Liam DurcanRecensioni

Written by a neurologist, this book deals with the aftermath of an automobile accident in which Martin, a Canadian architect, can't come to terms with his loss of spatial awareness (neglect syndrome). His long-estranged brother is the only family member who supports Martin through his rehabilitation and return to "normal" life. It's hard to follow in parts when told from Martin's point of view, because he doesn't understand what is lacking from his vision, and is increasingly paranoid as the story proceeds.

Trying to put his life back together after a horrific accident in a snowstorm – his car parked on the side of the road no match for the snowplow – Martin’s is a battle with his brain, which has been left badly damaged. Once a successful architect in Montreal, he is now under the guardianship of his older brother, a retired veterinarian. This is a character driven story, driven by unlikeable characters, in unrelenting darkness of spirit - Martin’s past, Brendan’s past, their lives unconnected for decades. Martin’s life parallels the life he imagines of his Russian architect idol.

I thought the author did a fine job portraying the life of a person suffering from the loss of spatial awareness called “neglect syndrome”, and with the architectural descriptions and settings. I found it well written and interesting, and I appreciated learning about this piece of a medical syndrome.½

This is the story of Martin, a former architect who wakes from a coma only to find that he has had a brain injury causing "neglect syndrome" - the loss of spatial awareness. He refuses to accept his condition and the result is that he becomes increasingly paranoid, agitated and clashes with all those around him. The story is quite slow and plodding and I found I just really did not like Martin at all, which made it very hard to remain interested in the book.½

When I started reading this book I thought it was the best written book I've ever received from early
reviewers. The writing style was very clear and clean and the author expresses himself very well. I was very impressed by the fact that this was only the author's second novel and that he actually works as a
neurologist(!)because I find his writing style to be so fine. But then I got stuck in the middle of the book and I found it difficult to pick up again. I finally did finish it and my final feelings is that the book moves in too many different directions ending up with a very confused plot.One of the other major problems with
the book is that the author seems to focused on the mental state of the main character, that I felt I was
learning more then I wanted to know. It got to the point that I didn't care about how he reacted to things.
The secondary plot line about the Soviet architect was very, very interesting, but sometimes it seemed to move out of the principle focus of the book as the story dealt with the Vietnam war and relations of siblings. By the end of the book even a senile mother is introduced, for what purpose I wasn't sure. And then late on there is all these details about the city of Detroit, and I wasn't sure what the point of all of that was. It was interesting..but the book kept moving in far too many directions for me to feel totally comfortable with it. A lot of people comment on the "surprise" ending..the explanation for the accident
that has happened to the main character Daniel, but this is dealt with so succinctly by the author that
it didn't seem to matter so much to me. I think the writer has a great prose style, I just wish the book
was more tightly edited. Overall I think it went on longer than it probably should have.

Abandoned at p 170. It has something, but its floundering. The idea is lost in the descriptions and careful prose that says, "Look, here's a good line." But it is coy about the reason for the story. About the reasons for the anguish etc.
Time to move on.
Your time is up.

Martin was a successful architect, with his own company. He had a family, but a distant one. And then he was in an accident which put him in a coma. After he awoke, he was in the hospital for many months, doing physical therapy to regain skills that were once so easy for him. He felt as though he was doing much better, but what he didn't realize was that he had a brain injury that blocked part of his vision. His brother, Brendan, from whom Martin had been estranged for years, decides it is his familial duty to take care of Martin. The two brothers hardly know each other when Martin first comes home, and they spend some time learning about each other again. As the brothers try to find a way to live their new lives, Brendan starts to realize that maybe Martin's accident wasn't entirely an accident. Brendan tries to help Martin recognize the full extent of his injuries, but Martin does not want to know how bad off he really is. As the days progress, Martin starts to understand where his life is now, and has to come to terms with the mess he has made of his family relationships. When I first started this book, I wasn't sure if I would like it. I am not that interested in architecture, and I didn't want to read a book about it. But the book is really about Martin and his injuries, and the two brothers trying to form a relationship that has been long dead. It is more about relationships and coming to terms with a life one may not be proud of creating, but has to live all the same. The end of the book felt like it was kind of thrown in; it didn't really fit in the book, except to further the ideas about family relationships. Overall, not a bad story.

"The Measure of Darkness" uses the imagery of darkness through every character. With well crafted prose Durcan leads us through Martin's discovery/recovery of a brain injury by exposing tangled relationships - brother, mother, children. His characters are easily engaged and have depth. It was only retrospectively that I acknowledge that the conclusion was the only obvious wrap-up. As Martin is pulled to the top of the building - as if being pulled from darkness into complete consciousness - the choice to plunge back into the comfort of darkness is the only option for him. I received my copy of this book through the Early Reviewer program.½

It was difficult to get into this book at first. After taking the advice of one of the other reviewers to look up Konstantin Melnikov and to look at his house, things started to make a lot more sense. However, it wasn't until after I did that and made it to Chapter Six that I was finally able to settle into the story. Martin Fallon, an architect, is coming out of a coma after an accident. His estranged brother for 30 years, Brendan Fallon, is the only family member to come forward to take on the day-to-day care for his brother. Martin suffers from Neglect Syndrome which means he can't see anything on his left side. He also doesn't recognize this fact which makes it that much harder for him to figure out what's going on.

There is a parallel story about Konstantin Melnikov, a gifted Soviet architect who is only allowed to practice for 10 years before his country takes away his license and he retreats into obscurity. As Martin retraces Milnikov's life and his own decisions, he becomes more and more unsettled as he starts to remember what happened the night of his accident.

This book is about a lot of things; family, decisions and their aftermath, aging, death...etc. While this was a slow start, I am glad that I finished this book and appreciate receiving it as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. I know that I will be thinking about this for awhile and may be back to change this to 4 stars.½

“The Measure of Darkness” by Liam Durcan is an intellectually engaging literary novel about two brothers who reunite in their late 60s after being estranged for their entire adult lives. They meet in a rehabilitation clinic where Martin Fallon, the younger brother, is recovering from a major auto accident that left him with a life-destabilizing neurological disorder called Neglect Syndrome. This is a spatial disorder defined by the inability of a person to process and perceive stimuli on one side of the body. Due to the disorder, Martin is dangerously blind to everything on his left side. He is unable to care for himself and now requires a full-time caregiver. Neither of Martin’s two ex-wives nor his daughters were willing to assume the burden. Interestingly, it is Martin’s estranged older brother, Brendan, who agrees to take on the day-to-day responsibility of Martin’s care.

The last time the brothers were together was the late 1960s. Brendan was a young man leaving for a tour of duty as a soldier in Vietnam and Martin was a high school teenager privately harboring strong antiwar sentiments. Ultimately, Martin fled to Canada to avoid the draft. One brother chose duty and responsibility; the other chose ambition and self-actualization. The brother who fled, broke his parents’ hearts; the brother who served, came back psychologically wounded and unable to forgive his younger brother for abandoning the family and choosing his own needs above those of family and country.

The main action of the book takes place over a very short period—perhaps a few weeks—after Martin and Brendan leave the rehabilitation clinic to begin life on their own. During this brief time the entire arc of the novel takes place: the reader becomes aware of the full extent of Martin’s deficits, including his complete inability to negotiate his own life; Martin discovers more and more about what happened to him immediately prior to the accident; the brothers discover more about each other’s past personal lives; and eventually, the two men try to uncover the history and psychology of their estrangement. Through this process, each makes separate stunning personal psychological discoveries that bring clarity to the past and present.

The fact that Martin, the brother with Neglect Syndrome, was a successful architect prior to his injury means that this novel also has a great deal to do with architecture. What better way to help a reader understand Neglect Syndrome than to create a character whose entire career life depends on being able to negotiate the spatial world? In this novel, the life and architectural contributions of famous Russian architect, Konstantin Melnikov, are showcased. At times this emphasis on Melnikov may seem extraneous, but my advice is to bear with it because what you learn about Melnikov helps to clarify the whole.

Besides being a highly skilled literary writer, the author is also a practicing neurologist. As a result, he was able to take his clinical experience with Neglect Syndrome and apply it artfully to Martin’s character development. The reader is able to get inside the character and actually feel what this disorder does to distort reality. In many respects, this is reason enough to read this book (particularly if one is interested in odd neurological disorders).

This is an intellectually challenging, powerful, and complex novel. The writing is rich and strong, the pace is slow and thoughtful, and the subtlety, understatement, and academic details are demanding. It gets four stars because it could have benefited from better editing and pacing.

(I am indebted to LibraryThing’s “First Read” program for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of this book.)

This was a very entertaining book about a man with “neglect syndrome”. The main character, Martin, wakes up from a coma to learn that he was in an accident and now suffers from “neglect syndrome” though he believes he’s fine. He literally can’t perceive half of his world but he doesn’t understand that. He’s shocked to learn that due to his disability, his architect license has been withdrawn and he can no longer work doing what he loves.

Although his estranged brother and his own two daughters are supportive, Martin becomes more and more paranoid. He has such a hard time accepting his disability and the changes in his life. He relates his position to a Soviet architect who he had met once, Konstantin Melnikov. But as he looks more and more into both his past and the life of Konstantin Melnikov, his broken mind becomes even more confused. The author is a neurologist himself so this look at “neglect syndrome” rings true.

This is a profound literary book that will cause you to think about it long after the last page. While this man had a specific physical condition, how often do we also plunge ahead with our lives not knowing things about our own lives, things that we can’t see or refuse to see? The author is an accomplished writer and the book is very well written.

This book was given to me by the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review.

Thanks to Librarything and the publisher for a free copy of this book.
The Measure of Darkness is described as "A gripping journey into the depths of a fractured mind". I couldn't agree more! Although I have read other books about characters with left neglect syndrome, this is the first time I felt like I truly understand what it must be like.
The novel focusses on Martin, an architect recuperating from a serious car accident and his estranged brother, Brendan who reenters his life to help support him during his rehabilitation. Both brothers are flawed characters but Durcan manages to make them sympathetic. I liked his writing style as well. I found most of the novel hard to put down, the sections about the sixties (Expo and Detroit's black day in July) particularly fascinating. 4.5 stars½

Bellevue Literary Press is a small New York press that publishes books at that intersection where art meets science. They are a project of the New York University School of Medicine but they are not a university press per se, they operate independently. I can't say enough good about them and I encourage readers to find out more about the press and their authors.

As to Liam Durcan's The Measure of Darkness, BLP has scored again. This is a smart page turner about Martin, an acclaimed architect, who has sustained a brain injury in a suspicious car accident. It is about struggle, perseverance, family. It is ultimately about choice, bravery and a call to be your true self. Liam Durcan is a doctor who has once again proved that he is also a writer.

Measurement is crucial to the viability of an architectural design. If you are an architect who is unable to design, whether by order of a totalitarian regime or acquired brain injury, what is left to measure?

A neurologist at McGill University in Montreal, Liam Durcan somehow finds time to frame multi-layered plots and intriguing characters in the context of architecture. THE MEASURE OF DARKNESS is his second novel, set to come out in March. I received an uncorrected proofs copy from LibraryThing on which I based this review.

An unexplained car accident leaves influential architect Martin Fallon with “neglect syndrome”, an incapacitating loss of spatial awareness. His career in architecture is over, according to everyone but Martin. He checks himself out of rehab and with the aid of his formerly estranged brother, a retired veterinarian (Durcan sprinkles interesting insights into this industry throughout the novel), returns home to Montreal, to reclaim his position as head of his architectural firm. There he discovers what everyone else already knew: prior to the accident Martin had sold his interest in the business to his partners. Unable or unwilling to swallow this truth, Martin tries to untangle the sinister implications of this out of character decision and his suspicious roadside accident. While continuing to alienate his long-suffering brother and filmmaker daughter with his paranoia, Martin re-examines his opinions about Soviet era architect, Konstantin Melnikov, whom he once visited in Russia as a young man and the ground-breaking cylindrical house he built.

Author Durcan leads the reader through many rooms in THE MEASURE OF DARKNESS to expose the elements of the complicated life of Martin Fallon--the family home in Detroit, his brother’s stint in Vietnam, his failed marriage and arrogant ambition, his mother’s dementia and his youthful dismissal of Konstantin’s seeming compliance with Stalin’s regime. That’s a lot to build in 250 pages. (Sidenote: Finally, a male author who knows the value of brevity!) Liam Durcan elegantly deploys his research in a psychological drama that speaks to how we construct ourselves through events expressed in relationships with those closest to us.

Highly recommended to all!

I loved this book. The main character has a brain injury but part of the injury is that he is unaware of his limitations. He is unaware of half of his world but also unaware that he is missing anything. I could not put this book down until I finished it. The story works of many levels. Kudos.

Martin Fallon wakes from a coma after an automobile accident only to find that he now suffers from a debilitating brain condition known as “spatial neglect syndrome”. Martin must accept that he can no longer continue life as the celebrated architect he was before his brain injury. He has no recollection of the accident and what led up to it. He grows increasingly agitated and paranoid as he attempts to piece his former life together.

Martin is twice divorced and has little to do with his grown daughters, Susan and Norah. There is no one to care for Martin, so his brother Brendan decides to do it. Reconnecting with Brendan, the brother Martin has been estranged from for decades, forces them both to revisit some long ago wounds. Brendan is fighting some demons of his own. A long ago tour in Vietnam and the loss of his wife have contributed to some very embarrassing and self-destructive behaviors.

The Measure of Darkness is a darkly depressing, sophisticated book. It’s a fairly short book, but it’s a complex and multi-layered one. I found it somewhat slow-moving at times. The author is careful to reveal bits and pieces of each character’s backstory as the book progresses, and he does it in no easy, breezy manner. You’ll have to work at staying with this book. While chapters written in Brendan’s POV are clear and straightforward, Martin’s meandering mind, particularly when comparing his life to that of famous Russian architect Konstantin Melnikov, was at times difficult for me to follow.

This is a multifaceted story to be sure. One that certainly doesn’t just focus on the estranged brothers and a neurological condition. The author weaves a clever tapestry of controversy and political commentary, mainly geared toward American society. The effects of war and the (deliberate) decay and neglect of inner-city communities are front and center and it’s quite clear where the author most likely stands on these issues.

This book is different from the books I usually choose, but I did enjoy it. If you’re looking for an upbeat and happy book you won’t find it here. If you’re looking for an intelligent book constructed of many layers that will make you think then I’d suggest getting a copy.

The Measure of Darkness by Liam Durcan is the story of Martin Fallon, an architect who comes out of a coma to find that he has had a brain injury causing "neglect syndrome"-the loss of spatial awareness. As Martin refuses to accept his limitations, he careens into conflict with all those around him, including his former partners, his daughters, and his formerly estranged brother. Brendan Fallon has come out to take care of his brother, despite the passage of many years of no contact. When they were young, growing up in Detroit, Brendan served in Vietnam, while Martin, radicalized by the Detroit riots and the 1960s, ran away to Canada.

This is also the story of Brendan, who struggles to understand his relationship with this semi-stranger yet still familiar man who looks like him but who, at least Brendan hopes, is nothing like him
Martin's ambition (before the accident) caused him to push away the people who loved him. His daughter Norah debates which is more important: ambition or talent. In her view, talent is something many people have but don't use. And that, she feels, is no loss. She doesn't, however, understand why ambition is considered so important. And that makes sense given how her father has sacrificed everything, including his relationship with her, to his ambition.

After the accident, Martin is forced to consider what his value is without his ambition. And in this struggle, he becomes increasingly paranoid that someone has stolen his life, someone is after him.

I liked the way the author used the larger political dimension to illuminate and contextualize Martin's struggle. The brothers' efforts to make sense of their lives is cast against the decline of the city in which they grew up and as the city shatters, so does their sense of safety and even self. But Martin uses the socio-political world of the 60's to mask his need to escape and create a new self. His blindness is not only spatial; he is unable to see himself or the personal damage he has left in his wake. His obsession with his personal success-somehow mirrored in his other obsession, the Russian architect, Melnikov, blinds him to who he is and how he effects others.

The darkness is all around him. Some of the story is difficult to follow as it is told through Martin's fractured consciousness but this confusion is balanced by other chapters told through Brendan's point of view. However, the sense of an unreliable narrator permeates this book and left me feeling off-balance. It is a kind of mystery of the mind.

Durcan's writing is strong and the story compelling. I found some of the sections a bit slow but overall it is a strong and thought-provoking work.

My thanks to Librarything's first reads program and Bellevue Literay Press for giving me the opportunity to read this very interesting book.

This is the story of two brothers: Martin, an architect who has just suffered a brain injury leaving him unable to continue in his profession, and Brendan, a retired veterinarian who has arrived to care for Martin. Which is surprising, as they have been estranged for over 30 years.

The novel takes place over a few days, with Martin leaving the rehabilitation centre against medical advice, and Brendan driving him back to his home in Montreal. We learn about the brothers' relationships with each other, and with their wives and children...all these relationships are in a fragile state for various reasons which the author unveils for us as we get to know Brendan and Martin. Mr. Durcan develops his characters well, and the family dynamics are rich with complexities and nuances...this is, I think, the strength of the book.

Loss is a major theme in this book...loss of livelihood, of love, of family ties. The characters deal with loss in various ways, and a theme of self-protection also runs through the story.

I was a little disappointed though, in the portrayal of Martin's brain injury. He has "neglect syndrome", which means he cannot perceive things on his left...and he doesn't even know there is something he isn't perceiving. I would have liked a clearer description of the disorder and how Martin was dealing with it.

And, I agree with the reviewer (below) who thought some of the sentence structures were a bit convoluted.

All in all, worth reading for the portrayal of family dynamics,and how those dynamics are affected by loss.

Outstanding. This book spoke to me personally on so many levels. It is the story of Martin, an architect, who suffers a devastating brain injury when his car is hit by a snowplow one February night in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. The nature of the injury left him lacking insight into his condition, and thus unable to appreciate that he could only see things in his right field of vision, and things on the left just no longer existed for him, making the whole world seem crazy and hard to fathom. As he goes through rehab and starts to recover, his older brother, from whom he has been estranged for over 30 years, agrees to become his caregiver and take him back to his condo in Montreal to try to get his life back.

The book unfolds a bit like a mystery. What was he doing on that road the night it happened? Why was he estranged from his brother and parents for so long? Why was he obsessed with a particular Russian architect? Why aren't his two daughters there for him in his time of need? This book is not an easy read, and the characters at times not very likable, but at all times very human and unforgettable. I did not really understand about the architecture except to realize it was central to the story and to Martin. When I finished the book, I looked up the Russian architect Melnikov and was astounded when I saw pictures of the house mentioned in the prologue, and it all made sense. I would suggest to anyone planning to read the book, to look this up before they start.

I am grappling with the problem of lack of insight of someone in my own family with dementia, so this book has given ME some insight into what this would be like for the person experiencing it, as part of the book is told from Martin's point of view. The author is a neurologist so has obviously extensive knowledge of these types of brain injury. I have been a long-time fan of the books of Oliver Sacks, dealing with strange case histories.

In another scene in the book, Martin remembers his visit with his family as a teenager to Expo '67 in Montreal. I made a similar visit there with my family when I was 15, and remember being amazed by all the pavilions and interesting architecture, as Martin was in the book. Also mentioned are draft dodgers coming to Canada, which made me recall my young quantum chemistry professor, who was a draft dodger. I was not expecting the book to feel so personal, which enhanced my enjoyment.

I could not put this book down once I started, and finished it in two days. Highly recommended to people fascinated by the human condition.

Only 1 star from me - I received this book as an early reviewer and had an awful time with it. I found it very difficult to follow and the writing style hard to understand. Reading was very slow as I tried to piece together the meaning between all the commas, unusual wording and long drawn out sentences. example....."But of course Brendan had changed, and the changes seemed to be almost an insult to admit - not in its particulars but in a larger sense, that the world, so firmly entrenched, so richly registeted, should have the nerve to reassert itself and demand reevaluation" .....it started to feel like reading this book was homework. Sorry to say I gave up half way through.

Abandoned at p 170. It has something, but its floundering. The idea is lost in the descriptions and careful prose that says, "Look, here's a good line." But it is coy about the reason for the story. About the reasons for the anguish etc.
Time to move on.
Your time is up.

Garcia's Heart (Liam Durcan)--beautifully written book about a man's (Patrick), struggle with trying to understand how the most influential man in his formative years--a Honduran immigrant who was a cardiologist-turned-family-grocer--could be accused of crimes against humanity. Garcia refuses to talk to anyone about his involvement in the torture of political prisoners--not his family, lawyer, and certainly not Patrick. Lots of tumultuous emotions, and a great mystery to solve--why won't Garcia talk to anyone? Recommended!

I honestly did not enjoy reading this book. I gave it several attempts as I feel a book I struggle with might not present a struggle when read in a different frame of mind. For me it felt like there was a disconnection between the narrator and the reader which wasn't fully recovered when the point of view was altered. It became a chore to work through the book which I simply do not have time for. For those who have endless hours to dissect and digest what they are reading, it may well be rather enjoyable. I received an ARC through library thing in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion.