Internal Medicine: A Doctor's Stories
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Internal Medicine: A Doctor's Stories Hardcover – September 8, 2014
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“[T]his book illuminates human fragility in tales both lyrical and soul-wrenching…. Holt dissects the medical experience in exquisite and restrained prose.” (Danielle Ofri - New York Times Book Review)
“Each exquisitely crafted and evocative tale reveals not only the power of Holt's storytelling, but the stark realization that for doctors and patient alike, it's our bodies that 'remain the essential mystery we keep trying to solve.'” (Publishers Weekly, starred Review)
“Where do the brutal limitations of our mortal selves meet the grace of kindness? Where do simple observations of the progress of lives become a spare human poetry? Perhaps nowhere more so than in the practice of medicine, and in the finest of writing. These are the remarkable occurrences that fill and enrich Terrence Holt's elegant and heart-rending memoir.” (Dr. Vincent Lam, author of The Headmaster's Wager)
“In Internal Medicine Terrence Holt has written a guided tour of a very particular hell, the 'Inferno' of medical training. This is a trenchant and devastating book but, miraculously, not a dispiriting one. Holt's beleaguered resident makes us gaze with him into abysses of every sort of physical, emotional, and spiritual pain, and yet what we feel with him, at the end of every story, is a resilient, exalting love of the world and the people doomed to suffer in it.” (Chris Adrian, author of The Children's Hospital)
“In its undaunted vision of our plight and promise as a fallen race, its intricate rhythms of tenderness and pain, the torque of its knowing, Internal Medicine is an uncommon, lovely work of art. I feel myself expanded and enlarged by it. Holt's integrity and intelligence are gifts that alter how we view the wreckage and wonder of our lives.” (William Giraldi, author of Hold the Dark)
“Whether or not you classify this collection of nine stories as nonfiction, they ring true in both details and spirit, starting with a doctor’s evolution from the first night on call as an intern and ending with ethical questions that a physician ponders 40 months later, his residency complete… Dr. Holt never settles for easy answers, and the questions he poses—reflecting the frequent uncertainties of doctors and patients alike—will leave readers thinking long after the final page is turned.” (Alice Cary - BookPage)
“Holt, who also holds a master’s in fiction writing and a PhD in literature, is an excellent story teller… [T]he portrait Holt offers is artful, unfailingly human, and understandable.” (Dennis Rosen - Boston Globe)
“Each exquisitely crafted and evocative tale reveals not only the power of Holt's storytelling, but the stark realization that for doctors and patient alike, it's our bodies that 'remain the essential mystery we keep trying to solve.'” (Publishers Weekly, starred Review)
“Where do the brutal limitations of our mortal selves meet the grace of kindness? Where do simple observations of the progress of lives become a spare human poetry? Perhaps nowhere more so than in the practice of medicine, and in the finest of writing. These are the remarkable occurrences that fill and enrich Terrence Holt's elegant and heart-rending memoir.” (Dr. Vincent Lam, author of The Headmaster's Wager)
“In Internal Medicine Terrence Holt has written a guided tour of a very particular hell, the 'Inferno' of medical training. This is a trenchant and devastating book but, miraculously, not a dispiriting one. Holt's beleaguered resident makes us gaze with him into abysses of every sort of physical, emotional, and spiritual pain, and yet what we feel with him, at the end of every story, is a resilient, exalting love of the world and the people doomed to suffer in it.” (Chris Adrian, author of The Children's Hospital)
“In its undaunted vision of our plight and promise as a fallen race, its intricate rhythms of tenderness and pain, the torque of its knowing, Internal Medicine is an uncommon, lovely work of art. I feel myself expanded and enlarged by it. Holt's integrity and intelligence are gifts that alter how we view the wreckage and wonder of our lives.” (William Giraldi, author of Hold the Dark)
“Whether or not you classify this collection of nine stories as nonfiction, they ring true in both details and spirit, starting with a doctor’s evolution from the first night on call as an intern and ending with ethical questions that a physician ponders 40 months later, his residency complete… Dr. Holt never settles for easy answers, and the questions he poses—reflecting the frequent uncertainties of doctors and patients alike—will leave readers thinking long after the final page is turned.” (Alice Cary - BookPage)
“Holt, who also holds a master’s in fiction writing and a PhD in literature, is an excellent story teller… [T]he portrait Holt offers is artful, unfailingly human, and understandable.” (Dennis Rosen - Boston Globe)
About the Author
Terrence Holt is a writer and an internist specializing in geriatric medicine, teaching and practicing at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By
Patricia Kershman
on September 26, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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As a retired medical transcriptionist, I found this book enjoyable and well written. What was really "scary" to me was the fact that these Residents work so many long back to back shifts caring for humans and making life threatening decisions regarding someones body. The AMA really needs to change and stop this practice of working residents and interns on back to back 24 hour shifts. Who does it help? A "good read" for anyone who has worked with doctors and nurses in hospitals.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By
Susan Bodiker
on September 14, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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A combination of Chekhov and Hawthorne...haunting, beautifully written stories about doctors, patients and life. I treasured every word.
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By
E. Bukowsky
HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on October 13, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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Terrence Holt wrote "Internal Medicine" over a period of ten years after he completed his residency. Many doctors who produce books about how they honed their skills insist that everything they tell us is basically true, except that they changed names and identifying information to protect people's privacy. Holt, on the other hand, claims that he can do justice to his subject only " by transforming it into a parable." The author creates scenarios that encapsulate what he learned during his training. The patients he describes are "assemblages drawn from a variety of sources, compiled from multiple cases."
This introduction almost persuaded me to put "Internal Medicine" down without going further. After all, I crave verisimilitude, not flights of fancy, in works of non-fiction. I persisted out of curiosity, and found Holt to be a gifted and sensitive individual who captures the terror, uncertainty, exhaustion, and exhilaration that medical trainees must feel while they stumble along, trying to acquire experience, knowledge, and self-confidence.
Holt evokes the vulnerability of a patient who: is wheeled into the emergency room and left on a gurney for hours; has terrible symptoms and waits in trepidation for his prognosis; and realizes that that a cure is elusive--there may nothing more that anyone can do. In addition, Holt takes us on rounds; consults with other doctors and nurses; wracks his brain to come up with correct diagnoses and a sensible treatment plans; responds to codes; tackles the unenviable task of informing families that their loved ones have passed on; and uneasily navigates the twilight zone between life and death.Read more ›
This introduction almost persuaded me to put "Internal Medicine" down without going further. After all, I crave verisimilitude, not flights of fancy, in works of non-fiction. I persisted out of curiosity, and found Holt to be a gifted and sensitive individual who captures the terror, uncertainty, exhaustion, and exhilaration that medical trainees must feel while they stumble along, trying to acquire experience, knowledge, and self-confidence.
Holt evokes the vulnerability of a patient who: is wheeled into the emergency room and left on a gurney for hours; has terrible symptoms and waits in trepidation for his prognosis; and realizes that that a cure is elusive--there may nothing more that anyone can do. In addition, Holt takes us on rounds; consults with other doctors and nurses; wracks his brain to come up with correct diagnoses and a sensible treatment plans; responds to codes; tackles the unenviable task of informing families that their loved ones have passed on; and uneasily navigates the twilight zone between life and death.Read more ›
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