BODIES
by Jed Mercurio
Vintage Publications
2003
ISBN: 0-099-42283-2
Paperback
Bodies
by Jed Mercurio
With the increasing and enduring popularity of medical drama on
modern television, it seems that the public demand for human suffering
as entertainment, is insatiable.
And Jed Mercurio with his debut novel, which incidentally has been brilliantly adapted for television, certainly manages to deliver with this intelligent, moving and, at times, humorous account of the life a young doctor entering the world of NHS medicine.
We all think we know what it must be
like to be a doctor? No, we don't. We don't know anything.
Mercurio speaks with the authority
of being himself a former doctor and supplies an insight into a world
unseen by the unwitting patient; a world where results matter more than
their means and where corruption and malpractice are swept under carpets
big enough to cover Buckingham Palace.
It is not a story about healing but
is rather a story about coping and surviving as a young doctor. As such,
while this novel is an excellent read, it is not one for squeamish or
for those about to have their tonsils removed.
Bodies is a book worthy of its
place in the top five of best debutant novels of the year, as voted
by The Guardian, and can rank alongside Samuel Shem's House Of God in
its ability to dish the dirt on what is perceived as to being the most
caring of professions, without maligning its front-line soldiers to
the extent of demonisation.
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break the rules as I see fit.” - Chris High 2003.