Book Review: Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures (2006)

by Vincent Lam
Doubleday Canada (Jan 17 2006)

So I read Vincent Lam's Bloodletting. Once the announcement was made that he won the Giller, I went online and ordered his book--hardcover, first edition. I touched it, smelled it, loved it. But that was before I read it.

I now apologize for having spoken the name; I apologize for having drawn attention to the book and to the title. It is unworthy of being read; it is unworthy of critique. I really should not be bothered. But since I am waiting for feedback from my prof, and have not much else to do, here... a makeshift critique, as kind as I could be:

The concept is great--an ER doc revealing the secrets of his profession. My sis is an ER doc, so I have more reason to be excited by this book. It is supposed to be a collection of short stories, all of which revolve around med students and doctors, all of which take place at the university or hospital. I say “supposed to be” because all the stories are actually linked loosely together, and I think that is what causes the book to fail. The stories are not connected enough to be a novel. Yet the stories are not disconnected enough to be separate stories.

The loose connection between the stories causes difficulty for character development. The book starts off very well. I like the main characters, Ming and Fitz, of the first story. But the writer should have thereafter cut off all reference to Ming and Fitz, or develop their stories in greater depth. Lam, rather, makes insubstantial references to Ming and Fitz throughout the remaining stories, and I keep wanting a glimpse of the Ming and Fitz I knew from the first story: is poor Fitz ever going to get over Ming? are they going to have an illicit affair? The remaining stories try to magnify the lives of other characters who also work at the hospital. But because all characters are somehow linked back to Ming and Fitz, those characters remain in the shadow of Ming and Fitz. Therefore, none of the characters are properly dealt with by neither the writer nor the reader. This is very unfortunate.

I had once thought that Vincent Lam might be the son instead of whom my mother had two daughters. But I am beginning to wonder if the calibre of Lam's writing is an indication of his calibre as a doctor.

Hee.

hey, the dude won a $40,000 book prize, and that's a bonus on top of his regular doctor's salary.