[.ca] Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures: Stories (ISBN 1423345967)

Amazon.ca:
Winner of the 2006 Giller Prize, Lam has assembled a collection of short stories that follows four characters from their student days, through medical school and into their careers as doctors. Ming is a perfectionist with a dark past and overbearing traditional parents. When she starts dating Fitz, she must keep it a secret from her family. Meanwhile, Chen and Sri, their closest colleagues, join them in cutting up cadavers as they learn the fragile mysteries of the human body. Lam's prose reads as smoothly as a scalpel slicing flesh (despite a plethora of technical jargon) as he reveals the realities of operating and emergency rooms, air ambulance flights and maternity wards. Lam is capable of fine descriptions (the "melon color" of afternoon light) as well as striking awkwardness ("Entering the exam hall…from the whipping chaos of the snowstorm was to be faced with a void.") The power of these stories is his ability to allow the reader to empathize with both victim and healer. Although a few of the stories feel like scenes from ER, several work extremely well. A harrowing story about the SARS epidemic ("Contact Tracing"), set in a Toronto hospital, gives the reader an intimate, inside view, while a story that explores the mind of a psychotic ("Winston") can leave the reader feeling unnerved and groundless. --Mark Frutkin

Straight to the Heart:
As an Obstetric Resident, Bloodletting was like speaking to someone who truly felt the intensity of the day- to-day life of a physician. I couldn't put it down, and read the whole thing front to back sitting lopsided in an uncomfortable chair. His story "an insistent tide" stuck a particular cord with me, he did an excellent job of capturing the acuity of a cord prolapse and the emotions that accompany the shift from a normal healthy birth to an emergency situation. My heart was pounding. Well done! -Dr. Anne Berndl, Author; "So You Want to Be a Doctor, Eh?"

Disappointment:
I bought the book some while ago during the heyday of it's hype. I picked it up after cleaning off the dresser and found it waiting to be read. I didn't remember much of why it had been so highly praised but because of that praise I was eagerly anticipating the joy of discovering the book. I typically like chapters with overlapping characters and shifting viewpoints, I like the build up to where the stories work together in some kind of satisfactory conclusion. With ten pages to go to the end, I gave up on that hope. Sure enough ten pages later the book just ended. Stopped. Without any real sense of what the author had to say, without any real resolution about the characters that I'd spent time with. Perhaps if I'd approached the book with lower expectations I would have liked it more - but that is a fairly damning thing to say, isn't it.

Very disappointing:
Many of these stories are trite, and play on the emotions in obvious ways. The "insights" into the human condition are of the tried-and-true variety, and the style and structure are, in general, ordinary to poor. Very disappointing, as this book won a major award and was highly touted by none other than Margaret Atwood. Makes you wonder. These stories are promising, and the author has obvious talent. Fledgling talent.

Good Read:
I enjoyed reading this book. It was great to get a glimpse of life as an intern/doctor. Kept my interest from beginning to end. Bravo Vincent Lam.

An Insightful, Unique Perception to the Human Heart:
Vincent Lam, tells stories that give "outsiders" a look into the world of medicine. The overall presentation and delivery of the message is a bit different but one soon finds the pace of the book and it is only a matter of time before you are warped into Lam's world. Lam's characters are memorable and are almost too human. After reading book, one can only feel a little bit wiser after seeing through the eyes of Vincent Lam.