by Mark Plaster ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2013
An eloquent set of stories about the life of an emergency room doctor that alternates between the hilarious and the...
An inside look at emergency room life from one of the first emergency medicine specialists.
Plaster began his career in 1979, the first year that doctors could take a specialty certifying exam in emergency room medicine. In this debut collection of recollections about his career, he describes his realization that he had a talent for working nights and “multitasking in tense situations.” So he became “a full-time temp,” working as an emergency room doctor at a number of different hospitals while also maximizing his time with his family. He would fly in on the day of his first shift and then work up to 14 consecutive 12-hour night shifts before flying home. As he temped across the country, he confronted the gun violence endemic to inner-city emergency rooms as well as the difficulties of practicing medicine in towns that seemed to be “in the middle of nowhere.” Plaster describes encounters with drunk patients, emergency room “frequent fliers,” overprotective parents and a wide range of others. Some of his interactions are humorous, and others are heartbreaking, but they’re never dull. After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Plaster enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve at age 49. Shortly thereafter, he found himself in a sand pit somewhere on the Iraq-Kuwait border. When he returned to the United States, his military experiences gave his emergency room career a new resonance. Taken individually, Plaster’s stories are intriguing, often funny and sometimes poignantly sad. He doesn’t hesitate to reveal the impact his career has had on his personal life; for example, he writes about spending a night in an emergency room examining troubled teen and preteen girls, which filled him with worry about his own 14-year-old daughter. The only thing missing from these insightful stories is a continuous narrative. Plaster discusses his education in his introduction and places his military experience at the book’s midpoint, but he arranges his vignettes about emergency room life in seemingly arbitrary fashion. If these recollections were arranged thematically, they might have been even more affecting.
An eloquent set of stories about the life of an emergency room doctor that alternates between the hilarious and the harrowing.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-1940328003
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Plaster Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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