Well-told tales from the operating room by a thoughtful, almost humble neurosurgeon. Rule one of neurosurgery, ``You ain't never the same when the air hits your brain,'' appears to have a corollary: You ain't never the same once you've held a human life in your hands. Vertosick describes his evolution from apprehensive third-year medical student on a six-week neurosurgery rotation to competent chief resident of neurological surgery and finally to practicing neurosurgeon. The landmarks on that journey are patients—those who were helped and those who were harmed. Although liberties have been taken to conceal identities of both patients and colleagues, and some accounts have been partly fictionalized, the aura of truth still clings to them. The operating room stories are taut and graphic. Some accounts, such as the one in which a drill designed to cut only through the skull penetrates the unlucky patient's cerebellum and the one in which a slip of the knife does terrible damage to a young man's brain, are virtual horror stories. Vertosick says he is writing about the ordinary; if so, anyone facing brain surgery must hope for the extraordinary, for happy endings are not the rule here. Babies, young mothers, athletes, old men—all are vulnerable to genetic defects, accidents, aneurysms, or tumors that no surgery can correct. Sometimes a life is saved or a person is returned to wholeness, providing the author with the gratification that keeps him in his demanding profession. Writing with humor and compassion, but without sentimentality, Vertosick shows us that neurosurgeons, those gods of the operating room, are humans, too. His book can be tough reading for those who prefer to keep their illusions intact.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-393-03894-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1995
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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