THERAPISTS GONE WILD

Schneider offers a satirical novel about a naïve therapist in Rhode Island.

Jonathan Epstein is an optimistic man whose personal “hype song” is John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and with his master’s degree in social work, he wants only to help those who need it most. As such, he generally sees people who are forced into therapy sessions by the court system, including pedophiles, thieving teenagers, and manipulative abusers—and he must try to help them, whether the patient likes it or not. As he attempts to stay on top of the latest research and connect with his colleagues, his work life is a brutal one despite his use of calming methods to stave off stress. It also increasingly encroaches on his personal life; Jonathan worries his way through his weekends, with relief seemingly nowhere in sight. The narrative follows the protagonist as he attempts to maintain his equilibrium in a seemingly apathetic world. The sheer variety of troubled and troubling people that he attempts to help keeps the story engaging. The descriptions aptly set the scene, with Jonathan’s workplace adorned with the “worst of 1970s welfare designed chairs, colors you didn’t see anymore.” The story also effectively shows how academic ideas about the latest treatment methods run into harsh realities when practitioners try to use those methods in a beaten-down, broken system—which is often run by people who pretend not to notice how beaten-down and broken it truly is. Readers will wonder if Jonathan will ever be able to pull out of his downward spiral, but an encounter with a mob-connected patient takes things in a bizarre, somewhat unsatisfying direction. Jonathan is unconvincingly drawn into a world that doesn’t suit him, even at his lowest point, and as a result, later sections lack the nuance and intrigue of earlier chapters.

A harsh but often believable tale of a caring man.