The Road to Wellville by T.C. Boyle
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Book Reviews of The Road to Wellville
Book Review: Father Knows Best, Or So He Says
Summary: 5 Stars
John Harvey Kellogg was a man ahead of his time. From the family that invented the corn flake, Dr. Kellogg ran a Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, that was one of the first of its kind in America. Concerned with the physiologic health of its inmates (mostly from the wealthy and upper middle class population), Dr. Kellogg prescribed lots of exercise, enemas, a diet consisting of milk, vegetables, fruits, and grains. No meat of any kind was allowed. The inbibing of alcohol was forbidden as was any kind of sexual activity. Sleeping quarters, even for husbands and wives, were strictly segregated. Dr. Kellogg also performed various experiments to create different types of foods (e.g. corn pulp). He even kept a laboratory holding containers of various animals' feces which Dr. Kellogg believed had the same nutritional value as a steak. Dr. Kellogg was a rigid, self-righteous man who thoroughly believed in his infallability. Never mind that one of his patient's skin was steadily becoming green and that another one was accidentally electrocuted while lolling in a sinusodial bath. We later learn that Dr. Kellogg misdiagnosed one of his patients as having "autointoxication" (all of his patients were allegedly suffering from this malady), when what he really had was an intestinal ulcer. Nor would Dr. Kellogg brook any disagreements with him or his methods. Besides his closest competitor, C.W. Post (whose slogan, "the road to wellville" Dr. Kellogg thoroughly despised), the individual who gave Dr. Kellogg the most trouble was his adopted son, George, who was extraordinarily hostile, rebellious, and downright psychotic. Dr. Kellogg believed that George was the only failure in his brood of 42 adopted children._The Road To Wellville_ is populated with many colorful and eccentric characters. These include the businessman Will Lightbody (whose name perfectly described him) and his wife, Eleanor, who convinced her husband to accompany her to the San. Both, according to Dr. Kellogg were very ill. Will, who occasionally strayed from the San to partake of hamburger sandwiches and liquid libations, must endure severe punishment for his recalcitrance. Eleanor was befriended by Lionel Badger, in whom Dr. Kellogg deeply mistrusted, and who was a radical anti-vivisectionist and a thorough believer in nudism. Eleanor was also treated outside the San by the German, monocle wearing Dr. Spitzvogel, who would have gone to prison if his methods were judged by today's standards. There is young Charlie Ossining, whom Will and Eleanor met while on their train trip to Battle Creek. Will and others invest in Charlie's breakfast food scheme. Charlie hoped that his venture would enable him to cash in during the then current breakfast food craze. Unfortunately, Charlie's plans go awry because he must contend with Bender, his flagrently dishonest business partner.
T.C. Boyle tell his novel with lots of verve, humor, warmth, and humanity. Because Boyle cares deeply about his characters, so do we. What makes _The Road To Wellville_ so poignant is its relevance to today's world. Who amongst us is not familiar with the various diet fads that promise to make the obese lose up to 30 lbs. in two weeks? New health and sports clubs constantly crop up everywhere that brag about their latest state of the art exercise equipment. And who has not seen TV advertisements hawking all sorts of gadgets, and what not that were specially designed to build up men's abs or to flatten women's tummys? So order _The Road To Wellville_ now, and if you do not find it thoroughly enjoyable, engaging, and funny, your local book store owner will totally refund your money.
Book Review: Hilarious satire with a timely message
Summary: 5 Stars
The Road to Wellville is going on my list of absolute favourite books. This is one of the funniest novels I have ever read, and also one of the most educational. T. Coraghessan Boyle has perfected the art of understatement. One of my favourite parts is when Eleanor Lightbody is receiving her German therapeutic massage: "She sank beneath it, dreaming of those sylvan glades, of men and women alike gamboling through Bavarian meadows, as naked as God made them, and she felt herself moving, too, the gentlest friction of her hips against the leather padding, moving forward and downwards and ever so therapeutically into that firm sure touch." Trust me, when you get to that part of the book, all will make sense in a most delightful way!This is a chronicle of the scatological misadventures of the spa/health set of the 1890s/1900s. Why do I say scatological? Well, John Kellogg (inventor of corn flakes and peanut butter) was obsessed with the alimentary canal. He believed a strict regimen of no fewer than five enemas per day was necessary for good health. His obsession with defecatory health permeates the novel and gives it its own unique...er...flavour.
But the novel is not a coprocentric treatise. It is a hilarious, rollicking journey through the life of a quack who didn't know he was a quack, and through the lives of those he effected.
I was first introduced to this tale through the critically-panned film version (which I personally enjoyed very much!). The book shares many common plot elements with the story, but, as is the usual case, is far superior to its film adaptation. It is also a very quick and easy read.
It's easy to disassociate myself from the ridiculous treatments included in this book (breathing in radium as a means of treating jaundice is a perfect example), but, I can't help but think T. Coraghessan Boyle may have meant this book to serve also as a cautionary tale. Sure, it's fun to laugh at those silly people of a hundred years ago, but similarly ridiculous and life-threatening "treatments" are being given out now under the guise of holistic healing.
Book Review: Guaranteed to QUACK you up!
Summary: 5 Stars
How does T.C. Boyle find these obscure figures from history and bring such life to them? John Harvey Kellogg of cereal fame certainly ranks as one of the oddball physicians of all time. At Battle Creek, Michigan, birthplace of the Corn Flake, Dr. Kellogg ran a health-nut hotel known as the "San" in the era of Henry Ford and Upton Sinclair, (both of whom were patients of the place.) Kellogg's predilection for his new "biologic living" meant strange meatless diets for his patients, regimens of heavy breathing, regular doses of electricity and radium, strict celibacy, and above all, thoroughly cleansed bowels. The Battle Creek Sanitarium -- you can look it up -- it was real. Alone, this boggles the mind. Then our author begins his fiction.
Into this peculiar environment, Boyle drops Mr. & Mrs. William Lightbody of Peterskill, NY as patients of the San; Charlie Ossining, President-in-Chief of a startup breakfast cereal firm; George Kellogg, malcontent son of the famed sanitarium director; Goodloe H. Bender, a free spending business promoter; and a host of assorted iconoclast physicians and malady stricken patients. Colorful characters all. Over the course of 476 pages, we are acquainted intimately with the diets, regimens and other prescriptions assigned the patients of the San. We follow the ups and downs (and deaths!) of these patients, as well as that of the Per-Fo (short for Perfect Food - "It Makes Active Blood!") Company run by Ossining and Bender.
TRTW is a cover-to-cover grin, a farcical look back at a slice in time starring the conniving, the gullible and the deluded. If you can procure the hardcopy version, you'll enjoy the accompanying period photographs of questionable medical practices prevalent at the San.
Book Review: Highly Entertaining -- never a dull moment!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm so glad I finally read T.C. Boyle's "The Road to Wellville." From the moment you begin reading, you will be (or, should be) sucked into the story. I've been waiting for a novel to come along and do this to me but also have some sort of substance to it. Every character was unique in his/her own way, and since this novel is based somewhat on history, you also get to learn a bit about Mr. Kellogg (of "san" and cereal fame) and others. I really like how Boyle took one tiny piece of our US history and just blew it up -- adding fiction to the history -- so that I've learned a bit more about something I wouldn't normally learn about. Who knew that the cereal business was so competitive let alone ruthless? Who knew that people flocked to the "san" for treatments we wouldn't necessarily put up with now? Who knew that specialized diets existed then as they do now -- and interestingly enough, they're fairly similar?
Boyles can do what others have a hard time doing -- he can create a great story based on history and never make it dull. He never lapses into long, drawn-out explanations of things. He just gives you enough so that you get it and then he moves on. You can always research on your own! And, he really knows how to create multi-faceted characters. You can feel their happiness, their excitement, their shame, their sadness.
I would recommend this to anyone who's looking for a great read. Don't let the length fool you -- it's a really quick read giving the circumstances. Go to it!
Book Review: Dickension - If Dickens Had A Wicked Streak
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't know if this is Boyle's best novel, but it's the one I've enjoyed the most. I think the reviewer who called it Dickension is right--and I think that Boyle has consciously immitated Dickens' style in his historical fiction. The sprawling plot, the larger-than-life characters--all remind me of Dickens. But what Boyle does with this material is certainly un-Dickension. No, smarmy melodramas wrapped up with felicitous coincidences here! Actually, Boyle reminds me a bit of John Irving--also a conscious immitator of Dickens. If you like John Irving's novels and you don't mind a bit of wickedness--well, more than a bit, really, then you might like THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE.This may also be Boyle's most readable novel. Although his style is engaging in all of the stuff I've read by him, this novel probably requires the least of his readers--I loved WATER MUSIC as well, but some my find that one a bit more perplexing.