Doctors is a story of Harvard medical student's class of 1962.
The book beautifully navigates through the medical as well as personal life of these healers in white coats.
Centring around Barney Livingston and Laura Castellano, the book opens up in the childhood of these would-be doctors and their families who are neighbours.
Slowly it moves forward as they cross their teenage and finally enter the prestigious 'Harvard medical school'.
After five years of grilling, the story progresses to their days of internship and how each of the batchmates moves towards various specialities.
The book then revolves and vividly narrates the hardships faced by each one of them. Their struggles, the war, the racism, hopes, love and how they continue to progress into the medical field inspite of all odds. Finding love, experiencing heartbreaks, disease and calamities.
No doubt, this work of Erich Segal is a page turner all the way.
The poise with which he navigates into the medical world to show innumerable aspects of a doctor's life is commendable. The most wonderful aspect of the story is that it sticks to the central theme and yet manages to spread, showing so many aspects of a doctors life.
Be it the racism faced by Bennett or Seth's undue compassion for his patients.
I also loved how he slowly and very beautifully depicts the relationship between story's main protagonists Laura and Barney and then how their platonic friendship ends to give way to romantic love.
Equation between Bennett and Barney is amazingly portrayed too.
I also loved how Erich broadens our medical horizons and reasons out each of the characters moving on to practice their interests of speciality.
The ending is beautiful too and does explain many aspects between medicine and miracle. How even doctors who heal can be helpless and that they too look forward to miracles.
Favourite character: It has to be Dr. Barney Livingston. This guy is a real charmer. Be his equation with Laura or Bennett. His passion, his knowledge and sarcasm, Depiction of Barney's character is simply awesome.
I totally fell in love with our hero cum psychiatrist.
Favourite lines:
1. "He had spent most of his lifetime studying the art of medicine and realized now that he would never really understand its mysteries. For medicine is an eternal quest for reasons - causes that explain effects. Science cannot comprehend a miracle".
2. "although science could pinpoint the exact spot in the brain that ignites rage, they had yet to identify the location that produces love".
Favourite part: All of the medical college. Being a medical student, this was the part of the book I could relate to so very much. It just took me back to my medical college days, the sleepless nights during exams, endless discussions on the phone, how ruthless our medical professors were, how easily they failed, the incessant mugging and each and every detail is so real.
Verdict: This book is a MUST read for every medical student.
You will simply Love it!
Those of you who do not belong to the medical fraternity, this book is the best way to navigate and understand the life of these mortals in white coats.
Rating : 4/5
