Genre: General
Fiction
Description:
“Medical student Seth Levine faces
escalating stress and gallows humor as he struggles with the collapse of his
romantic relationships and all preconceived notions of what it means to be a
doctor. It doesn’t take long before he realizes not getting frazzled is the
least of his problems.
Seth encounters a student so arrogant he
boasts that he’ll eat any cadaver part he can’t name, an instructor so
dedicated she tests the student’s ability to perform a gynecological exam on
herself, and a woman so captivating that Seth will do whatever it takes to make
her laugh, including regale her with a story about a diagnostic squabble over
an erection.
Didn’t
Get Frazzled captures with distressing accuracy the
gauntlet idealistic college grads must face to secure an MD and, against the
odds, come out of it a better human being.”
Author:
“David Z Hirsch grew up on the steppes of Nebraska peddling Kool-Aid off
I-129 until saving up enough cash for medical school. After graduation, he
moved to Pyongyang to teach pre-med classes at Kim Il-sung University. He soon
fell out of favor and was imprisoned at Kaechon where he traded medical favors
for soup and toilet paper until he made a daring escape across the border.
Dr. Hirsch subsisted for the next three years by foraging gooseberries
and licking the dew off spiny toads. This led to a burst of creativity, and he
wrote the first draft of Didn’t Get Frazzled on bark peeled off a dying
Manchurian Ash tree. Ultimately discovered in a semi-feral state by the China
Coast Guard flotilla from Liaoning, Dr. Hirsch returned to the United States
sixty pounds lighter but more inspired than ever.
David Z Hirsch is a pen name, so absolutely nothing in the above
paragraphs are true. This is not lying, you see. It’s fiction. Many
well-regarded sources insist that these are two distinct things. The actual guy
who wrote this novel is a practicing physician in Maryland. His life story is
considerably more prosaic, but in his head he lives a fascinating, fascinating
life.”
Appraisal:
Although the author’s name is fictional, this story was written by an M.D., which leads to
some medical terms that left me somewhat cross-eyed. However, the authenticity of
the main character's experience as he stumbles through medical school, made the
Latin inconsequential.
Be warned, if you buy this book and read it in a public
place, you may well embarrass yourself by laughing aloud. Well, the laughter
might not cause you a red face, but if you have to explain what is so
funny--good luck with that!
Along with light-hearted humor where the reader is
laughing along with the main character and not at others, the author includes a
smattering of well-considered social commentary on what exactly makes a good
doctor. He educated me on the tremendous stresses endured not just by medical
students, but also by those already qualified doctors who are expected to teach
as well as perform their onerous duties on a hospital ward. For Seth, the
stress extends beyond the hospital wards and stretches his personal
relationships to breaking point.
In summary, this is a terrific read. For a doctor, the
author’s writing is beautifully clear and accessible--see what I did there? At
99 cents on Kindle, this is a bargain you shouldn’t miss.
FYI:
Format/Typo
Issues
A few typos, but not enough to irritate.
Rating: ***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by:
Pete Barber
Approximate
word count:
85-90,000 words
No comments:
Post a Comment