I Can Hear the Mourning Dove - Hardcover

Bennett, James W.

3.79

82 ratings by Goodreads

9780395536230: I Can Hear the Mourning Dove

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395536235 ISBN 13: 9780395536230

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1990

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Gifted but severely mentally disturbed, sixteen-year-old Grace moves back and forth between school and hospital, where she receives unexpected support from an antisocial delinquent named Luke.

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From School Library Journal:

After the sudden death of the father she has blindly idolized and the loss of the confident, economically privileged lifestyle he represented, 16-year-old Grace Braun attempts suicide. Extended hospitalization follows; she undergoes shock treatments and various psychotherapies as she struggles to control hallucinations and the fear that her mind will again become "scrambled." Readers are introduced to Grace when she begins a journal for therapeutic purposes; at this point she is tentatively emerging from illness and is being encouraged to test the world outside the hospital. Throughout, she is supported by her diffident mother who has been forced to become family breadwinner and her daughter's link with reality. Grace, her mother, the psychiatric hospital staff, the well-intentioned teachers and students, and those who torment anyone who seems different--all are strong characterizations. The grim day-to-day life of the hospital and the heartbreaking, halting steps, forward and backward, in the process of recovery are painful testimony and are believable. Grace's intense relationship with the hostile, foul-mouthed Luke Wolfe, who is facing a murder charge for the mercy killing of his only friend, is melodrama that derails the story. Also, Bennett's off-and-on discussion of Grace's purported schizophrenia is confusing. In its better moments, this harrowing account may recall Joanne Greenberg's classic, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (NAL, 1977). --Libby K. White, Schenectady County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

In the tradition of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden , this engrossing first novel invites readers to enter the imagination of an emotionally disturbed girl and trace the slow, difficult process of her healing. When Grace is released from the hospital after a suicide attempt, she feels disoriented and afraid. The people she encounters in her new town and high school seem to speak through static; much clearer is the internal voice that Grace associates with the father she has recently lost. Despite her confusion and bouts of depression, Grace begins to readjust to the outside world, but a violent incident involving a group of cruel teenagers causes enormous setbacks. With the help of a skilled psychiatrist, a loyal friend and a rebellious young man named Luke, Grace finally dares to step out of her shell to confront painful realities. With tenderness and remarkable insight, Bennett identifies the causes and effects of Grace's suffering and reveals her intricate system of defenses. Pat answers are not given to the narrator's complicated problems, yet the progress she makes in dealing with old conflicts and new challenges is clearly indicated at the story's touching conclusion. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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