The Road to Wellville by T. Coraghessan Boyle
"The Road to Wellville" by T. Coraghessan Boyle is a satirical exploration of the early 20th-century American health and fitness craze, centered around the eccentric figure of John Harvey Kellogg. Set in 1907 at Kellogg's renowned sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan, the novel presents a vivid picture of affluent patients who adhere to rigorous health regimens, including a vegetarian diet and daily enemas, under the watchful eye of Kellogg. Among these patients is Eleanor Lightbody, a staunch believer in Kellogg’s methods, and her husband Will, who is skeptical yet supportive. The narrative also introduces Charlie Ossining, an entrepreneur seeking to capitalize on the health movement, and George Kellogg, John’s rebellious adopted son, who symbolizes the conflict between imposed ideals and personal freedom. Through humor and character misadventures, Boyle critiques the obsession with extreme health practices, ultimately advocating for moderation and a balanced approach to life. The novel serves as a reflection on societal pressures surrounding wellness, suggesting that an inflexible pursuit of health can be just as detrimental as neglecting one's well-being. Overall, "The Road to Wellville" offers a thought-provoking commentary on the complexities of health culture and personal identity.
On this Page
Subject Terms
The Road to Wellville by T. Coraghessan Boyle
First published: 1993
The Work
The Road to Wellville satirizes the American obsession with health and fitness through a lampoon of the physical culture movement at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1907, John Harvey Kellogg, “inventor of the corn flake and peanut butter, not to mention caramel-coffee, Bromose, Nuttolene, and some seventy-five other gastrically-correct foods,” plays health guru to an international clientele affluent enough to lodge at his sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan. While there, his patients forswear meat for vegetables and whole grains, submit themselves to a daily regimen of enemas and exercise, and attend inspirational meetings that cast a religious aura over their treatments and inculcate the proper attitude for living a healthier and longer life.
Kellogg’s operation attracts not only the rich and famous but also average Americans such as Will and Eleanor Lightbody. Eleanor is a true believer of the Kellogg method, a self-described “Battle Freak.” Her visits to the sanatorium have shaped her identity as one of its most vigorous exponents. Will, who has been driven to dyspepsia by the stress of life, endures a stay at Battle Creek out of love for his well-meaning wife. Through his incredulous eyes, the reader witnesses the lunacy of Kellogg’s philosophy and the sanatorium’s ritualized lifestyle.
Like any profitable business, Kellogg’s operation inspires other entrepreneurs to try and duplicate its success. Charlie Ossining is a typical example: Backed by a wealthy family friend who genuinely believes in physical culture, Charlie travels to Battle Creek in the hope of starting an operation that will rival Kellogg’s. Charlie intends to sell people the same product under a different name. Charlie’s blunders and misadventures comically suggest that only the truly fanatical adherent has the endowments necessary to succeed in such a line of work.
Lurking in the background of the novel is nineteen-year-old George Kellogg, “the breathing refutation and antithesis of everything Dr. Kellogg and the Sanitarium stood for.” One of the score of orphan children Kellogg hoped to transform into specimens who would embody the sanatorium’s healthy lifestyle, George rebels by wallowing in dissipation and extorting money from his adoptive father under the threat of revealing his pedigree to others. A vivid expression of the physical and spiritual corruption Kellogg hopes to arrest, George engages reader sympathy as an independent thinker who refuses to conform to an identity that is forced upon him.
George’s behavior catalyzes events that affect all of the novel’s characters. Many realize that the Kellogg method is simply another type of excessive behavior as potentially unhealthy as the lifestyles it hopes to cure. The novel’s moral ultimately stresses moderation, common sense, taking responsibility for one’s life, and accepting the frailties that make people human.
Sources for Further Study
Booklist. LXXXIX, March 15, 1993, p.1274.
Cohen, Robert. Review of The Road to Wellville. Los Angeles Times Book Review, May 30, 1993, 2.
Kirkus Reviews. LXI, February 1, 1993, p.75.
Library Journal. CXVIII, March 15, 1993, p.104.
Marx, Bill. Review of The Road to Wellville. The Washington Post Book World, May 9, 1993, 5.
The New Republic. CCIX, October 4, 1993, p.43.
Newsweek. CXXI, April 19, 1993, p.62.
Publishers Weekly. CCXL, February 22, 1993, p.79.
Smiley, Jane. Review of The Road to Wellville. The New York Times Book Review, April 25, 1993, 1.
Time. CXLI, May 10, 1993, p.71.