Book review Mary Rakow, THE MEMORY ROOM
by Hilary Katersky, Elegant Living Magazine, Spring 2012
The drive to rebuild in the aftermath of a ruinous fire; the ability to be resilient when a loved one passes, are traits that are not possessed by all. Mary Rakow, who holds advanced degrees of theology from Harvard University and Boston College, takes us through the depths of despair as her protagonist, Barbara, searches for meaning after remembering long suppressed childhood truth at the hands of her parents.
Claustrophobia and panic are catalysts to a total nervous breakdown, when Barbara becomes stuck in an elevator. Unable to function after this experience, she asks for a leave of absence from her work at the university. Matters worsen, and Barbara smashes her cherished cello. Seeking solace, she speaks to her pastor, who dismisses her. “There is a lot of this going around. People saying they’re remembering things.”
As a convert from Protestantism to Catholicism, Barbara, craves rituals, martyred saints, and the crucified Christ. While attending a concert in a Methodist Church, she could not relate to the spare surroundings. “I need a real altar, a place where violence is performed and regularly observed. A place where violence has a chance to become something else.”
Clinging to humanity, Barbara aims toward the light; and she eventually finds hope in the beauty of life through poetry, art, psalms, and friendship. Mary Rakow puts us in the room, as Barbara acquires the tools to reconstitute her psyche with the help of her therapist. “I did not know until then what a barn coming out of winter could smell like… I thought for sure I heard tulips underground discussed the time of their appearing.”
While creating order out of chaos, Barbara is attracted to the poetry of Holocaust survivor Paul Celan, who committed suicide. The author takes a huge risk when she allows Barbara to identify with a Jewish woman in Celan’s “Deathfugue”-– a person who spent her final days on earth and a hellish death camp. As Barbara says, “All cruelty is the same.“ Celan’s poetry is interspersed throughout this inventive work of literature, where the spaces between the lines are purposeful and just as important as the words.