Friday, April 13, 2007
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
Vincent Lam
2006
Touching. Beautiful. Poetic. This book won the Giller prize this year. Like David Bergen last year, Lam also has a career outside writing. He's a doctor. The book is about doctors. Interweaving stories about four or five different characters paint a vivid portrait of the life of a Toronto doctor and, it seems, Lam's life as well. The autobiographical components are hard to miss. Lam's compassion for those applying to medical school, his understanding of the chaotic nature of emergency room work, and his emotional detailing of doctor's and nurse's frantic actions during a crisis could only have been written by someone who has experienced such things first hand. Particularly poignant was the description of the medical community both coming together and fracturing amidst the Toronto SARS crisis. His characters are touching and real. None are perfect, nor are any completely antagonistic. Fitzgerald comes closest to being a dislikeable character, but he is redeemed later on as Lam divulges the pressures and demons he battles. Chen come closest to a protagonist of sorts, even exhibiting heroic qualities. Yet, he too has his qualities balanced out as Lam ends the book with Chen overstressed and difficult. While the book has a significant focus on relationships, personal drama does not overwhelm the hospital and medical stories. Ultimately, the book is about humans, both professionally and intimately. Lam places them in both their personal and professional worlds to depict not what it is like to be a doctor, but what it is like to be a thinking, feeling, living human working as a doctor. Lam's understanding and depiction of the city of Toronto is also a treat. He knows the city and is able use it not only as a backdrop, but as a part of the story that affects and adds to his characters lives.
Vincent Lam
2006
Touching. Beautiful. Poetic. This book won the Giller prize this year. Like David Bergen last year, Lam also has a career outside writing. He's a doctor. The book is about doctors. Interweaving stories about four or five different characters paint a vivid portrait of the life of a Toronto doctor and, it seems, Lam's life as well. The autobiographical components are hard to miss. Lam's compassion for those applying to medical school, his understanding of the chaotic nature of emergency room work, and his emotional detailing of doctor's and nurse's frantic actions during a crisis could only have been written by someone who has experienced such things first hand. Particularly poignant was the description of the medical community both coming together and fracturing amidst the Toronto SARS crisis. His characters are touching and real. None are perfect, nor are any completely antagonistic. Fitzgerald comes closest to being a dislikeable character, but he is redeemed later on as Lam divulges the pressures and demons he battles. Chen come closest to a protagonist of sorts, even exhibiting heroic qualities. Yet, he too has his qualities balanced out as Lam ends the book with Chen overstressed and difficult. While the book has a significant focus on relationships, personal drama does not overwhelm the hospital and medical stories. Ultimately, the book is about humans, both professionally and intimately. Lam places them in both their personal and professional worlds to depict not what it is like to be a doctor, but what it is like to be a thinking, feeling, living human working as a doctor. Lam's understanding and depiction of the city of Toronto is also a treat. He knows the city and is able use it not only as a backdrop, but as a part of the story that affects and adds to his characters lives.
# posted by mz @ 10:26 AM 
