Rating: 
Summary: A roller coaster ride through modern psychiatry
Review: Roy Basch, MD, is back! For any doctor or medical student, who at one time or another read "The House of God" and learned the LAWS by heart (most of them probably even use them on a regular basis!), this is a long awaited sequel. Having decided to leave internal medicine behind and to become a psychiatrist, Basch lives through his first year as a resident at a prestigious mental institution called Mount Misery, only to find out that the name is more than just metaphorical. He discovers, that it is sometimes hard to tell the patients from their therapists, and that normal can be a question of health insurance. It is an exciting, very funny, and sometimes even frightening novel about modern psychiatry. In "House of God" the reader wondered how much of the story was satirical and just how much was true. And if you're a physician, you will know that everything in it is real. Having read "Mount Misery", you will beg your therapist to tell you that it is all just a joke. But then again, maybe you are a shrink yourself and know better... A definite must for patients and doctors.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent reading for everyone
Review: This book is much deeper than House of God. It does not focus as much on the physical aspects of the Medical training like the former, it is more focused on Dr. Basch's personal changes and growth. The characters are all very interesting, and it is more entertaining for a non-medical related person than House of God in my opinion.Though overall House of God was better, this book makes you think more.
Rating:
Summary: Sharp Humor, Take my Word: VERY realistic!
Review: ~ ~ * * * * * ~ ~
~ ~ As an MD who spent lots of time in 3rd and 4th year doing clerkships studying Psychiatry, at about the time this novel takes place, I have to admit it is an entertaining and frighteningly accurate illustration of the confusion that reigned in most Psychiatry training programs in the 70's and 80's. ~ ~Readers of "House of God" will enjoy this semi-autobiographical story. It is continuation of the story of the young doctor who spent a disillusioning year in a medical Internship in a prominent Boston training hospital, took a year off, and decided to leave the physical Medicine for Psychiatry. ~ ~Friends who have worked "M. Hospital" the prominent mental hospital (outside Boston), that Mount Misery is clearly modeled after, tell me that the characters in the book are also very thinly disguised versions of real life prominent Doctors in the training program. ~ ~It's not necessary to have much medical knowledge to enjoy the cutting humor of the book. The story will probably be more entertaining, the more knowledge you have of the field of Psychology. Be prepared though, this book isn't one you want to read to give you confidence in your Psychiatrist!
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