THE POSSIBILITY OF EVERYTHING. By Hope Edelman. Ballantine Books. 352 pages. $25.
What mother would not go to the ends of the earth if the journey meant that she could save her only child from a life of mental illness? Hope Edelman chronicles her story to do just that in her recent memoir, The Possibility of Everything.
Their story begins innocently enough. Three-year-old Maya runs suddenly into her mother's office, hits her surprised mother and retreats to a corner of her room between her nightstand and the closet door. There she wails, "Dodo made me do it!" Dodo, it seems, is Maya's new, not so nice, imaginary friend. Soothed by doctors and parenting books alike, Maya's parents reassure themselves that it is not unusual for children to have an imaginary friend. Both Hope and her husband, Uzi, have been working long hours lately, and Uzi has been away from home more often than usual. They rationalize that Maya is probably just looking for a playmate in their absence. Their concern, however, escalates as Maya's outbursts escalate and become more and more violent over the course of a few months. Soon Maya is seeing multiple Dodos and appears to be exhibiting possible early symptoms of childhood schizophrenia.
Maya's parents are torn between staying home with Maya and taking her on a planned vacation to Belize. Uzi votes to continue the trip and add a visit to a well-known healing shaman while there. Perhaps, Uzi argues, a shaman can help rid Maya of Dodo. Hope, always the skeptical one in their relationship, is reluctant, but she eventually relents, and off they go to Belize. A series of delayed departures and arrivals causes the family to miss their appointment with the shaman, though. Secretly relieved, Hope determines to enjoy the remainder of their vacation to the fullest. A visit to some Mayan ruins, however, changes her trajectory.
At the entrance to the Tikal National Park stands a wooden sign that reads, "Welcome to the place of the Spirit Voices." It is here, while climbing the ruins, that Maya has one of her more frightening episodes. She comes to a point in the ruins where she refuses to move. She covers her eyes and ears alternately while wailing and screaming uncontrollably. The local people and culture believe wholeheartedly in the presence of good and bad spirits among the living. The family's guide and driver both believe a spirit is attached to Maya and that her condition could be helped by a shaman.
As Hope assimilates to this new cultural norm, it becomes easier and easier for her to leave behind the suffocating tradition of her own belief system as well as the belief system of American society. Slowly, very slowly, she embraces a new way of thinking.
The family is able to gain access to a well-respected shaman. After Maya's evaluation, the shaman assures Hope and Uzi that, if Maya does have a bad spirit attached to her, it will be taken care of. They leave their appointment with cautious optimism and a bag full of flowers and other medicinal plants. They are to prepare a flower water bath and bathe Maya. During the healing bath, Maya nonchalantly turns to her mom and says simply, "Bad Dodo has to leave now … is that okay?" And just as suddenly as it all began, their strange saga ends. Dodo is never mentioned again.
Many of the secondary characters are superfluous and never quite take hold and grab you. The book spends an inordinate amount of time describing travel plans, routes and scenery. The result is that the story comes across feeling a little forced and strained. The entire story takes place in the span of four months, so skeptics who might say that Maya had an overactive imagination rather than a "bad spirit" have a valid argument. Yet regardless of your beliefs, it is a strong story of a couple's love and devotion to their child.
Cindy Bunker is a free-lance writer who lives in Lexington.
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