The Scalpel and the Soul: Encounters with Surgery, the Supernatural, and the Healing Power of Hope by Allan J. Hamilton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is a fast-paced read. I recommend Hamilton’s memoir to those reviewers who seem to not like memoirs that are too revealing about the author.* Hamilton tells a little about himself but each chapter is about his encounter with one of his patients, some of them heartbreakingly sad (burn victims, brain tumors). But also Hamilton is that rare physician who sees beyond the physical world and he embraces the unexplained miracles and metaphysical experiences. The book is hopeful and yet unsentimental.
*I am baffled by reviewers who don’t seem to understand that the genre of memoir is about the author—I’ve read too many bad (I mean bad, not critical) reviews by readers at GoodReads who criticize the memoirist for using I and me. I have to scratch my head on those. Are they supposed to talk about themselves in the third person or write a fictional account? I suggest those reviewers don’t bother reading memoir (I wouldn’t read or review most mysteries—don’t like the genre). Memoir is a more and more popular genre and there is a huge audience who benefits from reading the well-crafted memoir of intimate and personal detail. I’m happy to read critical reviews of memoir. But to read one that just goes on and on about a book being bad because the writer talks about herself, her feelings in her own memoir will keep me from trusting that reviewer on any book. I embrace a skillful critical review in the same way I would embrace a book I didn’t particularly agree with.