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The House of God Paperback – September 7, 2010
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“The raunchy, troubling, and hilarious novel that turned into a cult phenomenon. Singularly compelling…brutally honest.”—The New York Times
Struggling with grueling hours and sudden life-and-death responsibilities, Basch and his colleagues, under the leadership of their rule-breaking senior resident known only as the Fat Man, must learn not only how to be fine doctors but, eventually, good human beings.
A phenomenon ever since it was published, The House of God was the first unvarnished, unglorified, and uncensored portrait of what training to become a doctor is truly like, in all its terror, exhaustion and black comedy. With more than two million copies sold worldwide, it has been hailed as one of the most important medical novels ever written.
With an introduction by John Updike
- Print length432 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBerkley
- Publication dateSeptember 7, 2010
- Dimensions5.45 x 1.1 x 8.2 inches
- ISBN-100425238091
- ISBN-13978-0425238097
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“The raunchy, troubling, and hilarious novel that turned into a cult phenomenon. Singularly compelling...brutally honest.”—The New York Times
“Bawdy, blistering...this is Catch-22 with stethoscopes.”—Cosmopolitan
“Wonderfully wild, ribald, erotic, bitter, compassionate...in the same spirit as Catch-22.”—The Seattle Times
“A wildly funny, sad, laugh-out-loud, frightening, outrageous, thought-provoking, moving book…a story of modern medicine rarely, if ever, told.”—The Houston Chronicle
“Does for the practice of medicine what Catch-22 and M*A*S*H did for the practice of warfare.”—The Newark Star-Ledger
“Mordantly funny, brilliantly ironic...A writer of outstanding substance and style.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
From the Back Cover
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Berkley; Reissue edition (September 7, 2010)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 432 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0425238091
- ISBN-13 : 978-0425238097
- Item Weight : 11.5 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.45 x 1.1 x 8.2 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #6,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Doctors & Medicine Humor
- #31 in Medical Fiction (Books)
- #750 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Samuel Shem (pen name of Stephen Bergman) is a novelist, playwright, and, for three decades, a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty. His novels include The House of God, Fine, and Mount Misery. He is coauthor with his wife, Janet Surrey, of the hit Off-Broadway play Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the story of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous (winner of the 2007 Performing Arts Award of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence), and We Have to Talk: Healing Dialogues between Women and Men. Editors Carol Donley and Martin Kohn are cofounders of the Center for Literature, Medicine, and Biomedical Humanities at Hiram College. Since 1990 the Center has brought humanities and the health care professions together in mutually enriching interactions, including interdisciplinary courses, summer symposia, and the Literature and Medicine book series from The Kent State University Press. The first three anthologies in the series grew out of courses in the Biomedical Humanities program at Hiram. Then the series expanded to include original writing and edited collections by physicians, nurses, humanities scholars, and artists. The books in the series are designed to serve as resources and texts for health care education as well as for the general public.
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Top reviews from the United States
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One aspect I appreciated about the book is its ability to provide an unfiltered glimpse into the reality of medical training and the emotional toll it can take on individuals. The author's firsthand experience as a physician shines through, presenting a brutally honest portrayal of the medical profession. The book delves into the complexities of patient care, the ethical dilemmas faced by doctors, and the often-unspoken struggles of healthcare professionals. This raw and candid approach makes for a thought-provoking read.
However, I must admit that the book's narrative style and language proved to be challenging for me at times. The use of medical jargon and slang may be engaging for readers with a medical background, but it can be alienating and confusing for those without prior knowledge of the field. This made it difficult to fully immerse myself in the story and connect with the characters on a deeper level.
Additionally, while the book aims to shed light on the flaws within the healthcare system, it sometimes crosses the line into cynicism and dark humor. The constant presence of gallows humor and the depiction of unprofessional behavior by some characters can be off-putting for readers seeking a more balanced portrayal. It often felt like the negative aspects of medicine overshadowed the positive aspects, leaving me with a somewhat disheartened perspective.
Furthermore, the pacing of the book seemed uneven, with certain parts dragging on while others felt rushed. This uneven pacing made it challenging to maintain a consistent level of engagement throughout the story.
In summary, "The House of God" offers a raw and unflinching portrayal of the medical profession, highlighting its challenges and ethical dilemmas. While I appreciated the author's honest approach, the book's use of jargon and slang, along with its sometimes excessive cynicism, created barriers to my full enjoyment and understanding. I would recommend this book to readers with a keen interest in the medical field or those who appreciate dark humor, but caution others to approach it with an open mind and a willingness to navigate the unique writing style.
The House of God is a book written, as the author would put it, from deep within the author's cardiac muscles and hits you straight in the sigmoid colon. Many have compared the book to Catch-22, and they are right to do so. Both are about people essential, much respected professions, the impossibility of their lives and the cynical ways they cope with the pressures of their occupation. Both are also, about redemption, growth, and love. Both had me laugh uncontrollably and sometimes shed a tear, and both are a must read for any person that believes that humanity is the most hideous and terrible infliction that has been borne upon the universe and at the same time, the most exalted.
I don't use the term "love" on inanimate objects often, but I loved this book.
So a quick synopsis - but you will find many of them already everywhere:
Dr. Roy Basch, a new intern fresh off the BMS ("Best Medical School" - a thinly veiled referenced to Harvard Medical) is off to intern at the "House of God" (again, a thinly veiled reference to Beth Israel). Eager and naive at first he quickly realizes that hospital patients fall into two broad categories: Gomers - elderly patients that refuse to die and are kept alive for monetary purposes (HOUSE LAW NO 1: GOMERS DON'T DIE) and the dying young: younger patients who have their whole lives ahead of them that unexpectedly contract something horrible and die.
There to guide him through the conflicts and dilemmas of medical practice (and occasionally non-practice and mal-practice) is the book's unexpected hero: The Fat Man. Some would call him an anti-hero, a combination of a cynic and a humanitarian, The Fat Man has a very Dr. House air about him and is certainly one of my favorite characters of all time.
The theme of the book is the conflict between death and life, love and hate: it is dotted with a variety of sexual exploits, where Dr. Basch and some of his friends escape to to avoid thinking about death, constantly. Raunchy in their depiction, they contrast the constant stench of people dying with the interns' attempt at living.
All in all - the book deserves a place of honor in my book case. I only hope that the authors' other work is as sublime; Catch-22 was a one off in Heller's work. I am eager to find out if this is a one-off in Shem's.
Top reviews from other countries
I come from South America and I’ve never heard about this book there, also my south American Colleagues didn’t heard about this book.
So I gave it a try, blindly.
I finished it in a week! And if you’re thinking, that’s way too long! For me it was like a thunder, I’m a Resident in Surgery and we don’t have a lot of time.
But since it was so good, i found myself reading to sleep. I can only recommend to my fellow colleagues to grab a copy if you haven’t read it until now and go blindly, don’t google it, just buy it and start reading, I promise you.. it will be good!









