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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Laugh, Whoop, Be Enlightened,
By Jay Doolin (NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Critical Care: A Novel (Paperback)
I plucked this book off a library shelf in 1996 only because the author's last name caught my attention as being similar to my own. I took it and 6 other novels home and sat down to take a quick preliminary glance at all of them, happening to start with CC. Three hours later, I was still in the same place, alternately howling with laughter and shouting out "Richard Dooling is a GENIUS!" This novel has everything--everything I like, at least: black humor, mordant sociology, unusual but believable and mostly even likeable characters, a plot that keeps you turning pages as fast as you can while at the same time wishing the book would not end, mystery, surprises, an inside look at an arcane profession, and finally, wisdom that doesn't seem hokey. I went back to the library in search of information about the author and--this was 1996, remember--found only a couple of reviews, in library journals, and the reviewers had not understood the book AT ALL. Its fortunes improved somewhat after his second novel was published. The movie was also superlative but went largely unnoticed. I recommended both novel and movie to many friends, and several told me one or the other was just too "strong" for their taste. Maybe it just hits too close to home. I have found most of the same qualities in Dooling's subsequent novels, which because of their subjects--Africa, cyberspace--may be far enough removed from what really hurts us here in the U.S. to be more popular.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Serious Satire,
By cpanatier@hotmail.com (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Critical Care: A Novel (Paperback)
I read Critical Care as soon as I finished Dooling's latest novel, Brain Storm. I was impressed that Dooling possessed such a huge mastery of the world inside the Intensive Care Unit AND of the law. This book presents similar types of ethical questions that Brain Storm does, but all of it is couched in hilarious dialogue and personal character reflections. Make sure to read this book in a place where laughing outloud won't get you thrown out. Great Book (I just started his other novel, White Man's Grave).
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Ironic Dr. Kildare,
By jps00@ibm.net (Orion Nebula) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Critical Care: A Novel (Paperback)
"Critical Care" has Dooling's first and perhaps best novel. It contains his usual blend of medical and legal background themes leavened with his acerbic humor. Unlike his previous novel ("Brain Storm") this is story is based more on the medical theme and less the legal. The story is about the ethical choices a doctor working in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has to make. Doolings style is good, and his ironic descriptions are precious. Yet the book is serious, I'm thinking seriously about a living will after having read this. One failing I am beginning to find, is that the author only has one character. The doctor in this story is too similar to the lawyer in "Brain Storm" and the Indiana insurance adjuster in "White Man's Grave". Recommended for those who would like to read about an ironic Dr. Kildare.
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