This novel is a long family saga taking place in southern India which includes medical conditions and diseases. There are plenty of tragedies includinThis novel is a long family saga taking place in southern India which includes medical conditions and diseases. There are plenty of tragedies including the deaths of young children. I enjoyed the various and sometimes quirky characters. The depiction of Elsie’s compulsion to create art was particularly well done.
However, I felt some of the foreshadowing was too obvious. Without giving them away, I just guessed the truth well before it was revealed in most cases. Not a great novel, but a very enjoyable one....more
This was the Audible book narrated by the author who did a credible job.
Kidder manages to be the fly on the wall as a journalist. He isn’t quite thereThis was the Audible book narrated by the author who did a credible job.
Kidder manages to be the fly on the wall as a journalist. He isn’t quite there, but sometimes appears briefly as when he and his artist wife go to the Boston Museum of Art with Tony who is a homeless man always looking out for his friends and hiding his dark past.
This is the story of a doctor in Boston who began a career ministering to the chronically homeless men and women of his city. He founds a clinic and starts street outreach handing out blankets, soup and medical advice. What sets him apart is his humanity and compassionate dealings with his patients whom he often meets in a park to talk or slips the odd twenty. Through him we meet the many tragic characters who inhabit Boston’s streets often in appalling weather.
I say tragic because these people die 10 x faster than the average Bostonian and it seems rarely overcome their situations despite the doctor’s many devoted colleagues who work to house them, cure their ills and try and help with mental health problems and substance abuse.
This is not a story with a happy ending, but it is a heroic one....more
This is a revealing look at the Sackler family and their largely successful machinations to make billions from products that they knew were highly addThis is a revealing look at the Sackler family and their largely successful machinations to make billions from products that they knew were highly addictive and led to and continue to lead to many thousands of deaths.
If you are on an opiate such as OxyContin or Oxycodone, read this very revealing expose. If you are prescribed these medications, unless it is a last resort, resist....more
If you have lost a child due to alcoholism, you will probably want to read this book. As for the writing, it was repetitious, and sometimes veered towIf you have lost a child due to alcoholism, you will probably want to read this book. As for the writing, it was repetitious, and sometimes veered toward being an autobiography of the author rather of the tragic subject, Terry. That said, it can give you a good idea of the struggles an alcoholic and their families face.
Terry was like my dead son, an alcoholic so compromised by an inherited disease, that he was unable to stop drinking after multiple rehabs and attempts at sobriety. Like the McGoverns, we never gave up on him, but his alcoholism outwitted us all as it did for Terry.
This is a disease that kills more Americans than any other. What we need is money, research and the will to defeat it, despite the liquor lobby....more
A series of 3-4 page medical mysteries designed to help you understand the diagnostic method. Most get solved in the ER by doctors with a lot of resouA series of 3-4 page medical mysteries designed to help you understand the diagnostic method. Most get solved in the ER by doctors with a lot of resources. It helps to have a variety of excellent hospitals nearby and doctors who can think logically and are curious. Your doctor’s ability to pick up the phone and call a variety of friends who are specialists is a definite plus.
Diagnosis keeps you turning those pages despite a handful of sad outcomes. Can be read in one day as I did....more
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