Norman S. Giddan
THE BOOK
This title was nominated for the Frankfurt eBook Awards.
The novel is a 90's version of Kesey's
Cuckoo's Nest. The setting is a group home for disturbed adolescents, rather than a mental hospital. The youngsters run wild -- drugs, assault, suicide, murder, fires -- and the psychologists and child care staff try, with varying degrees of success, to cope with them. The adults are quite flawed themselves, so ultimately it is the blind leading the blind.
The main storyline of the novel involves a middle-aged psychotherapist, nicknamed "Doc", who has an affair with his young female intern, "Doc Pam." Even if Doc and Doc Pam were not so distracted, the emotional and psychological needs of the youth exceed the reach of the available resources. The main characters in the novel suffer from abused or deprived backgrounds, including Doc Pam; her husband, Police Officer Reed; and Scooter and Candie, who are residents at the home.
The plot comes to a head when the violent, uncontrollable Scooter runs away, takes refuge at Doc Pam's house, and assaults her. Her husband arrives home in time to shoot and wound Scooter, but Doc Pam--in a bizarre moment of anger toward Reed, and maternal protectiveness toward Scooter--takes Scooter's gun and shoots and kills her husband. Scooter eventually commits suicide. Candie then threatens Doc and Doc Pam for causing Scooter's death, and Doc Pam coolly kills Candie after lapsing into a dissociative, if not psychotic, episode. There are some surprising twists to the plot as the reader discerns that the violence of dysfunctional families begets more violence.
Norman S. Giddan, Ph.D. a former university administrator, is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist with Central Behavioral Healthcare, Inc. in Toledo, Ohio, and a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Medical College of Ohio. Educated at Michigan, Illinois, and Stanford, he is married with two grown children. Dr. Giddan has written or edited seven nonfiction books on psychological development and treatment. Two Sweeties, a finalist for the 1998 Ariadne Prize, was his first published novel. This novel Wild Orchards, is a study of teen violence, drugs, and abuse in a group home for disturbed adolescents. It received a certificate of merit from the 1999 Opus Magnum Discovery Awards.
Wild Orchards