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Mendel's Dwarf, by Simon Mawer
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Like his great, great uncle, the early geneticist Gregor Mendel, Dr. Benedict Lambert is struggling to unlock the secrets of heredity. But Benedict's mission is particularly urgent and particularly personal, for he is afflicted with achondroplasia—he's a dwarf. He's also a man desperate for love. And when he finds it in the form of Jean—simple and shy—he stumbles upon an opportunity to correct the injustice of his own capricious genes.
As intelligent as it is entertaining, this witty and surprisingly erotic novel reveals the beauty and drama of scientific inquiry as it informs us of the simple passions against which even the most brilliant mind is rendered powerless.
- Sales Rank: #135059 in Books
- Brand: Mawer, Simon
- Published on: 1999-07-01
- Released on: 1999-07-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.65" h x .68" w x 5.08" l,
- Binding: Paperback
- 336 pages
Amazon.com Review
Dr. Benedict Lambert, the hero of Mendel's Dwarf, is very much a leg man, not that he has much choice in the matter. For the celebrated geneticist is a dwarf, a man resigned to being stared at for a little too long from some way up, and inured to bromides about inner beauty and outward bravery. As far as he's concerned, bravery requires choice--something he never had, since his father's sperm lacked "the command for height, for normality, for happiness and contentment." The beautiful swimmer did, however, pass on the genes for irony, sharp observation, and love, all of which Ben has in abundance in Simon Mawer's superb novel of academic twists and emotional turns.
A distant relative of the first geneticist, pea-pollinating Gregor Mendel, Ben has long used libraries as a refuge, and education as a way out (if not up). Still in his 20s, he's determined to identify the gene that made him "one of nature's practical jokes." Offered a post at the Royal Institute for Genetics, he immediately puts achondroplasia on the table. The director may well consider research into dwarfdom commercially unviable, but Ben knows better. His height will finally be of help: "There are lots of organizations interested," he insists. "The Little People of America, groups like that. When they see me coming they reach for their covenant forms."
Mawer interleaves Ben's research with the story of his affair (a "menage à une et demi") with the Institute's ill-fated assistant librarian, Jeane Piercey: "Mousy, of course. I feel that all librarians ought to be mousy. It should be a necessary (but not sufficient) qualification for the job. Mousy? Agouti? What, I wonder, is its genetic control? Perhaps it is tightly linked to the gene for tidiness." Mawer also juxtaposes Ben's passion with that of his legume-obsessed ancestor. Mendel, it turns out, pined for Frau Rotway, a married woman in the inevitable company of her own achondroplastic, a dachshund.
Mendel's Dwarf wears its considerable learning lightly--the author is a biologist--and readers will be alternately moved, charmed, and shocked by Ben's "astringent kiss of irony." Because the hero makes several difficult choices in the course of this fine novel, we admire his bravery, along with his resilience, at every turn. For Ben, the smallest gesture can become the largest (nods being "big absurd things, my head being about the same size as my body. You can't miss them. They are the gestural equivalent of screaming"). And alas, such acts are often poignantly beyond Ben's grasp: "I wanted to put my arm around her, of course, to bring her that fragile thing that we call comfort. But of course I couldn't reach."
From Library Journal
Benedict Lambert, the protagonist of this imaginative and intelligent novel, is the great-great-great nephew of Gregor Mendel and a famous geneticist in his own right. He is also the dwarf of the title, obsessed with finding the marker for his condition and haunted by the all-too-easy assumptions/prejudices achondroplastics face when dealing with society at large. That a stunted body does not mean a stunted mind, feelings, or libido is brought clearly into focus through Lambert's relationship with a "mousy" librarian named Jean. Mawer weaves a story that is in turns compassionate, erotic, and angry. In telling Benedict's story, Mawer also tells that of Mendel, a genius who died unappreciated but who ultimately had a more important impact on the world than even Darwin. His discoveries provide the base for modern genetic research and the possibility of identifying markers for disease (and possibly cures), but they also raise the possibility of our being able to select particular physical characteristics for our offspring. The ethical and moral implications are obvious, particularly when brought into focus through someone whose own strain is likely to have no place in this brave new world. A wonderfully crafted, thought-provoking tale in which the science never gets in the way of the story; highly recommended.?David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersberg, Fla.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From The New Yorker
...[a] furious, tender, and wittily erudite book.
Most helpful customer reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
DISTURBING AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING
By Larry L. Looney
I found Simon Mawer's novel of a modern geneticist afflicted with achondroplasia -- dwarfism -- to be a well-written, compelling read. The book is filled with information on the theories of genetics that were pioneered by Georg Mendel 150 years ago -- a man whose genius was unrecognized in his own day. The scientific content is very relevant to the story told, and, to Mawer's credit, does not present an obstacle to the enjoyment of this novel -- on the contrary, it allows the reader a glimpse deep into the character of Ben Lambert, a man with an understandably intent mission: the isolation and identification of the gene responsible for his own mutation.
Lambert is an intelligent, acerbic, somewhat bitter character -- he has learned through his life to endure the polite and not-so-polite stares, the prejudices, the patronizing smiles of so-called 'normal' people. He has even learned to use his all-too-obvious condition in his studies and lectures -- making self-effacing jokes to lull his audience into a sense of relaxed cameraderie and submission, only to turn around and make a stabbing point with the determination and aim of Captain Ahab going after Moby Dick.
There is a love story here as well, in Lambert's relationship with Jean Piercey Miller. It is told very movingly -- it allows us to see fondness and emotion flourish in the heart of one who has been hardened by the treatment he has received at the hands of the world. There is also a purely erotic side, darker. It is tinged with a definite sadness, for we can see other, less healthy emotional undercurrents in both characters as well -- there is joy and sorrow in the cup from which they drink.
The book is written to include a series of flashnacks, allowing us a glimpse into the life of Georg Mendel, the Austrian friar who is also by chance (or by fate?) a distant relative of Dr. Lambert -- his great great great uncle. The difficulties encountered by Mendel in his day in gaining deserved attention for his pioneering work present an apt parallel to Lambert's modern-day struggles.
Near the book's climax, Lambert delivers a lecture on eugenics that is worth reading over several times -- given the current level of progress in the Human Genome Project, he presents some thoughts that we would do well to consider.
The novel presents an intelligently conceived, relevant story in an entertaining, engrossing way -- the book picks up its pace distinctly as it moves along, and the characters are well-drawn and compelling, making it difficult to put down.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
You don't have to know genetics
By nancy lapidus
You don't have to know genetics to understand Mendel's Dwarf, but it helps. The reader may think the title refers to Mendel's dwarf pea plants, but in fact the narrative is in the voice of Dr. Benedict Lambert, a genetics biochemist, an achondroplastic dwarf and great-grandnephew of Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics.
The novel's theme shifts between the current love story of Benedict and a librarian, Jean (get it?), and Mendel's activities and researches with peas and corn. Interesting and difficult questions are raised by way of this story:
1) Why was Mendel's research largely ignored in its time although it was the obvious solution to questions raised by Darwin about evolution? (It had the scintillating title, "Research in Pea Plants," and the Darwin-Huxley-Fisher group were more interested in descriptive natural history and the British Empire than in Pascal's triangle and probability quotients.)
2) How was eugenics used as a rationale for the British Empire and by Hitler for the Holocaust, and are we still doing it?
3) Is it even possible to avoid unnatural selection in our time? (Isn't the practice of birth control a form of eugenics?)
There are footnotes and references throughout, but be careful. I checked a reference to a journal, Trends in Genetics, May 1995 via PubMed, but although I found the journal, could not locate the article he cites.
There is suspense throughout, even to Benedict's final dilemma. The book might have been called Benedict's Choice, but the author was too imaginative for that.
Aside from enjoyment, this book might be an excellent selection for a course called Science in Literature. Teenagers, especially, would identify with Benedict's loneliness and would be interested in the social and ethical dilemmas raised by our knowledge of modern genetics.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Thinkers will love this thought-provoking novel.
By amyle3@aol.com
This novel is well worth reading. Mawer combines science and history and fiction in a remarkable way. Benedict the dwarf is an "Everyman," and his experience in life is a thought provoking, sometimes heartbreaking account of how people who are different see the world through the eyes of the "normal" who look at them with pity or shock. Benedict is not a saint, and his actions are not saintly. However, the author weaves together a story of Benedict and his distant famous relative Gregor Mendel that is brilliant. The love story is tender, touching, believable. And the bioethical dilemmas raised in this book are very thought provoking. I find myself thinking about different parts of this book without the book in front of me. That is a sign of a great novel. If you are a thinker who likes to ponder long after the last word of the last page is read, read this novel.
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