Judith's Pavilion: The Haunting Memories of a Neurosurgeon [Paperback]

Marc Flitter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1998

Judith's Pavilion is an imaginary hospital where practicing neurosurgeon Mark Flitter allows his failures to become beautifully crafted true stories of the fragility and meaning of life itself. "His gripping stories are heart-breaking and deeply moving".--"Publishers Weekly".

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Remarkable. " "Beautifully written stories artfully strung together by a fine craftsman. " Coined respectively by Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, these words represent only a small portion of the praise garnered by this first-time author, a neurosurgeon with an understanding of human vulnerability--including his own. The stories are of people you will come to know like neighbors, people whose courage you will celebrate, whose passages you will mourn. Marc Flitter's deeply moving book stands as a tribute to the patients he has known, as well as to the precious, ironic, and tentative balance of life. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Flitter is a neurosurgeon, not a writer, but this collection of essays is often haunting?less memoir than memorial to the patients and colleagues who taught him something about humility and the human spirit. Unlike many books in this genre, it is actually short on medical detail, recalling the works of Richard Selzer or the poet/cardiologist John Stone. The typical surgeon's bravado is balanced nicely by the late-night insecurities and the admission that honest doctors face unanswerable questions. Not a how-to or a what-happened-next, this is instead a reverie, often beautifully written, that reveals Flitter's emotional life?just the sort of book that introspective types considering medicine would love. General collections with literate patrons will benefit, as will collections in medicine.?Mark L. Shelton, Univ. of Massachusetts Medical Ctr., Worcester
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (July 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446674729
• ISBN-13: 978-0446674720
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,829,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Failed to interest me, June 8, 1999

By 

David Graham (Shell, Ecuador) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Judith's Pavilion: The Haunting Memories of a Neurosurgeon (Paperback)

As a surgeon who enjoys the writings of other physicians, I was disappointed with Judith's Pavilion. His metaphors and analogies are frequently a bit far fetched. The writing lacks coherence while his stream of consciousness makes the prose difficult to read. The author rarely points to anything profound or intriguing, though he does write with conviction. There are plenty of other reflective books about medicine that would be better to sample than Judith's Pavilion. If this genre interests you, try something by one of these physicians: Paul Brand (The Gift of Pain, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made), Oliver Sacks (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings), Lewis Thomas (The Lives of a Cell, The Youngest Science), Richard Selzer (Mortal Lessons, Letters to a Young Doctor), David Graham (Thoughts Along the Way), Harold Klawans (Toscanini's Fumble, Newton's Madness), or Sherwin Nuland (The Wisdom of the Body).

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite medical books, June 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Judith's Pavilion: The Haunting Memories of a Neurosurgeon (Paperback)

Combining science and humanities is a fascinating undertaking - I'm finding more and more examples of it; his is one of the best.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A solid work with room to grow, January 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Judith's Pavilion: The Haunting Memories of a Neurosurgeon (Paperback)

I tried not to let my disappointment in the book's contents be reflected in my rating of it.

This book is about life and death, mistakes, regrets, transience, and a milieu of philosophical issues. The fact that the author is a specialist in neurosurgery has little to do with the book itself, except perhaps as evidence that scientists can be poetic writers as well. Admittedly I was hoping more for a book dealing with the issues and details of neurosurgical patients and their outcomes.

The prose was lovely and poetic, though fraught with metaphors. It was hard to follow at times, seeming more like a recording of a stream of consciousness. The book was not particularly mesmerizing reading, but it did hold my interest at a moderate pace.