply written, insightful exploration of the motives and pride to be paid for caring. The novel takes us into the lives of four Canadian characters through whom we see an interconnected web of dependency, and a revealing insight into the human condition. A novel well worth reading twice.
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Grace, a therapist, stumbles upon a young man in the woods who has attempted to commit suicide, and her vocational interests are immediately engaged. The novel takes us through their complex relationship, both its surface routines and day to day moments but also Grace's eventually successful search for the reasons behind Tug's desperation. Ohlin interlaces with this the story of Mitch, Grace's ex-husband, and of Annie, one of her clients, chronically chronicling both their relationship with Grace, but also their network of families and friends, acquaintances and colleagues.
Therapy is at the centre of this novel, as both Mitch and Grace are professionals as Annie and Tug are clients (or potential clients). And yet this doesn’t descend into quack psychology or simplistic analysis. Ohlin is careful to keep her therapists alive on a very personal level, and whatever their professional roles, we see them as people first and foremost.
