The House of God

Taking the few minutes between activities in Trinidad to do some RA Favorite book reading and made some progress in reading The House of God by Samuel Shem.  You really need to find the humor to get into this book.  Much like 1L (the book about being a first year law student), this one is its companion but in the field of medicine, being an intern in a hospital (Harvard?), hmm?? In the book the main character, Dr. Roy Basch, is doing his internship year before he has to declare his specialty area of medicine.  The story took place in the BMS (Best Medical School) and reads as a pre-cursor of sorts to the TV show Scrubs, though this one was written in 1978 (right after Watergate, and yes references flew throughout).  Shem, only a pseudo name as an author, draws from his own experience and describes the craziness of being an intern: the hours, the characters, the LOLs(yes this term existed before the internet and refers to the Little Old Ladies).  Shem shares a new set of medical vernacular for the reader, such as “GOMERs” – get out of my emergency room, “ROR” – relationship on the rocks, and “HTE Service”  - hold the elevator service.  Irreverent to the leadership of the hospital, including his boss, the “Fat Man,” and the various patients and “woman friends” along the way. Do nothing for the GOMERs and they may actually live!  The grueling hours and the lack of support are hallmarks, as presented in this tale, of the life of the intern.  Read this book and you wonder who would want to be a doctor, that he does so with a sense of humor. Through the sudden death, apparent suicide of one of the chief residents, and the influence of the chief psychiatric resident, all of the interns actually decide to go into the field of psychiatry.  What keeps Basch focused and able to finish, his love Berry, who he actually cheats on while away.  The story begins and ends with Basch and Berry at the same moment in time with a flashback (or nightmare?) of the past year.  At times the book is quite tiring and slow.  You really have to be present as the comic moments can be overlooked.  Satire and this type of humor is ok, though as a person who tends to faint with blood/needles, the emergency room setting already started me as a reader in the wrong place.  Not sure how dated it reads for anyone looking into the medical field, but may hit a chord for you.  I actually thought the author had a great ending and bringing it all together.  Overall, ok, but have had better reads for sure.  Now back to Trinidad.