Review: Hands: a novel & Interview With Author M.A. Street

Author: M.A. Street

ISBN: 0-59538584-2

First a confession: I have never been convinced that a person can have magical powers or that miracles exist. However, after reading M.A. Street’s Hands, there may still be some hope for me.

What if it were possible to replicate Street’s central character, David, who was born with the power to heal the sick? In addition, he is a brilliant artist that permits him to pursue a vocation that enables him to express every part of himself. In fact, which is something very rare as far as living artists are concerned- his paintings fetch millions of dollars!

All of this may sound fantastic however, as we learn from David, he has to grapple with a terrible dilemma wherein sometimes his healing powers work and other times he is powerless. He never knows what will happen until it is too late, and unfortunately people die, as was the case with the tragic death of his own mother. Moreover, David is in constant fear that if word did get out of his unusual gift, the ramifications would be mind boggling?

Although Hands doesn’t really have a real plot to speak of, the story nevertheless provides its readers with a great deal of food for thought with its observations of life, its ironies, tragedies, disappointments and delights. There is even a little romance thrown in when David falls in love with Sara, who is a physician specializing in trauma cases, and who like David uses her hands to save her patients. Sara conveys to David that there are thousands of people who do what she does and maybe better, nevertheless, as she asserts, “to have some tiny, insignificant part of the power to heal…You know, sometimes when I’m working on someone it’s almost as if my hands have a mind of their own. They dance when they touch. They love when they touch and they “make music." As for David’s unusual gift, he is reminded by his long absent father, whom he never knew as a child, and who one day shows up unannounced on his doorstep, he possesses the “Magnum Opus-something very rare."

The novel is a story born of creative imagination and even though it may be one of pure invention, Street does a great job of creating a believable character in David that he even had me reconsidering my skepticism pertaining to supernatural powers. Furthermore, it is well-written and compelling with a fresh take on a subject that has fascinated us for centuries-the possibility that some of us possess unique powers such as the healing of the sick, precognition, telepathy and telekinesis. It certainly proved to be a pleasure to read and something to think about long after I put the book down.

The above review was contributed by: NORM GOLDMAN: Retired Title Attorney: Editor & Publisher of Bookpleasures. Here are Norm Goldman's Reviews

To read Norm's Interview With M.A. Street CLICK HERE