Review: 'Just normal, please'
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 9, 2012
Michelle Devon dips into the current fascination with psychiatric disorders brought on by trauma (PTSD) in this very fine novella CELESTE. Though the story is brief Devon manages to cover all her bases well and creates characters - all of them in the story - with whom we can identify, whether they are the two brothers of the story, the psychiatrists, or the wife of the one brother.The story is basically one of Kyle McRoy who with his brother Mark lost their parents in a tragic accident: Mark coped, Kyle required extensive hospitalization (cleverly termed a Behavior Therapy Center) where he encountered the beautiful Celeste, a psychology student who assists people in need. When the story opens Kyle is moving toward normalcy (a state the he obsessively desires) as an accounts manager in a large firm and sees his psychiatrist Dr. Lower on a weekly basis.  He is continuing to see Celeste who is the only thing that makes his life feels normal - except that he doesn't accompany Celeste out of his apartment. Mark, his married brother, cares deeply for his recovering brother and when he hears that Kyle has a girlfriend he urges Kyle to bring Celeste to dinner. The avoidance of social situations lead the reader to understand the direction of the story, and while the ending is fairly unsurprising (there have been many novels and films about this type of situation), the development of the progress is excellent.  We are, in the end, more concerned with our own concepts of reality than we are about the resolution.Devon takes the time to introduce the concept of PTSD and works it into the narration of her story very well.  She has the skills to write more extended stories and using this as a starting point from which to judge, she certainly seems to be on a solid path.  Grady Harp, August 12