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- - - - Performance Review Daddy's Little Girl
The Pharmacist's Mate
I feel obligated to mention that The Pharmacist's Mate is published by McSweeney's Books, the company run by Dave Eggers. Eggers has always had fantastic editorial judgment, and his decision to publish Amy Fusselman's book is proof positive that he knows great work when he sees it. But you shouldn't read The Pharmacist's Mate just because Eggers published it. You should read it because it's a great book. Fusselman heard about Eggers' contest to publish the best book about electrical engineering on boats and submitted her story. For whatever reason-- presumably that great editorial judgment previously mentioned-- Eggers agreed to publish her book even though it does not involve electrical engineering and only tangentially references boats. The Pharmacist's Mate is primarily a tribute to Fusselman's love for her dad. Although the book also discusses her attempts to become pregnant, her relationship with her brother, and her affection for AC/DC, there is the constant underlying theme of her dad's influence on her thoughts and her life. It is a chronicle of what happens to a quintessential "daddy's girl" when her beloved daddy dies, leaving a gaping hole in her heart and a struggle to deal with the loss. To understand precisely why The Pharmacist's Mate is so great, it must be noted that "daddy's girls" are a special breed. We are girls--or women--who love our daddies with all our hearts. We were fortunate to have good dads, attentive, loving dads, dads who worshipped us as much as we worshipped them. They were kind, decent dads worthy of our love and respect. No one--let me reiterate, no one--could ever fill that special place in our hearts that is reserved for our daddies. Mere words cannot do justice to this daddy-daughter bond. But Fusselman's words come close. Shortly after her dad's death, Fusselman found a journal he had kept as a Pharmacist's Mate in the Navy during WWII. Although he had no formal medical training, he was expected to provide treatment to fellow sailors. His journal entries are interspersed throughout Fusselman's book, demonstrating his character and personality in his own words. Fusselman adds her own thoughts to the remainder of the book, mostly reflecting on her dad's death and how it has changed her perception of the world. The book also contains funny stories about trying to get pregnant and going to concerts, but the value in the book is Fusselman's way of demonstrating through those stories exactly how much her dad influenced her life and continues to influence her after his death. I don't think it will ruin any surprise to say she did eventually get pregnant and gave birth to a boy. "I'm excited about that," Fusselman said in a recent conversation. "I felt he showed up as a boy in the writing first, which was kind of amazing and exciting." She named her son King, her father's middle name. Even in person, Fusselman is quite open about her love for her dad and how she hopes to carry on that relationship with her son. "The book is really close to me because it has my dad's voice in it. He wasn't that verbal of a guy and he just loved me and it was really simple. It was a challenge to write about just because so much of it was unspoken. When you have so much love for someone sometimes its just a quiet thing--it's just there--and I hope to have that with my kid." - - - -
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