How Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine, by Danielle Ofri, MD. Beacon Press, 2013

Doctors are expected to have a professional demeanor, treating all patients equally and compassionately, without their emotions interfering. But doctors are human beings first and physicians second. They have prejudices. Med school and internship overworks them and burns out their empathy before they ever get their license. Dr. Ofri writes from the perspective of some one who has worked the emergency room in a poor area for some time and she has seen the good and bad sides of what happens when doctor’s emotions guide them.

Common prejudices include those against alcoholics, drug abusers and overweight people, who they feel bring their own problems on themselves. These prejudices can lead to doctors giving these patients less time and less thought- even though what they are in the ER for may have nothing to do with their addiction or weight. On the other hand, sometimes doctors come to care very much about patients and move heaven and earth to get them the treatment they need and grieve when they die. A huge source of stress to doctors is the ridiculous amount of paperwork that doctors have to deal with these days; insurance companies demand that doctors justify every test and then deny tests or life changing treatments; that can suck the joy out of anyone. Ofri tells us of how stress reduction programs in hospitals have decreased problems with doctor burnout and lack of empathy- it looks like every hospital needs such a program, especially for doctors who staff the ER.

That part of the book is good. I appreciate seeing things from the other side of the stethoscope; this sort of book can only improve doctor patient relationships. But on the other hand, MDs are idealized in much of the book. Ofri feels that malpractice suits hurt patients as much as they do doctors; I have no idea if this is true.  She states that doctor rating sites- sort of like Angie’s list but for MDs- shouldn’t exist because a doctor can get a rating about a bad day they were having and it would drive possible patients away and also hurt self esteem. Sorry, but I don’t buy that. The same could be said of anyone, of any career, who gets rated. Bad ratings are part of the system and, if the rater isn’t a crank, could serve as hints that the doctor has some problems, whether it be with their front office procedures or their bedside manner, which could be improved. The world doesn’t owe anyone blind trust.

All in all, the book is good and useful if somewhat slanted in favor of MDs and a bit disrespectful of patients. 

 

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Warbound, by Larry Correia. Baen Books, 2013

This is the concluding volume in the Grimnoir Chronicles trilogy, and the series goes out on a high note. Jake Sullivan and his motley crew of Knights must save the world again; this time from the Enemy, a powerful alien that is in pursuit of The Power, the being that gave magic to the world not too many years before the story starts. Set in a film noir 1930s of an alternate universe, Jake & company find themselves fighting both the Japanese Imperium and the Enemy while dodging the US FBI agents who want to round up all the magical beings. The good guys are all stretching their magical powers to the limit, learning new things. Throw in airships, a nearly invincible Samurai defector, and a teenager that is so powerful that the head of the Grimnoir Knights wants her killed and it’s nonstop action.

I love this alternate universe that Correia has created. My only complaint is that the characters aren’t always developed enough. The action is what the book is all about. It’s got somewhat the flavor of the old pulp magazine stories that went from one crisis to another and left you wanting more. Which brings me to this: I said it’s the last of the trilogy, but I, for one, wouldn’t mind seeing more books in this series. 

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The Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa, by Benjamin Constable. Gallery Books, 2013

I’m not entirely sure how to review this novel. It’s told from the point of view of Benjamin Constable- yes, the author’s name but this is supposed to be work of fiction. Benjamin’s best friend, Tomomi ‘Butterfly’ Ishikawa, disappears and leaves him a note: she has committed suicide. But her note sends him on a game of treasure hunt all around Paris and then on to New York City, leaving parts of her journal in hidden places. It’s like a mad cross between Kafka on the Shore and Angels and Demons.

I couldn’t even begin to like Butterfly, with her manipulation of Benjamin and another friend, Beatrice. She treats them horribly, especially Benjamin, torturing him physically and emotionally. If this is how she treats her friends, I’d hate to see what she’d do to an enemy. The descriptions of Benjamin’s journey through Paris and New City are pleasant enough, but that is not enough to sustain a book. And what does the author mean by naming his protagonist for himself? Is he trying to say that this really happened to him? Is it just one more illusion in this book where the reader- and Benjamin for most of the story- has no idea what is real and what isn’t? Or was the author just tired of the question every writer gets: “Is this character you??”

I think I’m not cool enough to appreciate this avant garde book. 

 

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The Valley of Amazement, by Amy Tan. Ecco, 2013

With her first novel in eight years, Amy Tan returns to the theme that she does so well: mothers and daughters. Spanning four generations and two continents, The Valley of Amazement tells us the story of Lucia (Lulu), her daughter Violet, Violet’s daughter Flora, and Magic Gourd, the courtesan who stood in as surrogate mother to Violet after her mother left her in Shanghai.

Conflicts with her mother and father lead Lulu to become sexually active at a young age and at a time when this was not permissible to women. When she falls in love with a visiting Chinese artist, she runs away from home and follows him to Shanghai. But she ends up having to make her own way, with Violet a toddler and her infant son kidnapped by the artist’s family. With few paths open to a woman in China at the time, Lulu chooses to establish a courtesan house, which becomes renowned for accepting both Western and Chinese clients and for providing business advice. She becomes wealthy, but doesn’t realize what growing up in a brothel, however high class, is doing to her daughter, who feels the business- and her missing brother- mean more to Lulu than Violet does, just as Lulu had felt her mother’s passion for science mean more to her than Lulu did.

The story is written from more than one point of view; Violet, Magic Gourd, and Lulu all take a turn speaking. All have hard lives; the men in their lives are, for the most part, uncaring as to the needs of the women, treating them as objects that will be dealt with only when convenient- or even keeping them as outright slaves. Taking place in the dawn of the 20^th century, the story is set against the political and social changes that took place in China.

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. The details of the lives of these women made them come alive; what they wore, what they were expected to do, how they felt. I have to admit I had a hard time liking Violet at first; she comes off as a spoiled brat in some ways, but when you figure that she was being left on her own so much of the time, with only her cat as a friend, it’s hard to expect her to be otherwise. And she very quickly learned how hard life could be later. I was disappointed in ‘Saving Fish From Drowning’ but I’m very happy to see that Tan has returned with a great story. 

 

I received my copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in return for a fair review. This in no way influenced my review. 

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The Goddess Chronicle, by Matsuo Kirino. Canongate 2012

Sisters Kamikuu and Namima are inseparable as little girls, so it’s a shock when one day they are forcibly separated. Kamikuu, the older sister, stands for light and will be trained to be the isolated island’s new Oracle, separated from the rest of the tribe, her only contact with Namima being a few words when Namima delivers her basket of food for the day. One day, the teen Namima is informed that she will be the servant of darkness and guard the cave where the dead are stored, as is ever the fate of the sister of the Oracle. This, she thinks, is the worst fate possible. Little does she know that worse awaits when her lover betrays her.

Namima narrates this story, which interweaves with the story of Izanami, the Goddess of the Underworld, who likewise had a faithless lover, Izanaki. Readers who know Japanese mythology will recognize those names; this book is one of the ‘Myths’ series put out by Canongate wherein famous writers retell the old stories. Izanami and Izanaki are part of an ancient creation myth as the parents of the islands of Japan. When Izanami died, Izanaki trapped her in the underworld and went about impregnating mortal women, who Izanami then killed. The moral of The Goddess Chronicle seems to be that males, whether they be god or mortal, are tricky beings only after one thing and women are destined to die because of them.

The book is somewhat dry but well written. My problem with it is that it seemed a bit simplistic: women die because of men. I can see that being true in the age when the myth arose; childbirth was dangerous and frequent; men ruled and took what they wanted. But to make that the point of a book today seems dated; it’s like a feminist book from the 1970s where the women were all good and the men all bad (and if a woman was bad, it was because a man caused them to be). Nonetheless, I enjoyed it and found myself caught up in Namima’s story, rooting for something bad to happen to her erstwhile lover. 

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City of Night: Frankenstein, Book 2, by Dean Koontz. Bantam Dell 2005

This is the second volume in Koontz’s modern day reimagination of Frankenstein and his creation. Victor Frankenstein- now going by the name Victor Helios- is a wealthy scientist who has created an army of lab grown minions in his bid to take over the world and eliminate humankind. Carson O’Conner and Michael Maddison are New Orleans detectives who have become aware of Helios and his plans via Deucalion, the ‘monster’ of Shelley’s novel. In this installment, things are not going well with some of Helio’s creations. Some are going mad. At least one has escaped. Some are developing free will and volition, which Helios had specifically tried to eliminate. He is having special trouble with creating a wife who is perfect and intelligent yet never asks questions. And there is something weird going on at the city dump- weird even by the standards of beings created in a lab for specific jobs, jobs that include burying bodies by the dozens.  

The book has a frantic pace, with several plotlines running: Carson  & Michael; Arnie, Carson’s brother and his caretaker Vicky; the events at the city dump; Helio’s wife and the house servants; to top if off, there is a hurricane brewing. Reading it feels like you’re careening out of control, but Koontz has it all well in hand. The books suffers a bit from being the middle book where no plot lines are tied up, but it leaves the reader eager to get to the third book. 

 

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Schizophrenia: A Brother Finds Answers in Biological Science, by Ronald Chase. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013

Ronald Chase is uniquely qualified to write a book on schizophrenia; as a biologist he has combed research papers on the subject and as the brother of a person with schizophrenia he knows up close and personal what havoc the disease wrecks on the lives it touches. To blend these two perspectives, Dr. Chase utilizes a unique way of structuring the book: the chapters alternate between the personal story of his brother, Jim, who developed schizophrenia while in college, and the historical and scientific story of schizophrenia itself. The reader is free to either read alternating chapters first, either acquainting themselves with Jim’s story or reading the hard science; or to read them as presented. Personally I read it as presented; the short chapters on Jim’s life (hard to have much of a life when your disorder keeps you living in group home type situations and blunts your curiosity, cutting short what could have been a brilliant life) broke up the facts and figures of the hard science nicely. I found it to be the best book on schizophrenia I’ve read. Jim’s story is heartbreaking, but at the end the science gives just a little bit of hope for others with this same brain disorder- and the author makes it clear that schizophrenia *is* a disorder of the structure and chemistry of the brain, not a ‘mental’ illness that a person can just buck up and overcome. 










The above is an affiliate link. If you click through it and buy the book, Amazon will give me a few cents. Neither this or the fact that I got the book free through the Amazon Vine program changed my review.