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EQUAL PARTNERS

Name: EQUAL PARTNERS
Author: Jody Heymann
ISBN: 0-316-35993-9

A PHYSICIAN'S CALL FOR A NEW SPIRIT OF MEDICINE

by Jody Heymann ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 18, 1995

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A strangely unfocused, rambling book by a doctor who'd like to change the way physicians regard patients. Heymann, who teaches at both Harvard Medical School and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, was hospitalized shortly after graduation from medical school when bleeding in her brain led to a seizure. What follows is a familiar tale of a patient searching for the right surgeon, trying to sort out confusing information and conflicting opinions, not being told the whole truth when problems arise, and later struggling to live with a chronic disability. Heymann, who began her internship only a few month's after brain surgery, found herself identifying with patients as her medical colleagues did not, and she shares here her firsthand knowledge of the ways in which doctors show unwitting, or witting, contempt for their patients. (For example, a cancer specialist spends all of two-and-a-half minutes obtaining permission from a young mother to do a bone-marrow biopsy on her baby, without explaining why it's necessary.) Heymann is clearly a physician with a conscience. Although her primary goal is to change the medical culture that denies patients partnership in decision-making, she anguishes at some length over such wrongs as the stigma society attaches to epilepsy, the inadequacies of health care in developing countries, and political crimes against Guatemalan refugees in Mexico. Her side trips into these areas, while revealing of her character, weaken the impact of her main theme. Although her expertise lies in health care policy, her final chapter on changing health care reads almost like an afterthought. A better balance would have been achieved had she spelled out in more detail her recommendations for changes in the training of physicians, what research gets done, and the economics of health care. More successful as a self-portrait than as a reasoned argument for policy change.

Pub Date: March 18, 1995

ISBN: 0-316-35993-9

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.