Annie's Ghosts

Starred review from April 1, 2009
A family secret leads Washington Post senior editor Luxenberg to reinterpret his family history.

In 1995, the author learned that his aging mother had a sister she had never mentioned. It came up during a visit to the doctor; her parents had institutionalized their disabled two-year-old when she was four, she said, and she never saw her sister again. Since his mother was facing severe medical problems, Luxenberg felt this wasn't the time to pursue the details. After his mother's death a few years later, he learned that the sister's name was Annie and she was buried with his grandparents in Michigan. Determined to discover the truth about Annie, he began his investigation with an endless list of difficult questions. He learned that Annie had a deformed leg, amputated in 1936 when she was 17, and mental health problems. Her parents committed her to a state institution in 1940, a time when such places served primarily to remove patients from society rather than to help them recover or become fit to live in the outside world. Luxenberg's mother had been 23, not four, when Annie was committed. To the shame of being poor was added the stigma of having a sister in a state institution because they couldn't afford anything better. She wanted a different future, and to achieve this she believed she would have to bury her sister and her own childhood; she began to deny Annie's existence completely, telling people she was an only child. As Luxenberg slowly uncovers Annie's story, he realizes that by exposing one ghost, he exposes thousands; by discovering one secret, he discovers those of his entire family. The author calls on his investigative reporting skills not just to uncover the facts, but to explore what happens when lies or omissions become truth, exposing the contradictions, contrasts and parallels that exist within every life, every relationship and every family.

Beautifully complex, raw and revealing.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 11, 2009
When Washington Post senior editor Luxenberg's mother passed away, the family discovered that she had a sister, Annie, who was confined to a mental institution in 1940, when she was 21. Along with 5000 others, Annie's existence was treated as a shameful secret, until she was nearly forgotten entirely. Luxenberg uses his tools as an investigative journalist to unearth the circumstances surrounding Annie's commitment and in doing so sheds welcome light on a heartbreaking chapter in American history. A fascinating detective story that will appeal to anyone who has ever had a family member with mental illness or had their assumptions about family tested by a secret revealed.-Elizabeth Brinkley, Granite Falls, WA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2009
Throughout her life, Luxenbergs mother, Beth, reveled in her status as an only child. Then, a few years before her death in 1999and utterly out of the blueshe admitted to having a mentally and physically disabled younger sister named Annie, who died in 1972. Beths failing health precluded Luxenberg and his siblings from learning any more. After Beths passing, Luxenberg set out in search of answers. His dual roles as reporter and son proved both blessing and curse; the journalist dug furiously for facts, while the son wondered if long-buried secrets were best kept that way. His questions were many: What prompted Annies commitment, at age 21, to Eloise Hospital, southeastern Michigans sprawling psychiatric facility? Why was there next to no record of her early years? Most baffling of all, why did Beth, two years Annies senior, refuse for so long to acknowledge her siblings existence? Armed with superb investigative skills and relentless determination, Washington Post senior editor Luxenberg tracked down remaining family and friends and interviewed an exhaustive list of experts who might shed light on Annies plight. Part memoir, part mystery, part history of the mental-health movement, Annies Ghosts is a fascinating account of a life lived in the shadows and a family beset by despair.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)