Second Glance

Second Glance

Adult historical fiction
"Q. Why sterilize?
A. To rid the race of those likely to transmit the dysgenic
tendencies to which they are subject. To decrease the need for
charity of a certain form. To reduce taxes. To help aleviate misery
and suffering. To do what Nature would do under natural conditions,
but more humanely. Sterilization is not a punitive measure. It is
strictly protective.
--American Eugenics Society
A Eugenics Catechism, 1926"
Recall how last winter we studied on two books that focussed on
the 1927 decision, Buck v Bell, that gave the Supreme Court stamp of
approval to enforced sterilization of "undesirables"? Of course I
wanted to learn more. The library gods must have been smiling down on
me. I snapped up at one of the Orono Public Library sales books by
one of my favorite author's, Jodi Picoult. Second Glance contains a
lot of information about the Vermont Eugenics Project of the 1930's,
an offshoot of that evil decision.
Very strange things are happening in a small Vermont town.
"In Comtosook, residents began adapting to a world they could no
longer take for granted. Umbrellas were carried in knapsacks and
purses, to ward off rain that fell red as blood and dried into a layer
of fine red dust. China dishes shattered at the stroke of noon, no
matter how carefully they were wrapped. Mothers woke their children,
so that they could see the roses bloom at midnight."
People wonder if all that might have to do with otherworldly
entities. A company trying to develop a strip mall is trying to raze
land that may contain an indiginous people's burial ground. Modern
day Abnakis are doing their best to keep the big machines out. And
the land itself seems to be helping. At one point a razed house
starts rebuilding itself. Not surprisingly, many people hired to work
the project quit.
Ross is an investigator of the paranormal. He's also someone
who has tried to kill himself several times after the death of his
fiancée. In fact he chose his profession in an attempt to reconnect
with her somehow. When he meets a woman who actually begins to arouse
feelings in him she turns out to be the ghost of a woman, Cecelia, who
died shortly after childbirth...
...in 1932. In her time she was daughter of and married to men
who were leaders in the eugenics movement. Late on in her pregnancy
she learned some information about her lineage and that of her unborn
child...information the two major men in her life might to anything to
hide.
I find it really interesting that other reviewers have focussed
on the love story elements. In my mind the ethics stand out most
clearly, particularly since one of the twenty-first century main
characters helps couples screen embryos to give birth to only those
infants that will not bear hereditary illnesses--another side to
selective breeding also known as eugenics.
But whichever will stand out the most in your mind, you'll
relish a truly suspenseful mystery that raises moral issues...which is
exactly what Picoult so beautifully specializes in.
I know I want to find out a lot more about the Vermont eugenics
project, especially since indiginous people seem to have been majorly
selected. I know of at least one more book I can look for. And in
the future I want to take a field trip to look at primary sources.
On a personal note, I was really lucky yesterday. After an overnight
snow and morning hiatus, there was an afternoon of pouring sleety
rain. I was so glad to be in my warm home in footie pajamas with Joey
cat rather than slogging through slush under frigid precipitation
weighed down with a backpack. I even wrote a gratitude poem. Today I
learned that I was even luckier than I realized. Unlike tens of
thousands of people, Eugene and I did not lose electricity.
A great big shout out goes out to the selectboard of Jackman, a small
town on the Canadian border, who unanimously voted to boot their town
manager after he espoused very racist views, and the townspeople who
cheered their decision. I'm gonna visit them this summer and spend
money at businesses and yard sales.
jules hathaway



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