Fiction - paperback; Vintage; 347 pages; 2003.
To cut a long story short, this is a rollicking good read. Get your hands on a copy and be prepared for a gritty, illuminating and, at times, disturbing exposé on hospital life as seen through the eyes of a young doctor just out of medical school. I ploughed my way through this in a matter of days, despite the fact that I initially wondered whether there was any point to the story. Believe me, there is.
While Bodies is fictional, it's written by a former doctor and one can't help wondering if this is his way of blowing the whistle on his former colleagues. It charts one man's heartbreaking realisation that being a doctor is not the dream vocation he imagined it would be. As his idealism slips into despair, the only thing that keeps him going is a somewhat sordid affair with a young, engaged-to-be-married nurse because it is the sex which makes him feel real again.
If you're about to go into hospital or know someone who is, you might not feel comfortable reading this book. But if you believe in "truth" or just like being submerged in damn good fiction, you would be hard pressed to find a more interesting, page-turning book.
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