KEY POINTS:
BLOODLETTING & MIRACULOUS CURES
By Vincent Lam
HarperCollins, $29.99
An ER doctor, Vincent Lam delivers an intimate portrait of the medical profession in his fictional debut, a collection of interconnected vignettes about the lives and relationships of four young medical students living and working in Toronto.
The 12 stories, which read like a novel, follow their connections to each other through their experiences in medical school and into their careers.
Black humour infiltrates the stories and the characters are both lovable and despicable to varying degrees.
Lam's storytelling and character portrayal are wonderfully subtle, and he is committed to the clever art of showing over telling.
These beautifully interwoven stories are not only insightful, but far more grounded in reality than the sensationalised medical dramas we see served up all too frequently on television.
