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LEARNING TO PLAY GOD

Name: LEARNING TO PLAY GOD
Author: Robert Marion
ISBN: 0-201-57720-8

THE COMING OF AGE OF A YOUNG DOCTOR

by Robert Marion ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1991

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Marion, pediatrician and author (The Boy Who Felt No Pain, 1990; The Intern Blues, 1989; the novel Born Too Soon, 1985) tells tales out of school—and out of internship and residency- -dramatizing his thesis that the education of doctors is virtually guaranteed to produce competent but insensitive physicians. According to Marion, most students entering medical school are idealistic and eager to help others. As third-year students, however, they serve as clinical clerks to overworked, burned-out, and callous interns. And once they become interns themselves they too become sleep-deprived and psychologically damaged, often blaming patients for their situation. As residents, young doctors have even more power and responsibility, and the uncaring attitude they developed as interns can have even greater impact on patient care. That this attitude may well remain once their training is finished is clear from Marion's portraits of various older physicians who figure in his stories. Occasionally a story seems designed more to hold a flattering light up to the author than to shed light on the problems inherent in our present system for training doctors, but all are engrossing. Marion knows how to spin a tale, including enough medical detail to lend veracity to his account yet not overwhelm the lay reader. In an epilogue, he makes his own brief recommendations for revamping the education of doctors; after exposure to the medical mind-set presented in his stories, a question remains as to whether his recommendations go far enough. Absorbing stories that reveal the need for major reforms in how doctors are trained.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991

ISBN: 0-201-57720-8

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Addison-Wesley

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1991

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.