The Mercy Rule: A Novel, by Perri Klass

The Mercy Rule follows Lucy Weiss, a former-foster-child-turned-doctor, and her family, as told by Lucy and her daughter, ten year-old Isabel. The other family members, Weiss' husband and officially-undiagnosed autistic son, Freddy, are described part of the story only through their eyes, rather than as first-person narratives.

Weiss works as a general practitioner with mothers who are part of the foster-care merry-go-round, meaning they are being watched by social workers, have already had children taken away from them, or some combination of both. We meet several people via Lucy's experiences in her various roles (parent, traveling guest lecturer, doctor) such as a young boy flying across country on his own, whose father abruptly abandons him at the airport with Lucy without so much as asking her name when she and the boy find their return flight canceled. The one great disappointment of the book is that these fascinating characters transition in and out of Lucy's life as they would in the real world, meaning that the reader has no idea what eventually happens to these people. It made me a little crazy, to be honest; of particular frustration was the disappearance of the housewife who was being investigated for abusing her children, but maybe was being abused by her husband, or was it the nanny who was doing the abuse?? Lucy brings up all these questions about people, and they are never resolved. Frustrating!!!

There are, however, many things to like about this book. For starters, I learned a LOT about the foster care system, through snippets of Lucy's lectures, the various people she meets, and through descriptions of her own, and her patients', personal experiences. Also, Lucy's daughter, Isabel, is a very intelligent girl, but retains an appropriate level of maturity for her age. For instance, when she snoops and reads a novel her mother is writing as a means of relaxation, she becomes paranoid and irate when reading about the daughter, certain that it is about her, even though she feels that it is nothing like her. A typical tween, she simultaneously prays for her mother's attention and becomes furious when that attention is given. Her part of the novel is much smaller, but still interesting.

The novel skips over certain periods, which helps the story to keep moving, although there is no major conflict that needs resolution. The novel simply Is; it tells the story of a certain period of a family's life, and that is that. Luckily, Klass is an engaging and emotionally-provoking storyteller, so it works. Anyone with a Difficult family past, experience with abuse, or who was actually part of the social services system, will find this to be a very, very resonant book.

Rating: four out of five stars - an easy, relaxing, yet engaging read