The Keys to Nine-West

About the Book

The Keys to Nine-West takes place in the neuropsychiatric ward of a Veterans Hospital during the Korean War. And the nomination of Eisenhower and Nixon is almost continuously being shown on the ward's TV. The mental casualties watch the achievement of those who have risen to success because of the war.

The point of view is that of Erick, an aide on the locked ward, not that of the patients as was the case in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Erick more and more sees how similar he is to the shattered patients. He also suffers flash-backs to his experiences as a combat medic, and he begins to think the only difference is that he wears the keys to the locked ward.

Medical practice at this time was before the tranquilizing drugs which make patients glassy-eyed sedated. Then the only methods were strait jackets, pacifying tubs, wet sheets and electric shock, such as used John Nash of the Beautiful Mind.

Erick's flashbacks to the war have in their carnage a Pacific counterpart to the bloody horror of the Normandy landing in Saving Private Ryan. And all this leads to the final climax of The Keys to Nine-West.

About the Author

James Sunwall served in an Army Medical Collecting Company in the Pacific during WWII; following this he returned to resume his education, working as an aide in Veterans Hospitals at West Haven and Iowa City, during Graduate School. At the University of Iowa he was a member of the Writers Workshop while getting his Ph.D. Afterward, he taught writing and literature at Colgate University and at the University of Florida where he is and Emeritus Professor.