This "brilliant, engaging, cleverly manipulated piece of fiction" ("San Francisco Chronicle"), written by the author of "Le Divorce", captures the moral dilemmas and life-and-death decisions that are the foundation of hospital life, portraying the continuous clashes of motive and sensibility that create the ongoing comedy of medical manners.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Having chosen to set her latest novel (after Persian Nights ) in a hospital milieu (within the San Francisco Bay Area), Johnson succeeds remarkably well in replicating that world, but not so well in the delineation of character, a talent her previous works revealed in full measure. Here, perhaps, her signature ironic detachment holds the characters at too far a remove; the women in particular are passive, flaky, even silly, with no intellectual life. The doctors, too, are stereotypical, and we instinctively know that the model of rectitude will have the farthest fall from grace. The plot revolves around Ivy Tarro, an exceptionally beautiful single mother, who is admitted with a minor problem that is treated incorrectly, propelling her to the verge of death. Johnson not only knows how a hospital works, she understands the professional and social hierarchies; the rivalry between the medical and surgical services; the subtle distinctions among house staff; the crises, from the moral to the mundane; the questions of medical ethics, complicated by the availability of lifesaving equipment. (The most effective scenes are, in fact, graphic descriptions of patients being kept alive by artificial means.) The timeliness of her theme and her adroit plotting, should make this Johnson's most commercial novel; one cannot but wish, however, that the narrative were less facile and more deeply felt. Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Professor, literary critic, and author of a highly acclaimed biography of Dashiell Hammett, Johnson sets her latest novel in San Francisco at the fictional Alta Buena Hospital, focusing as she has before on the lives of the privileged. Her tale of relations among Dr. Philip Watts (handsome senior physician), Ivy Tarro (beautiful patient), and Mimi Franklin (dedicated volunteer) is, except for a few explicit phrases, a romance novel: breathless and girlish in tone, too dependent on implausible plot developments, regrettably prone to ethnic and sexual stereotyping, filled with predictable female fantasies. Not Johnson's best work by a long shot, but simple and pleasant reading. Recommended for comprehensive collections of popular fiction.
- Molly McCluer, Piedmont, Cal.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
- Molly McCluer, Piedmont, Cal.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
more of a hospital dramedy than a mystery thriller,
By A Customer
This review is from: Health and Happiness (Mass Market Paperback)
Wasn't sure exactly what this book wanted to be, a drama, a comedy, a thriller, or what. It had entirely too many main characters and left too many interesting bits unsaid/unresolved at the end. After thinking about it, I'd say that this book was sort of like reading an episode (or maybe a season of) "ER" but at least on the tv show they can resolve some of the patient's stories. Still, I enjoyed this book much more than I did "Le Divorce," which seemed to have some outrageously nutty plot twists.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clever and entertaining,
By Reader from San Francisco (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Health and Happiness (Mass Market Paperback)
Coming from the Bay Area and having worked extensively in the health care field here, I was quite taken with the manner in which Johnson was able to achieve a very authentic voice. Ivy was interesting and it was fun tagging along with her as she dealt with the many struggles set before her. I liked that the story ended with her getting her act together rather than riding off into the sunset with a man as a solution to her problems.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing,
By "sielaff68" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Health and Happiness (Mass Market Paperback)
I love Le Divorce, so I was sorry to struggle through this one. It felt clumsy, obvious and a little like a soap opera. Oh well.
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