Literature & Medicine: Must Reads
by Karen Arnold ::: bio

Karen Arnold is the facilitator for the Literature & Medicine program at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

Solar Storms by Linda Hogan

Linda Hogan’s Solar Storms was the final reading in the 2006 Literature & Medicine program at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. Hogan’s novel about a young woman’s quest to heal her broken spirit added an important perspective to a series of readings exploring how we heal and where healing comes from. Earlier readings focused on epidemic (Ship Fever), questions of how illness is defined and treated (The Yellow Wallpaper), the trauma of war (selections from The Things They Carried), and healing through writing, meditation and listening (selections from The Fifth Book of Peace).

We enter the book not knowing whose story it is, but beguiled by the imagery and sense of mystery in the prologue. All becomes clearer as Angela Jensen, a troubled seventeen-year old, takes over the narrative and tells the story of her journey toward wholeness. Scarred by her mother, both literally and emotionally, and abandoned by her as a child, Angela has no recollection of her past and returns to her Native American family’s ancestral homeland to try to piece herself together by finding her roots. As she starts toward her family’s village of Adam’s Rib, she sees her Great Grandmother walk “out of the mist toward her, [and her heart]…recognized its own (23).” Immediately, Angela enters a world that will accept, startle, challenge and, finally, complete her as she learns about her own past and that of her people.

Enmeshed with Angela’s spiritual journey is the looming threat of losing her family’s homeland, which is inextricably linked to her identity and that of her people. Readers ponder the distinction between lives devoted to “progress” and those fed by ancient beliefs; ownership rights to land and power; the effect of love as one person seeks the foundation of her being. Hogan’s consistently lyrical descriptions of place and person open our eyes to the strength of cultures that treat the earth as a companion, not as property. And more than that—we see the parallels between the ravages suffered by the environment and those Angela discovers were suffered by her mother, whom she finds at the end of the story.

Mercy’s inner city community has immigrants and disadvantaged populations who are outside the mainstream. The story of a young urban woman finding herself in a rural environment brought to life the idea of “the outsider” to life for participants, and we talked about how alienated people may feel when they enter a hospital. The anguish of the book’s characters revealed patients’ possible pain and sense of profound disconnection in new ways.

We discussed foster care and legal systems that can sometimes cause more harm than good. Participants wondered how those suspicious of social structures and agencies could trust healthcare workers to treat them positively and with respect. We agreed that Angela’s differences gave her strength and that healthcare professionals’ efforts to understand patients’ feelings of “otherness” would enhance healing at Mercy. Issues of child abuse and neglect also surfaced in our discussions.

We saved the book until the final two sessions to give the group a chance to get to know one another before tackling these weighty issues; we also took two months to read it because of the many demands on participants’ time. Both decisions turned out to be correct. People spoke more freely and personally about this novel because they trusted each other. One doctor said the descriptions of the outdoors reminded her of time spent outside as a young person and made her long for the peaceful renewing power of nature - something she was going to add to her life. At least two people from the group related how powerful the reading had been for them, prompting life changes or a new awareness that would make them better at their jobs. A first year group could read this after they get acquainted. Some readers may find the time line hard to follow at first but the book arranges itself in readers’ minds as the story develops and they get a sense of the syncopated pace set up between memory and the action of the plot as Angela lives it.

Solar Storms by Linda Hogan, Scribner Book Company, ISBN: 0684825392

Read an interview with author Linda Hogan

Must Reads is an opportunity for Literature & Medicine facilitators to review good texts for Literature & Medicine seminars. A fixture of every Synapse issue, Must Reads will have a rotating authorship. We invite any Literature & Medicine facilitator to submit a review of a reading that may have gone unnoticed by other groups.

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