Bauer, Ann

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Bauer, Ann

PERSONAL: Daughter of Irwin and Rita Boris; married Jim Bauer (divorced, 2002); children: two sons, one daughter. Education: University of Iowa, M.F.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—Minneapolis, MN. Office—Minnesota Monthly, Greenspring Media Group, Inc., 600 U.S. Trust Building, 730 2nd Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55402. Agent—c/o Rupert Heath, Rupert Heath Literary Agency, The Beeches, Furzedown La., Amport, Hampshire SP11 8BW, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer. Minnesota Monthly, Minneapolis, editor and writer. Visiting professor at Brown University.

WRITINGS:

A Wild Ride up the Cupboards (novel), Scribner (New York, NY), 2005.

Also author of short stories. Contributor to Atlantic Monthly and Salon.com.

SIDELIGHTS: Ann Bauer's first novel, A Wild Ride up the Cupboards, combines two narratives about children sequestered from the world at large due to a condition similar to autism. The first of these narratives concerns Edward, a seemingly healthy and normal boy who suddenly withdraws from people at the age of four. His strange symptoms, which include sleeplessness and alternate states of catatonia and screaming, drive a wedge between his parents, Rachel and Jack. Their otherwise happy life in Minneapolis is soon marred by Jack's drinking and Rachel's quest to release her son from his torment. Rachel's quest introduces the novel's other narrative, the story of her long-dead Uncle Mickey, who appears to have suffered from the same condition as Edward. Mickey's gift for "spatial relations" led to a career first as an air traffic controller for the military during the Korean War, and later as a watchmaker. Uncovering Mickey's past from old letters and journals fuels Rachel's hope and provides perspective on her son's condition.

Although it is a novel, A Wild Ride up the Cupboards contains several autobiographical elements. Bauer is herself a Minnesota-based mother of three whose oldest son withdrew from the world suddenly at age four (he was later diagnosed with autism). Additionally, Bauer is a journalist, as is her heroine, Rachel. However, Bauer draws a line between the circumstances of her life and the events of the novel. "In an attempt to cure their son, Rachel and Jack take drastic steps I never would," Bauer wrote on her home page. "But I understand why they do what they do. It is my own experience, as a mother desperate to help a child who was suffering, that allowed me to imagine parents who would go to such extraordinary lengths."

For Rachel and Jack, those extraordinary lengths include treatment with melatonin, codeine, and marijuana. Many methods seem to work for a while, but ultimately none provides a long-term solution. Jack, though taxed beyond his ability to cope with the situation, proves adept at coaxing Edward toward normalcy. The situation deteriorates, however, when Jack loses his job due to having provided his son with marijuana; he is later charged with child abuse because of the incident.

Critics commented favorably on A Wild Ride up the Cupboards. A writer for Kirkus Reviews called the book "a spare, demanding addition to the burgeoning genre that traces how a 'problem' child destroys his well-meaning parents' lives together." Mary Margaret Benson, writing in Library Journal, noted that "Rachel is a powerful, well-drawn character," and Carrie Brown in the Washington Post, dubbed the story "a triumph of good writing" that "bears us so close to the feelings of the characters that we cannot set the book aside without anxiety for what will happen next."