The Blood of Strangers : Stories from Emergency Medicine

Rating:
Summary: Wanting more
Review: A beautifully written book that reveals a series of stories full of the drama, the pain, the humor and the insight to the dance of life in ER. Frank Huyler is an amazing writer who captivates the reader with characters in the best and worst of situations. I had to put the book down twice only to get my breath and start again. "Maggot man" will catch you off guard but you'll go back for more. These are not bloody drive by accident stories just waiting for you to gape. Rather you are romanced into the heartbeat and atmosphere of the ER. Each chapter keeps you intrigued and by the time you finish you'll be wanting more.

Rating:
Summary: Deviate from the course
Review: A reviewer complains Dr Frank Huyler's book has no soul. I thought about that for a while. In The Blood of Strangers, Huyler is not reaching deep for philosophical questions and answers to the crises he faces daily, however he unavoidably acts as a catalyst for such existential dilemmas. Few things shake us as much as our mortality in the face of catastrophic illness or injury. He pretty much writes the way he sees it and What You See Is What You Get. And what you get is a fallible human's perspective of a very demanding and difficult job which cuts daily to the core of our existence: life and death. His stories, written in stark, poetic style, are deceptively simple. They show how necessary it is for physicians to distance themselves in order to carry on doing their work. The most unassuming case - that of the little girl with few symptoms beyond a blank stare - could have had the most traumatic consequences. Huyler is shaken to the core when he realises. Despite his necessary emotional distance, he is still profoundly moved by this realisation. Huyler also writes how training, technology and sometimes just luck and intuition, can perform miracles. And sometimes all of the above can solve nothing at all. Perhaps some of the stories do end a little abruptly, as if they are being robbed of their potential. Almost like a life, tragically cut short. I wonder if Huyler's writing is cathartic for him. Perhaps it exorcises the cynicism. His patients benefit, then, and we, the readers, benefit with some very memorable stories.

Rating:
Summary: Not very well-written
Review: Dr. Huyler has some interesting stories to tell, but his writing style is very awkward and hard to follow. It does not flow very well. The stories don't seem to have any real ending to them; it's as if he just stops in mid-story and doesn't finish the tale for us. Also there are strange bits of information added occasionally that have nothing to do with the actual story. I felt like he frequently stopped in mid-story, shifted gears, started to tell a completely different tale instead, then stopped that tale just as abruptly to return to the original story, which in turn was ended without being properly finished. It's as if he tries TOO hard to be intellectual or poetic, and the story suffers because of his failed attempts at intellectualism. Being a doctor does not necessarily make someone a good author.
Again, the stories themselves were interesting; they simply were not told very well.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: Each chapter is like a tiny moment of life written out in a few powerful pages. It was a wonderfully written book and although it often isn't appreciated as much as it should be, it makes incredible airplane reading.

Rating:
Summary: A Little Disappointing
Review: Every once in awhile, you read a book that speaks the truth that you know. The Blood of Strangers is such a book. Written by Dr. Frank Huyler, it is a glimpse into the world of emergency medecine. What sets it apart from that genre is the eloquence of the writer. He bestows a humanity upon the ill and injured and those who provide their care. It is not based on adrenelized stories of "can you top this?'. It is a careful accounting of medicine given as a service, of the empathy, the fear, the disillusionment, the hope, the constant vigil to heal and the price extracted from those who administer it. This should be a must read for anyone entering any field of medecine. And those of us already in the field, it is a reminder of why we do what we do. A remarkable book that cannot be put down or forgotten.

Rating:
Summary: How does it feel to be a doctor?
Review: Huyler reports years of accident and emergency experience, broken down into very short stories - almost snapshots or video-clips. This has two effects: firstly, it imbues the episodes with the sort of frenetic energy that imbues a television ER scene. Secondly, it encourages the reader to gobble them, swallowing scene after scene, perhaps without digesting them fully. This serves to cheapen thought provoking moments into fast-food: quick episodes to read, then discard, and without pausing, move onto the next one.

Individually the stories are meaningful - the fight to save the life of a young man, subsequently identified as a murderer; the thrill of curing a tension pneumothorax; the tug of turning-off a life-support machine. Together they form a less substantial whole.

In "Prelude" Huyler gives equal space (two short pages) to his experience of his dissection of a donated corpse early in med school as to the furnishings of his rented flat. Some readers will find that their own unfamiliarity may be sufficient to conjure his own imagined images, but for me the sparse details were insufficient. Tell me how you felt; how it affected you; did you sleep that first night; how soon did you fail to notice the foul smell of formaldehyde? I wanted to know more, Dr Huyler - how was it for you?

Other critics and readers will find that the paucity of Huyler's prose keeps the episodes fresh and gives them energy. I'm afraid I disagree and see the lack of feeling, of the author's perspective, as a shortcoming. These events have clearly been ones that have left an impression on the author's mind, soul and way of practice. Is the failure to tell us how they made him feel a symptom of the commercialisation of these supposedly true stories into fodder for the blood-thirsty, thrill-hungry masses? Or is it something more: is this the writer's way of keeping the events personal? Of saying, "This happened to me, you don't need to know that I cried"?

Huyler's experiences are ones that probably affect most doctors and in that sense are not unique but are presented by medic writers with a different sheen - of blood, sweat, tears or murderous intent - depending on the genre of choice.

I cannot deny that the book is well written and well constructed; there is no loose flesh or spare words. Use it as you wish. It does have the frission of ER, and there is no reason to not enjoy the drama. Or use the book mindfully and reflect on your own life experiences, and those to come.

For maximum value, I would prescribe no more than one a day.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully drawn prose from a gifted writer.
Review: I used to enjoy ER when the writing was taut and reality-based. As it plummets into soap-opera I no longer wish to waste my time on it. This book is the verbal equivalent of what ER and the reality based trauma television try to convey but most often miss. Added to that is the unique vision and poetic writing of its doctor-author. Rarely have I come across a book which is so poignant and says so much in such compact cameos. Huyler is an extremely talented man with an incredible ability to narrate the daily life cycle of the emergency room. It is a priviledge to read and participate in this world, that so few of us understand or get the chance to see. This world placed on the small screen is not as glamorous or easy as they tend to make it look. The exhaustion, the emotional roller-coaster, the strange people that Huyler and his like have to deal with on a daily basis is almost unfathonable. It is with more sympathy that I understand why so many doctors and students choose not to work in such conditions and burn out or burn up so quickly. This book should be required reading for Congress and others who need to pass legislation to protect both medical students and the public from archaic requirements which leave those who work in emergency care exhausted and prone to mistakes. Huyler is a great physician who for the most part could handle the harrowing schedule and requirements of emergency medicine, but too many do not have his abilities or strength, and it is well-known that errors of judgement abound in hospitals due to exhaustion. A truly magnificent book. Karen Sadler, Science education, University of Pittsburgh

Rating:
Summary: Blood and guts are not poetic!
Review: If you liked "Chicken Soup for the Soul", you'll love this one for sure; but my own experience working at the ER has taught me that poetry doesn't mesh very well with blood, pain and imminent death situations. I'm glad Dr. Huyler found a way to channel his stress in a positive way, but his somewhat empty prose leaves me quite cold. If you're looking for some good, interesting and serious tales about hospital medicine I recommend you "Extreme remedies" by John Hejinian. In this, his one and only work of fiction, Dr. Hejinian writes a story that reflects the unadorned reality of this exciting but scary world, and even when the novel was first published more than 20 years ago, it's still actual.

Rating:
Summary: A strange journey for the uninitiated.
Review: The mark of an excellent piece of writing is the invisibility of the prose. Picking up a book and stumbling on the words, the phrases, the writing itself, always gets in the way of a good story. A well-written story creates a situation for the reader, where, for the most part, that necessary 'suspension of disbelief' occurs, and you find yourself lost in the world of the tale. It ceases to be merely reading and becomes something else. In Frank Huyler's The Blood of Strangers, the world of the emergency room emerges from the doctor's point of view with such terrifying reality, that putting the book down, taking a break, is utterly necessary to maintain one's perspective, one's own reality. Huyler doesn't write prose, but conjures windows into another world.

This book is a collection of scenes from the ER, revealing an aspect of the medicos that a lot of us would rather not know. First year medical students, for example, are assigned a cadaver to mutilate, take apart, to gain first-hand knowledge of human anatomy. This is the first of many hoops that the medical student must jump through in their many years of intense training. There is a tacit reason why anatomy is the first course off the rank - it is a test as to whether they have the capacity to objectify the body as mere object, divorce feeling and emotion from the human form itself. Many fail because they lack that 'scientific objectivity' and cannot stomach using a hack saw to open the skull of their subject. It is too close to home. The terrifying aspect of The Blood of Strangers is the objectivity portrayed by Dr. Huyler - he communicates a kind of coldbloodedness coupled with a profound insight and affinity with the human soul. He is at once human and inhuman, insensitive monster and caring priest - but above all, a man doing a job that most of would rather leave to someone else.

Most all the stories told have something to teach us about the profession. Medical doctors and surgeons are a breed apart - it is almost as if they are born to the task, and their power over life and death is nothing less than astounding.

The Blood of Strangers is a realistic insight into the mind and experience of a doctor. The book is a strange journey for the uninitiated, and a lesson in the utter fragility of human life - something we should never take for granted.

This book is highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Collection of well-written essays
Review: Whether you are a medical person yourself, or just an ER viewer looking for a reality check, this book works!

It is really a series of short essays rather than a lenghty "novel", each written with their own flair and personality. Some of them are shockers, some are thinkers, some are just plain "day in the life of" shorts. But they all are worth a look.

It is written straightforward enough for a layperson to understand without effort, but if you have medical training, there are enough details in there for you to get the "whole picture" as well.

I am something of a "collector" of medical biographies, and have several "ER" type accounts already. This one is my favorite, because not only are the tales good, but they are given the proper respect by a true author.

Once you have read this one, and are looking for more, another book in this genre that I can recommend is "Emergency Room: Lives Saved and Lost: Doctors Tell Their Stories" by Dan Sachs. It is a little inconsistent (probably because of the varying authors) but done in the same "essay" style that works so well here.