Download Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures: Stories AudioBook Free
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures welcomes readers into a global where in fact the most mundane events can easily become life or death. By following four young medical students and physicians - Ming, Fitz, Sri and Chen - this debut collection from 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Vincent Lam is a riveting, eye-opening account of what this means to be a doctor. Deftly navigating his way through 12 interwoven short stories, the writer explores the characters' relationships with one another, their patients, and their careers. Lam draws on his own experience as an emergency room physician and shares an insider's perspective on the fears, frustrations, and responsibilities associated with one of society's most respectable occupations. "I wanted to create about how a person changes as they become a physician -- how their world view shifts, and exactly how they become a slightly different version of themselves along the way of becoming a doctor," Lam explains. "I wanted to create about the truth that doing good and trying to help others is not simple. It really is ethically complicated and sometimes involves a reality that can only be expressed by telling a tale." Inside the book's first story, "How to Get into Medical School, Part 1," students Ming and Fitz wrestle with their opposing personalities and study techniques, while coming to terms with a growing emotional connection that elicits disapproval from Ming's traditional Chinese-Canadian parents. Lam's exceptional talent for describing scenarios with great precision is showcased in "Take Most of Murphy," when Ming, Chen, and Sri find themselves at a moral crossroads while dissecting a cadaver. Through the entire book, readers are treated to thephysicians' internal thoughts and the mental drama associated with treating patients, including Fitz's struggle with self-doubt in "Code Clock" and Chen's boredom and exhaustion in "Before Light." From delivering babies to evacuating patients and dealing with deadly viruses, the four primary characters in Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures are made thoroughly human by Lam's insightful detail, realistic dialogue, and expert storytelling. The medical world is naturally filled with drama, but it is the author's ability to provide equal weight to the smaller moments that basically brings this book alive. "From Hardcover edition."
