Rating: 
Summary: Rings very true.
Review: This is the classic novel of an idealistic young man who must suddenly face the grinding gears of modern medicine. Other readers complain about the characters' lack of compassion. But what they are missing is that the real villain here is the medical SYSTEM, which pounds residents with 36 hour calls from hell, and tortures the blissfully demented with one painful procedure after another. What Shem wanted the readers to know is that the system is inhuman and corrupt, and that to survive, people either deny or bail out, because the system won't change on its own. Some readers are also disturbed by all the sex, saying that it is unnecessary, and cheapens the book. I disagree. Sex serves as a coping mechanism for the interns, who are cut off from everything they hold dear, and must grasp at the sad pleasure of brief sexual flings to remain sane. The nurses have been jaded by failed relationships and begin to reject their sex-hating Catholic upbringing--to them, casual sex is also a coping mechanism. I can't speak for all interns, but I have seen many young doctors attempt to substitute casual sex for the full lives and deep connections that they are denied. The only difference is that, these days, interns tend to sleep with other interns, as there are many more women in medicine than in Shem's day. But the idea is the same. This book still rings very true, which is sad, because it means that the system hasn't changed at all.
Rating:
Summary: Sad, but true...
Review: To the lay-readers who find the book's images and points of view both horrifying and repulsive, I would say only this: As a street paramedic I fully empathize with any experienced doctor, nurse, P.A., or other medical practitioner, who happens to be a little "crispy around the edges." Medicine at any level of practice is often a mental beat-down, frequently unrewarding, and always tough. The "gallows-humor" that HOG depicts so graphically is a defense-mechanism for a lot of health-care workers. Myself included. You either succumb to its temptation, or you burn out. And in that case, you're no good to anyone, least of all your patients. If you read the book from a perspective outside the medical profession, please keep an open mind and you will love the book as much as we who are "in the know" do. And if that doesn't work, you could always try walking a mile in our shoes...
Rating:
Summary: Changed Harry Hill's life
Review: Per John Koski of the 'Books' column in the Daily Mail April 2004, when asked "Have any books changed your life?", the comedian Harry Hill replied, "'The House of God' By Samuel Shem, a novel about a junior doctor in America which takes the lid off the idea of medicine being a vocation. I read it when I was a junior doctor and it made me give up my job."
Rating: 
Summary: If it would only be this way
Review: As a second year medical student whose assignment it was to read this book, I had mixed feelings. Because of all of the other coursework, I was not very excited about the prospects of filling my time with more reading. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when I found myself unable to stop reading, constantly wondering what was going to happen next. Although there are some pretty "racy" scenes, to say the least, I thought they were a well thought out portion of the book. What I did take, however, was the humanness that each of these characters carried with them throughout the book. Without giving too much away, I saw the pain, the sorrow, the humility and anguish that goes into the medical profession on a daily basis. We as future physicians are going to have to deal with a lot of "stuff" as we go along, this book gave us a small, entertaining glance at what that may hold.I recommend this book to all readers, preferably for the at least PG-13 and up. This book will be entertaining and educational for the medical and non-medically inclined. You won't get bogged down by medical jargon and lingo. Just sit back and enjoy. Learn what "TURF'ing" is.
Rating:
Summary: The "Catch 22" of the medical world.
Review: I have read this book three times: When I was a first year medical student I found it to be exaggerated. When I was in my intern year I found it to be an understatement. Reading it for the third time in the middle of my residency allowed me to have a more mature perspective of this book. I find it to have a striking resemblence to another classic: "Catch 22" by Joseph Heller. I will start by saying that both books are NOT great literature masterpieces . They do not stand in one line with Joyce, Amos Oz, Steinback or Hemmingway and as a work of art they therefore deserve , in my opoinion 2 or 3 stars of rating.They do share, however, a unique quality which is this: They both manage to capture in an astonishing accurracy, through sarcasm and absurd, all that is twisted, wrong and cruel in the systems they deal with. Being both a doctor and an IDF officer, I can testify from personal experience that both the military and the medical field have a lot in common , mainly that they both are a stressfull, wearing enviroments. Shem's accurate perception lead this book to being the sharpest description of this enviroment so far, just as "Catch 22" was in its times I therefore share the enthusiasm of the majority of the reviewers of this book, as much as I can identify with the ones who found it disappointing in the literary sense. It therfore gets a rating of 4.
Rating: 
Summary: That's the Way It Was
Review: I read this book when I was a medical resident at a Southern BMS (Best Medical School), and I was convinced that the author ("Dr. X" at the time) was a colleague! His language, descriptions of patients, anecdotes, and staff portrayals were too similar not to have come directly from the wards and clinics where I worked. And, I was horrified to see, from another vantage point, what I and my fellow residents were becoming. When I re-read the book decades later, I was grateful that a great many things have changed in our approaches to training new physicians.
There are two primary aspects of interest in this book: first, it is an uproariously funny book to anyone who trained in an urban medical center in the 1960-1970 era (others will miss 90% of the "in-group" humor), and, second, it is a devastating indictment of the way that physicians were trained at medical centers in the middle of the 20th century.
It is a good read, but now of most interest to 50+ year-old physicians and nurses.
Rating:
Summary: Changed Harry Hill's life
Review: Per John Koski of the 'Books' column in the Daily Mail April 2004, when asked "Have any books changed your life?", the comedian Harry Hill replied, "'The House of God' By Samuel Shem, a novel about a junior doctor in America which takes the lid off the idea of medicine being a vocation. I read it when I was a junior doctor and it made me give up my job."
Rating: 
Summary: A distorted view of an internship
Review: This is a very uneven book. My internship was many years ago but it's hard to believe it's changed that much. Doctors and nurses having sex in the hospital, often in a very exposed place? I never saw that and think most of the interns were far more interested in getting some sleep rather than sex. It's unbelievably tough, and it's really hard because you know know that your mistakes might kill people, not just result in a bad grade on a test. You begin to feel the weight of responsibility that you will carry around with you likes chains for the rest of your proffesional life. This is a book meant to be a sensationalized book that will sell well, not one that attempts to portray what an interns life is like at a big teaching hospital . My intership was in a good public hospital, and the surpervision and help from a large base of visiting doctors was excellent. And we didn't spend time trying to transfer patiets off of our sevice
It is well written in a sort of hurried way,so if you read it you may have a good time, but you won't come away knowing much about interns.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it the Second Time Around
Review: I read this book in the early 1980's and laughed out loud then. I read it recently and laughed twice as hard. This is a classic!
It kind of makes you want to have day surgery all the time & never spend a night in a hospital!
Rating:
Summary: Enormously Funny!
Review: Samuel Shem (Stephen Bergman, M.D.) has written an amazingly funny story containing more medical truth than many realize. Follow Roy Basch and five other interns through clinic rotations from their unique vantage point at the bottom of the medical staff at the BMS (Best Medical School). Watch as the "Fat Man" (the omnipotent resident) teaches them the medical secret of doing nothing, discreetly works to maintain their sanity and hopefully makes doctors out of them. Witness an expertly executed "buff and turf" and learn why "gomers don't die," but they do "go to ground." A must read for any medical student and for anyone who has ever wanted an inside look at medicine.
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