Matters of Choice [Hardcover]

Noah Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

A determined and gifted young physician, R. J. Cole abandons a career with a prestigious hospital to build a private practice in a small Berkshire town, becoming deeply involved in the lives of her patients as she struggles with her ability to sense impending death. Lit Guild & Doubleday.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After taking the pulse of nine centuries of medical practice in the first two volumes of his trilogy about the Cole family of physicians (The Physician, 1987; Shaman, 1992), Gordon, in concluding the series, re-examines the modern medical world that he diagnosed 26 years ago in The Death Committee. The protagonist here is R. J. Cole, a 40-ish family practitioner based in Boston, who segued from a promising law career into medicine, where she has been committed to women's rights. Now she is turned down for a top-level hospital post after her participation in an abortion clinic makes her controversial. When her stale marriage to a fellow physician also runs out of steam, Cole moves to the Berkshires, determined to succeed as a country doctor. There, she falls into a problematic romance with a Jewish real estate agent, a recovering alcoholic, former rabbi and single parent for whose 17-year-old daughter Cole secretly arranges an abortion. Gordon's greatest strength is his ability to seamlessly meld his characters' emotional dilemmas and medical crises to dramatic effect. Cole is an appealing figure, and Gordon takes pains with the other characters too, creating thoughtful and nicely nuanced portrayals, especially of Cole's rural neighbors and patients. As a compelling tale of a woman's life and a balanced look at the difficult moral issues driving contemporary medicine, this novel should earn for Gordon the wide readership he already enjoys in Europe. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In the last volume of a trilogy about a family of physicians, R. J. Cole, who got a law degree before turning to medicine, has been knocked out of consideration for an administrative position at Boston's Lemuel Grace Hospital. This failure has everything to do with the fact that as a lawyer-doctor she teaches a course in iatrogenic diseases and the fact that she performs abortions one afternoon every week at a family planning clinic. Add to her professional disappointment her divorce from her surgeon husband, and she has good reason for moving to Woodfield, in the Berkshires. Here she can satisfy her desire to practice family medicine, slowly come to love the countryside and its people, and meet ex-rabbi David Markus. Gordon doesn't need the crutches of gratuitous sex and violence to tell the delightful and moving story of R. J. and David's mutual attraction, their relations with David's daughter, and much more that may prove as worthwhile in rereading as in first reading. William Beatty

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 356 pages
• Publisher: Dutton (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525940804
• ISBN-13: 978-0525940807
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hats off to Noah Gordon - He has done it again!, January 7, 2000

By 

Thomas E Stegall Jr - See all my reviews

This review is from: Matters of Choice (Paperback)

Unfortunately, most of the people writing the other reviews missed the point of the book, or did not comprehend the full meaning of this book. It is very well written and keeps your interest at all times. It is many things all coming together to a beautiful ending. I can not imagine what more anyone would want in a book. The more-than-adequate development of the characters made for easy reading. Frankly, I found this to be the perfect ending for two such strong prior books as "The Physician" and "Shaman".

Anyone that enjoys the wonderful writing of Noah Gordon will also love this book. Don't be midled by the less than glowing reviews of other readers. I very nearly did not read this book because of the reviews. I'm so very glad I read the book and made up my own mind as to its value. I found it very entertaining and so glad I got to know Dr. R.J. Cole. Try it - you'll like it.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Difficult to review, March 27, 2000

By 

Charles Andrews (Fort Worth, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Matters of Choice (Paperback)

I was forewarned that Matters of Choice was of lesser stature than the first two epics of the trilogy. The disappointment was that it wasn't and epic like the first two. Now sweeping history of the time and culture. Perhaps because it was so contemporary, Mr Gordon thought he could foregoe the historical development and character development so central in the first two volume. He was wrong if that is true.

He allows himself the freedom of not being constrained by history and he actually begins to almost preach on certain subjects. He is obviously disappointed by the failure of HMO's, the failure to pass universal healthcare, the real physical pitfalls of abortion as well as the real social threats involved. He wants it all to work out.

As a physician, to me the book played like a three cord song instead of the symphonies of his other work. HE clearly is some one I would love to talk to though.

Matters is clearly worth reading. Its much better than most of these reviewers allow. It shouldn't be downgraded simply because it falls short of what people expected. If you read the first two parts of the trilogy, then you owe it to yourself to finish the circle and read Matters.

I would have given it four stars except for the ove abundance of liberal rhetoric that he should have worked out better before writing the story. Instead he gnaws on the failures of his beliefs in the book and one grows weary.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Noah Gordon strikes again!!!, June 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Matters of Choice (Paperback)

After reading the physician, the rabbi and Shaman, I felt like Noah Gordon couldn't surprise me anymore. Those were such great books. So, when I heard that there was a new book, completing the trilogy of the Cole's saga, I thought it would be some repetition from the other. I was shocked to realize he did even better this time. The book doesn't only speak of the "gift", but it tells the drama of a woman touched by it, and by several tragedies on her life, that changes her world upside down, finding new challenges,and new tragedies, and overcoming them all. It's a heart-touching story, that makes the reader think over some thing in his own life, and start giving life and its simple and small pleasures its true value. It's a "must" to read, for anyone who liked his first books, or not