Paul

To laugh when you want to cry

Reviewed: 18-04-2018

Would you listen to This Is Going to Hurt again? Why?

I will listen to this again, just to enjoy the reader's gorgeous patois and to catch some of the details I missed the first time through.

What was one of the most memorable moments of This Is Going to Hurt?

Always quirky, often surprising, frequently informative and sometimes revelatory; always witty and peppered with the truly funny, and sometimes sheer laugh-out-loud. Yet despite the author’s exquisite repartee and unfailing banter, despite his air of apparent detachment and his inviolable self, there resides a man who feels more than most, who suffers enough for two, who carries the weight of many. To hear Mr Kay tell his tale is like witnessing someone dear to you crack a joke when they’ve just stubbed their toe… it’s so funny but inside you double over with sympathetic pain.

Any additional comments?

This is a profoundly moving book. It makes one laugh and cry, and makes one glad and incandescent with anger. And although the 'lessons' in the book are somewhat specific to the NHS in the UK, the underlying truths are applicable to any country that professes to offer universal health. The NHS - and variants of it like Medicare in Australia - are a gift to their host nations. They must be preserved... actually, fostered, respected, funded and lauded, and above all, protected from the insidious and relentless dismantling by successive governments.

A compelling view into the neurosurgeon's world.

Reviewed: 17-04-2018

Would you consider the audio edition of When the Air Hits Your Brain to be better than the print version?

I haven not read the printed edition.

What was one of the most memorable moments of When the Air Hits Your Brain?

To get a glimpse into the moral, ethical and emotional struggles the author faces in his moments of failure gives one an insight into what attributes a really good practitioner must possess. It’s not his dexterity of hand, his brilliance in diagnosis or his recall of medical learning or case lore, but rather, his contrapuntal ability to care without caring too much.

What does Kirby Heyborne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I have not read the printed edition. However, Mr Heyborne reads the book with sensitivity and an obvious understanding of the underlying material (not the technical stuff - I mean the author's feelings). I only have one slight reservation about the reading - the attempt at performing various accents. I think if one cannot nail a New York or posh English accent, it’s probably better to leave it to the hearer’s imagination (as it is when one reads a book).

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

In the instances where the outcome is unfavourable, the stories evoke a visceral response which flows in two tributaries from each case narrative: one is the empathy one feels for the doctor with his internal struggles, and the other for the suffering and heartache the patients and their loved ones must endure. Where the outcome is positive, especially when it’s unexpectedly so, it’s hard not to feel a kind on vicarious triumph in the doctor’s achievements.

Any additional comments?

The story is really well paced and has a careful balance between the details of each case and the doctor's travails in learning. I really enjoyed his ontological musings and hearing of the agony one in his profession that surely cannot be avoided.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Beautifully read, refreshingly honest, touchingly humane and always engaging.

Reviewed: 20-06-2017

Mr Marsh is clearly an extraordinary polymath with his hands, his mind and his heart. I love the way his story telling ranges from one continent to another, from culture to culture, patient to patient, agonising outcomes to miraculous cures, touching generosity to excoriating cringe-fests of past indiscretions and vanities.

It is his humanity, laid bare in heartwarming and surprising juxtaposition to his laudable achievements that makes his story so compelling.

Set next to his humanity is the joy of his insatiable curiosity and lust to create with his hands.... slashing weeds, sharpening the blade of a plane, lifting a steel beam into place with fewer tools than the Egyptians probably had at their disposal, or, planting a forest and building new windows. To feel the enthusiasm in his voice is a delight.

Oh, and I love his fulminating outbursts against The Managers and the regressive left. Love it!

Then, of course, are the all too serious existential issues that he discourses on.... something close to my heart given the instances I've twice been faced with regarding "switching off the machine". Thank you Mr Marsh for your candour and forthrightness.

I only have one beef..... I wish Mr Marsh had read his other book as well (Do No Harm).

Cheers,
Paul

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Tedious self absorbtion

Reviewed: 18-03-2017

A litany if self absorption and self pity. Shame, it could I'd have been a wonderful account.