Are We Free or Are We Puppets?

A review/reflection of:

An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting With Destiny

By Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski

My heart must be two sizes too small because I did not have the reaction to this book that many other people seem to have (based on reviews that I read). I think it is a good story and could be a great story that might pull a little more, but needs work.

I’ll get right to my biggest gripe – the supposed premise of the book. The title gives away this supposed premise, and in case you have a difficult time understanding the notion of what the author(s) might mean by, “An invisible thread,” in the beginning of the book is a further explanation:

“An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, and circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle. But it will never break.” – Ancient Chinese Proverb

The problem I have with this premise is that it is not carried out consistently. Throughout the book Schroff wonders the “what if” question.

What if I never stopped to answer this child?
What if I never took him to lunch?

What if I never cared?

If there is in fact an “invisible thread” connecting Schroff and Maurice (the child in the story) then the “what if” questions are moot. It was going to happen. They were going to connect because this thread had connected them.

Schroff later suggests that it was her mother that brought the two of them together:

I’ve said I didn’t know why I turned around on Broadway and came back to see Maurice, but that is not entirely true. I may not have consciously known what was happening, but now I have no doubt about what caused me to turn around.

            I know it was my mother, looking down from high above, who steered me to Maurice. (page 148)

This is a nice way of looking at it, but now what happed to the invisible thread? Did the thread make Schroff’s mom move Schroff to connect with Maurice?

As the book continues there are moments when Schroff and Maurice drift apart and moments when they drift back together. I think this is supposed to be the example of the invisible thread keeping them connected, yet this is not strongly stated. It would have been better to show how possible it would have been for the two of them to drift apart and go their separate ways, never to connect again but for that thread. That would have made it a stronger work (although not a great one).

The question of freewill is hovering in the background of this book but never addressed. Was Schroff free to respond to Maurice or was it a thread or her mother or God forcing Schroff? Are we free to show compassion or are there moments when the Puppetmaster pulls our strings and forces our hands to act in ways which are not the norm? So often I hear people state, “God planned this, God did this, God gave me this…” suggesting that we are in a grand scheme and we are just pieces in that scheme. This especially seems to be the case when we are faced with difficulty and tragedy. Yet when we do something good we want to take credit and say we did it.

In bad times freewill is bad. In good times freewill is good.

You can’t have it both ways. I think Schroff took a chance with Maurice and reached out to him. I think she continued to reach out to him. I would even say that God encouraged her to stop and reach out and that God encouraged Maurice to listen and to begin to trust. I would not say that it was fate or that it was destined to happen. I would not suggest that there was a thread connecting the two of them and that no matter what they would find each other and be connected to each other. That is just corny, cheesy crap.

I think the story would be stronger if we followed the parallel of Schroff’s and Maurice’s lives. Both faced different types of hell and both had to figure out a way to manage and deal with their hell. Rather than playing the “I never had to deal with what he had to deal with” card or the “I would never understand what he had to go through” bit, just tell the stories. Schroff’s story is despairing in its own way. The cycle of domestic violence is horrible and should not be diminished. Maurice’s story is also despairing because of a different kind of violence and despair. The two should not be compared but instead set side by side. Let the reader travel through both and let the reader realize that there is hurt and pain in almost every neighborhood and individual. Hell is hell. One is not worse than the other.

I think there is a story, a good story in An Invisible Thread, but it is not the one that is being told.