Mere Mortals

I doubt this author has attracted any groupies, but he has apparently attracted at least one anti groupie. For my money, this is his most polished and devastating performance. Holden Caufield said he knew a book was really good when he felt like he had to call the author up on the phone. That's the way I felt after reading this, although I resisted the urge, for which I'm sure the author will be grateful. Set at the dawn of the AIDS era, this hospital drama, black comedy, rite of passage, pre ER, who knows what other genre, novel is written with such breezy grace it lulls you into thinking you are just along for a ride, when it swirls down a rabbit hole and just accelerates. Brendan O'Brien and Caroline Bates are not the sort of people who care much whether or not anyone likes them, but they are so likeable and so real, you cannot resist following them, and you want nothing bad to happen to them, even as you see very bad things happening to everyone around them. You are just hooked. Ravin sure knows how to push all the buttons. And he tells you right up front what is going to happen to them, which somehow makes it even worse, or better. I don't know about lack of editing and medical errors, but the tidal wave of emotion which builds and builds until it finally crashes over you is pretty amazing. It's not for the Saturday afternoon in the hammock. I started out that way and was up all night with it.

As to the other review - so what's wrong with a love story? I liked this book because I felt it did have a lot of medical detail, especially since it's written by a practicing Doctor, that went to Cornell & Yale! If you want specific or more detail, you can watch Discovery. This love story is special because it isn't hard to understand the struggles that physicians have to go thru, especially when they are dedicated, yet fall in love with that "special someone". I don't think you will be disappointed with this book - I enjoyed it very much!