The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done: A Novel

by Sandra Newman

Overview

When Chrysalis Moffat and her brother, Eddie, inherit a mansion on the coast of California, Eddie hatches a plan to fleece credulous Californians of their cash by starting the fraudulent Tibetan School of Miracles.

But something else is happening. Through Chrysalis's reunion with her brother, she begins to discover her adoptive father's secret past, causing her own identity to unravel. As Chrysalis lays down the facts of her life, she gambles her identity against the contradictions, half-truths, and fables of her past, leading her ultimately to question what it is we can truly know and whether it is fate or chance that dictates our lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060514990
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/15/2004
Series:	Harper Perennial
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Sandra Newman is the author of the novels The Men, The Heavens (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), and The Country of Ice Cream Star, longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post and NPR, as well as several other works of fiction and nonfiction. Her writing has appeared in Harper’s and Granta, among other publications. She lives in New York City.

What People are Saying About This

Adrienne Miller

“A witty, imaginative debut from a young novelist with dazzling intellectual resources.”

Kate Atkinson

“Funny and moving, quirky and intelligent, and written in a fresh, original voice.”

Jerry Stahl

“[This] is a smart, big-hearted, hysterical and gorgeously rendered novel.”

Reading Group Guide

Introduction

When Chrysalis Moffat and her brother Eddie inherit a mansion on the coast of California, Eddie hatches a plan to fleece credulous Californians of their cash by starting the fraudulent Tibetan School of Miracles. With Ralph as the would-be guru and miracle worker, the 'school' quickly becomes more successful than anybody first imagined.

But something else is happening. As Chrysalis begins to discover her adoptive father's secret past, her own identity begins to unravel. Was it actually in Peru that she was born? What has the CIA got to do with it? Who is Denise Cadwallader? At the same time, Chrysalis is being drawn into Ralph's strange and compelling world: a realm of mind-blowing coincidence, obsessive gambling and mysterious siblings.

It is a rare that novels come as intelligent and as funny. Newman reveals a subtle understanding of human nature and our philosophical dilemmas, while at the same time charting a hilarious roller-coaster ride through the flotsam of American pop culture: from Californian Buddhist retreats to the temples of gambling, from secret agents to UFOs, and then around the corner to the parking lot of the nearest 7-11.

At its core, The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done is a novel about self discovery. As Chrysalis lays down the facts of her life, she gambles her identity against the contractions, half-truths and fables of her past, leading her to ultimately question what it is we can truly know, and whether it is fate or chance that dictates our lives.

Questions for Discussion

1. What does the author achieve by telling the story in such an unorthodox way, with time jumps, lists, unique punctuation, etc.?


2. Does Chrysalis's admission of mental illness affect your trust in her as a narrator? Do you believe her story, even as it becomes more unusual? Why? Chrysalis's inner world is sometimes filled with contrarian, contradictory simultaneous impulses (i.e. her response to Ralph's "We must try to stay together" at the end). Taking into account her childhood, why do you think she responds this way? How does it affect you as a reader?


3. Chrysalis often numbers (1, 1.1, 1.2, etc.) sections of her story. Why does she do this? She uses this technique more often in the beginning of her story than at the end. What does this suggest about the change in her emotional state?


4. When Chrysalis and Eddie's mother dies, Eddie turns the family mansion into a grand con artist scheme -- The Tibetan School of Miracles, complete with fake guru, Ralph. Chrysalis at first merely goes along with the sham and then actively participates. What does this reveal about their characters? About their relationships with each other and with the greater world?


5. How are the "believers" at the Tibetan School of Miracles portrayed? Do you see similarities in their behavior to real-life followers of alternative religions? Of traditional religion? How does the author keep us sympathetic to the con artists -- Ralph, Eddie, and Chrysalis -- who are taking advantage of their trusting patrons?


6. The theme of enlightenment and revelation runs throughout the book. Sometimes it is treated with skepticism (i.e. Tibetan School of Miracles) and sometimes in a matter-of-fact way (Denise is abducted by aliens). Do any of the characters achieve enlightenment or experience a genuine spiritual awakening? Discuss the significance of Chrysalis's name.


7. How do Chrysalis's memories of her father compare to those of her mother? To what degree are her feelings about her parents and her role in the family, and the world, resolved through the act of writing this book?


8. How does Ralph's mother compare to Chrysalis and Eddie's and Denise's father to John Moffat? Are these characters' parents responsible for their problems (for example, Eddie's random cruelty and grandiose selfishness, Chrysalis's mental breakdowns, Ralph's manipulation)? Discuss how these parents' secret lives become the catalysts in Chrysalis, Eddie, Ralph, and Denise's lives.


9. One of the recurring headlines in the book is "You Can't Go Home Again" or variations of it. Why? How is The Only Good Thing... similar to Thomas Wolfe's You Can't Go Home Again? How do the headlines affect your reading of each section?


10. Though the characters do not particularly seek out "truth," they seem destined to find it. What does "truth" mean in The Only Good Thing...and what role does it play in the narrative?


11. Chrysalis craves love, particularly from Eddie; Eddie claims Denise is the only woman he's ever loved; Denise believes loving her is ill-fated. What role does love, and the quest for love, play in their lives? Which characters find love?


12. What is the "only good thing anyone ever did?" Are there any other "good" deeds in The Only Good Thing...?

About the Author

Born in America, Sandra Newman has lived in Germany, Russia, Malaysia, and England. Her professions have included copyediting, gambling, and typing. A student of the late W. G. Sebald, she now devotes herself to writing full-time. Sandra Newman lives in New York.

Editorial Reviews

A possible cult hit.” — Time Out New York

“A virtuoso performance [that] more than proves Newman a writer worth watching.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Newman …has a penetrating voice that could one day garner a devout following.” — Entertainment Weekly

“A witty, imaginative debut from a young novelist with dazzling intellectual resources.” — Adrienne Miller, Esquire

“A brilliantly wicked assessment of human nature.” — Dallas Morning News

“David Lynch and Dave Eggers aficionados will find much to admire in this edgy, strange, and dazzling first novel” — Library Journal

“[This] is a smart, big-hearted, hysterical and gorgeously rendered novel.” — Jerry Stahl, author of Plainclothes Naked and Permenant Midnight

“Funny and moving, quirky and intelligent, and written in a fresh, original voice.” — Kate Atkinson, author of Behind the Scenes at the Museum and Emotionally Weird

“Breathtaking writing…the dialogue is pitch-perfect, with laugh out loud lines…an exhilarating read.” — The Independent on Sunday

“Original and powerful.” — Times Literary Supplement (London)

“Mesmerizing … [Newman’s] clever and compelling tale is something you just can’t afford to miss.” — What's On In London

From the Publisher

Breathtaking writing…the dialogue is pitch-perfect, with laugh out loud lines…an exhilarating read.

The Independent on Sunday

Newman …has a penetrating voice that could one day garner a devout following.

Entertainment Weekly

A witty, imaginative debut from a young novelist with dazzling intellectual resources.

Adrienne Miller

A possible cult hit.

Time Out New York

A brilliantly wicked assessment of human nature.

Dallas Morning News

Original and powerful.

Times Literary Supplement (London)

Funny and moving, quirky and intelligent, and written in a fresh, original voice.

Kate Atkinson

[This] is a smart, big-hearted, hysterical and gorgeously rendered novel.

Jerry Stahl

Mesmerizing … [Newman’s] clever and compelling tale is something you just can’t afford to miss.

What's On In London

"Original and powerful."

Time Magazines Literary Supplement (London)

"Breathtaking writing…the dialogue is pitch-perfect, with laugh out loud lines…an exhilarating read."

The Independenton Sunday

The immediacy, humor and intelligence of Sandra Newman's writing have won her comparisons to Kurt Vonnegut. Like Vonnegut, she has the courage to follow her imagination down twisting alleyways and around unlikely corners as she spins the tale of Eddie, Chrysalis, Ralph and Ralph's stepsister, Denise, whose lives unscroll and intertwine in unexpected, absurd and sometimes touching ways. These characters' pasts take up the bulk of the book and make for entertaining and unpredictable narratives, told with wit and a sure-handedness unusual in a first novel. Newman's deadpan tone combines with an impressive facility for evoking people, places and events with a singular, eloquent detail. — Myla Goldberg

The New York Times

Transforming that most pedestrian of documents-the business report-Newman has fashioned a first novel that is anything but by-the-numbers. Chrysalis Moffat, a South American orphan, has grown into a psychologically unstable young woman living alone in the California mansion of her adopted parents, both dead. Her brother, Eddie, "five foot seven inches of sheer depravity," returns from a slacker trip around the world towing a fake Buddhist guru named Ralph, and together they open the Tibetan School of Miracles in the run-down mansion, selling enlightenment to spiritually destitute Californians. But this is just the first in a series of clever false fronts presented by this sprawling, globe-trotting novel, which hops from California to Colorado, Cairo to Kathmandu, exploring Chrysalis's and Eddie's messy lives and the source of their rampant dysfunctionality. Was their father in the CIA? What, exactly, was he doing in South America when he adopted Chrysalis? And what does all this have to do with the world of professional blackjack players? The novel is full of false turns, fake names and jaw-dropping coincidences, all slotted neatly together in Newman's blunt, wry prose. The periodic forays into report format give the narrative a stripped-down authority ("1. My mother died of complications following liposuction surgery. 1.1 A mild heart attack; pneumonia; septicemia. 1.2 Long-term alcoholism was the root cause") and giddy chapter headings ("Dave Something Scottish," "A Battle Between the Forces of Good and Evil"). This is a virtuoso performance, and if it sometimes reads like parody-wallowing in cancer, suicide, incest, mental illness-it more than proves Newman a writer worth watching. (June) Forecast: Growing buzz-fueled by an excerpt in Harper's and rave British reviews-will likely be heightened by Newman's exotic backstory. An adopted child herself, she has worked as a secretary at a London firm of industrial spies and as a professional gambler's assistant. Six-city author tour. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Moving from a California commune to a Singapore hotel to a mountain hut in South America, this postmodern novel uses a report format to peel back layer after layer, revealing a mystery at its core. Chrysalis is a Guatemalan orphan rescued and adopted by an American biochemist working on germ warfare for the CIA. Crosscutting the account of Chrysalis's childhood odyssey is the story of her growing up in San Diego. There, she and an asthmatic brother live in a derelict mansion with a mother who seeks refuge in alcohol because of her husband's frequent absences. After their parents die, Chrysalis and her brother turn their mansion into a spiritual retreat with a fake guru named Ralph. David Lynch and Dave Eggers aficionados will find much to admire in this edgy, strange, and dazzling first novel. Recommended for most public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/03.]-Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Adult/High School-A paralyzing case of writer's block, plus a serious depression following her mother's death, means that Chrysalis Moffat, California girl by way of Central America, won't be completing her doctoral dissertation on Dr. Faustus any time soon. Instead, she is first distracted then entranced by her own private deal with the devil, aka her depraved brother Eddie, inheritor of the family's rundown mansion. Together the siblings open a phony spiritual retreat, the Tibetan School of Miracles, led by Eddie's crony Ralph, an equally phony, if charismatic, guru. As the school's success soars, unintended consequences complicate the trio's con game, to put it mildly. Style is the chief hook here, as Chrysalis's dry tone and seemingly straightforward narration (often organized into the numbered paragraphs of a formal report) provide comic counterpoint to numerous over-the-top, out-of-sequence subplots involving-among other things-biological weapons, alien abduction, divine visitations, professional gamblers, guerilla war, unrequited love, and suicide. This deft and edgy first novel, reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut's early fiction, will appeal to older teens who like the notion of adding a regular dash of outrageousness to the mix of everyday reality.-Starr E. Smith, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Life hammers in spectacularly messy fashion the adopted Third World daughter of showily dissolute Californians. Written and laid out as if its relentlessly disaffected author were unable to switch off the outlining mechanism in her word-processing software (and who among us has not suffered that terror?), Newman's supermodern tale of Chrysalis Moffat, Guatemala-born and southern-California reared, her hopelessly drug-, love-, and booze-wrecked brother Eddie, a.k.a. Jack, and Ralph, Eddie's Tibetan Buddhism savvy English potter chum clicks restlessly back and forth through their appalling histories as they huddle in the mouldering mansion bequeathed Eddie by their late mum. As we join them, Chrysalis is in the throes of near-fatal depression, hunkered under her bed, assailed by random memories of her booze-soaked mother and her long-dead John Wayne look-alike father, a scientist for the CIA who brought her back as a toddler from one of his missions in Central America. Short and dark in the Mayan fashion, Chrysalis, though intelligent, never really fit into California life, and neither of the children was enough to jerk their mother out of her dependencies on chemicals or lust for the broad-shouldered father. Eddie arrives, Ralph in tow, as Chrysalis is close to death by starvation and looniness. Eddie is full of a plan to turn the mansion into a profitable school of Buddhist life management, a reasonable business plan for that part of the country. Chrysalis immediately swoons over Ralph, the relatively levelheaded son of a Romany prostitute whose addictions at one point took her to the Himalayas, where Ralph, amazingly engineered for survival, picked up fluent Tibetan. As the meditationcenter comes into shaky existence, the three lives are reviewed in flashback, revealing coincidental connections among their various parents and siblings, and the truth of Chrysalis' actual parentage and the horrifying truth of her orphanage is revealed. Oh, and considerable useful information about the percentages of blackjack is shuffled in. For young hipsters who can't be bothered with coherence.

Kirkus Reviews