That Went Well

November 10, 2008
In this compassionate memoir, Dougan, humor columnist for 13 years penning “Of All Things” for the Deseret News
in Utah, writes for the first time about her mentally disabled sister, Irene. After Irene was born in 1946, their parents decided that she would not be institutionalized; with no Salt Lake City support group available, the girls’ father, who ran an ad agency, teamed with other parents to launch a local day care center in 1952. Dougan made that a family tradition, opening a workshop for teens and adults with mental disabilities in 1968 and serving eight years as president of the Utah Association for Retarded Citizens. To tell Irene’s story, she begins with a traumatizing childhood event; when she was 12 and Irene was six, they witnessed Irene’s babysitter die from a massive brain hemorrhage. The lives of the sisters intertwined: Terrell became obsessed with swimming and ice skating; Irene learned to swim and ice skate, but not to read and write. Terrell studied at Stanford and later got married and had children; Irene was sent away at age 20 to a residential school in the hope she would learn “some independence.” Influenced by Benchley and Thurber, Terrell is a skilled humorist with amusing anecdotes about Irene, such as her behavior during the family’s Venice vacation. Writing with honesty, she is equally impressive in relating the haunting memories of sadness and despair surrounding Irene’s darker days.

December 15, 2008
Ostensibly, this book would focus on how the author fared growing up with a mentally retarded sister in mid-20th-century America, a time when institutionalization was the norm. Yet first-time writer Dougan makes only erratic references to Irene, who instead was kept in the care of her loving family in Salt Lake City. While Dougan's life is interesting, she hits her stride only with a combination of anecdotes about her sister and what it was like to mature and care for her in adulthood. Still, siblings of the developmentally disabled will appreciate the enormous challenges and rewards Dougan communicates. [Hyperion has made this its winter 2009 Publisher's Pick, so expect media coverage.]LM

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