Washington Post Book Reviews - ALL IN THE MIND

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ALL IN THE MIND

Alastair Campbell
Overlook
ISBN 978 1 59020 224 1
297 pages
$25.95

Reviewed by Edward Schwarzschild

Alastair Campbell, a former journalist who served as Tony Blair's press secretary, has proved himself a master of political imagemaking in the tradition of James Carville. His diary provided the material for his well-received first book, "The Blair Years" (2007). That book's success derived in part from Campbell's ability to make Blair, Gordon Brown, George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin and others seem less like pasteboard leaders and more like living, breathing (and frequently cursing) human beings.

Unfortunately, that liveliness is not on display in Campbell's debut novel, "All in the Mind." The story begins with Professor Martin Sturrock, "widely viewed as one of the best psychiatrists in the business," worrying that he might be about to plunge into despair. It's a compelling premise: What happens when a famous psychiatrist confronts his own breakdown? All too quickly, however, suspense evaporates, and potentially interesting characters -- Sturrock's clients include a burn victim, a Kosovan refugee, a self-diagnosed sex addict and an alcoholic politician -- become subservient to a rather simplistic message.

The events of the novel unfold over four days, during which each client experiences a therapeutic revelation. It's as if they've simultaneously found themselves in a climactic episode of "In Treatment." The burn victim realizes her beauty when she contemplates a package of raisins. The adulterer learns to take carnal satisfaction from bike riding. The Kosovan refugee forgives her rapist. Meanwhile, the psychiatrist, oblivious to this incredible string of breakthroughs, descends deeper into madness.

In an essay last year in the Times of London, Campbell claimed to have enjoyed working on fiction more than anything else he's done since leaving No. 10. "It is in many ways the control freak's dream job," he said. "You control everything, including the scenes where everything is out of control." Such a sentiment speaks directly to the pitfalls of negotiating the vastly different tasks of spin-doctoring and novel-writing.

Which returns us to the book's simplistic, albeit compassionate, message. Near the end, when the alcoholic politician, now humbled, stands before a crowd, preaching "for greater understanding of the pressures on those who handle pressures on our behalf," we wonder if we're reading an appendix to "The Blair Years." Professor Sturrock has been by this point almost literally thrown under the bus, but the message is, alas, still under tight control.

Edward Schwarzschild is the author of "The Family Diamond" and "Responsible Men."

Copyright 2009 Washington Post Writers Group

This news arrived on: 10/23/2009

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