Jan 11, 2005 04:02 PM
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(Updated Jan 11, 2005 04:04 PM)
Eerie silence of the long white-coated corridors, nauseating smell of chloroform whiffing in the air, damp marble floors and a slew of white starched uniformed men and women walking hurriedly with a stoic face. Well I am sure by now most of you would have realized what am I talking about. I have been morbidly fearful of the hospitals and there is something about them that gives me goose pimples.
I remember as a kid what a harrowing time my parents used to have, when they wanted to take me to the hospital for a routine health checkup or even for the now defunct ear cleaning exercise. Gosh those thoughts scared me, and till date, until I am literally dragged, I don?t even go near a hospital. All my doctor friends please spare me for being so sarcastic and apprehensive. I know what is morbid for me is the last refuge of hope, symbol of life and the temple of faith for millions of people out there.
Every time I read one of those tales of neglect, carelessness and sometime sheer ignorance on the part of the medical staff at the leading hospitals of the nation, I shudder to think what could really be just a tip in the iceberg if something sinister is happening in the background. I don?t claim any pedigree from one Mr. Sherlock Holmes but my mind races to so many plots. It starts rushing to all conclusions as a complex web of likely permutations and combinations travel my nerve lengths. You might be wondering what on earth am I off to, sermonizing about morbid things.
All my friends and fellow MSians who have thrashed, badgered and lambasted me for writing about books that they haven?t even heard of, let me present to you a book, which I am sure you would have read. Well if you haven?t heard of this one also then, sorry people, something is definitely wrong there. Lovely ladies and the no so gentle men, let me present to you, Dr. Robin Cook, a medical doctor and the founding father of the medical thriller genre of popular fiction. The book I am going to talk about today is probably the first one in this genre to capture mass imagination, Coma.
The Author Cook is a practicing doctor and who dabbles into fiction writing with the same finesse as a ballerina. The Cook formula of story telling is imaginative yet real, fast paced yet gripping and he brings to his books the perspective of a specialist. He blends the non-fiction realm of medicinal sciences into the world of story telling and smartly uses vignettes to give us an insight into the backroom operations and things that happen in a hospital. He wonderfully exposes us to the threats of the profession which most of us are ignorant to. And last but not the least his imaginative and realistic character portrayal is most impressive. Cook transports the reader into the medical arena and yet keeps him attached to his/ her real world. He certainly is a genre writer much like John Grisham who specializes in legal thrillers or Sidney Seldon, Jeffrey Archer who write about more so to speak daily life thrillers.
The book Coma is the first truly medical thriller of the modern day and was published way back in the 1970?s and still is a darling of the readers. It does have its own weaknesses but then for that we can spare Cook as this was just his second book and he was still being tortured by his medical classes and trying to be a doctor first and a writer later. Coma was later filmed into a popular Hollywood movie starring Michael Douglas.
The Plot They called it ?minor surgery,? but Nancy Greenly, Sean Berman, and a dozen others?all admitted to Boston Memorial Hospital for routine procedures were victims of the same inexplicable, hideous tragedy on the operating table. They never woke up?what happened to them, what went wrong??? No one knows until Susan Wheeler, a third year medical student stumbles upon the series of coincidental deaths. What ensues is a racing, gripping investigation into behind the scenes macabre deals and manipulations. I will not divulge further, as its one plot better discovered as you read on.
Show-stopper of a book, Coma is, what with its fast pace and gripping story line, it keeps you on the edge of your seats. The characterization is so engaging and the picturization of the scenes is so amazing that it actually transforms you into the life of Susan Wheeler so much so you start relating to her. The cadavers hanging from the rooftops, the smell of the chloroform, the dampness of the operation theater, all of it seems to be happening right in front of your eyes. Wow this one is best read to believe what I am saying.
A new genre has been born with these books. Cook says ? My motivation for writing Coma was to dramatize the looming shortage of organs for transplantation. The medical community had been racing ahead, improving the efficacy of transplantation and providing hope for certain desperately ill people, but at the same time giving little thought to the supply side of the equation.? Coma talks about the evils of one of the noblest profession, where doctors are often revered as next to God. He effectively puts down the lacunas in the system and exposes the macabre face behind the gory deals happening out there in the real world.
Whose read is it?? it is a face paced thriller, which can be enjoyed by one and all and would be a great companion while traveling or while one is alone and wants to read something engaging and gripping. Someone about to undergo an operation and pregnant ladies would do well to avoid it, and if they read, they should read at their own peril. This is not a purists delight, but would be a good relief, oasis like experience for one who travels from the realm of Coelho to Coetzee to Kafka. Cook will certainly not disappoint those looking for a good thriller. People in the medical profession read it with your mind shut, lest you start abhorring your job. For the rest, don?t brood too much, just read on and get engrossed.
P.S. Please share your views on the carelessness, recklessness and ignorance of the medical community that you might have been subject to in your real lives. What do you think causes them, is it lack of humaneness or is it fallout of the demand-supply equilibrium?
There have been so many myths and fallacies perpetrated to malign the medical profession from time to time; do you think they are so because we think doctors have a moral duty to be above human vile and guiles?
