Dr. Zastro's Sanitarium: For the Ailments of Women - Softcover

Ludmilla Bollow: LUDMILLA BOLLOW is the author of plays that have been produced in over fifty theaters across the U.S. , and the world. She has been the recipient of numerous play writing awards, and her vast experiences include fellowships and residencies, commissions to write plays, and even an award-winning actress. Her accomplishments also include two books of published plays, and scenes published in leading play anthologies, numerous articles, short stories and poetry that have been printed in various magazines and journals. Ms. Bollow is also a member of the Dramatist Guild, International Center for Women Playrights, Wisconsin Council for Writers and Byliner Writers.

A Gypsy woman's search for healing leads to a passionate affair with a New York doctor in Bollow's uneven but spirited first novel. Yana Kejako, a volatile artist, checks into the eponymous sanitarium sometime in the 1880s after traditional medicine fails to heal a debilitating arm injury. Her initial skepticism about Zastro seems justified: despite the doctor's impressive track record, his methods (bizarre machines, magnetic alignments and metallic-threaded clothing designed to cure all female "ailments—physical, mental, and sexual") are decidedly odd. But he's a powerful figure, and Yana soon joins with a group of women who venerate Zastro despite—or in some cases because of—his bizarre but precise dedication to the healing power of electrical currents. Though the controlled environment stifles her so much she contemplates leaving, her plans change when sparks fly between her and Zastro. Yana uses her stereotyped Gypsy wiles to seduce the repressed but deeply passionate doctor. Bollow's descriptions of Zastrow's oddball methods are entertaining, and she sets up an intriguing triangle between Zastro, Yana and a fellow patient, a jealous nymphomaniac. Ecstatic sex scenes are overwritten, however, while the second half of the story rushes along as Zastro's assistant commits suicide after raping a patient, and Zastro ends up going to prison. Yana and Zastro's eventual reunion is tepid, but Bollow shows promise.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.