by Vivek Gumaste ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 11, 2018
An uneven but quietly charming journey of a physician.
An Indian doctor recounts his years practicing in Britain in this memoir.
Gumaste (My India, 2016) completed medical school in India in 1980 and dreamed of working in the United States. But to practice there, he had to pass a visa qualifying exam, which was only offered in a few foreign cities—including London. He decided to take advantage of his unrestricted travel rights to Britain to work there and save money before taking the exam. The author writes openly about the bias he felt toward his temporary home: Even decades after the end of colonialism, he “abhorred” Britain, he writes, with the “animosity” of the oppressed. Remembering his bewilderment at a new country, he effectively contrasts everything—trains, bathrooms, accents—with what he was used to in India. He overpaid for familiar foods from home, and saw snow and lawn mowers for the first time. Alongside these social adaptations was the adjustment to working temporary “locum” jobs around the country—everywhere from London’s suburbs to the Newcastle area. Scenes in which he performs a medical procedure for the first time are vivid. Even more striking, though, are his experiences of racism: A patient referred to him as “blackie” while skinheads on the Tube called him “Paki.” Filling in the early ’80s background, Gumaste writes about race riots, Margaret Thatcher’s anti-immigration stance, and Princess Diana’s wedding. But at times, he focuses too much on contextual information, as in an entire chapter on the Falklands War; though a pivotal moment in Britain’s history, it had no direct effect on him. He also relies too heavily on extended quotes from other texts. The account of trying three times to pass the Member of the Royal College of Physicians exam disrupts the book’s chronology and introduces repetition. Yet “persistence is key,” the author insists; he eventually passed and, in 1983, after two and a half years in Britain, got a visa and a call inviting him to interview in Harlem. He ends here, at the start of a (presumably successful) venture—a nicely literary, romantic touch.
An uneven but quietly charming journey of a physician.Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-64467-978-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2019
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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