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The House of God (Black Swan)
 
 
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The House of God (Black Swan) (Paperback)

by Samuel Shem (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Price For All Three: £15.31

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Product details

  • Paperback: 397 pages
  • Publisher: Black Swan; New edition edition (5 Feb 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0552991228
  • ISBN-13: 978-0552991223
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.2 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 8,658 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > S > Shem, Samuel

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Product Description

Product Description

The medical hierarchy of "The House of God" is like a pyramid - a lot at the bottom and one at the top. Roy Basch, a Rhodes scholar, thinks differently, until he meets Hyper Hooper, out to win the most post-mortems of the year award, or Molly, the nurse with the crash helmet.


About the Author

Samuel Shem(Md)
Sameul Shem (Stephen Bergman M.D.) graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and earned a Ph.D in physiology from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He graduated from Harvard Medical School. He is the author of the novels The House of God, Mount Misery and Fine, and seven plays, including, with Janet Surrey, Bill W. and Dr. Bob. He is on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the Stone Centre, Wellesley College. He lives near Boston with his wife and daughter.
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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, Moving, and Just a Little Bit Scary, 25 Nov 2002
By M. Barrett (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Have you ever wondered what's going on behind the impassive, professional countenance of a hospital doctor? Have you ever considered those early years in their careers that they spend on wards? How it is that on the day they graduate from medical school they suddenly have all the answers? Well, they don't.

"House of God" is Samuel Shem's account of his year as an intern, the first year after medical school (in the UK they're called House Officers).

He captures the intensity of the experience perfectly, and the humour that helped him survive makes this book one of the funniest I have ever read.

Behind the laughter is a serious account of how he came close to the edge mentally during that first year. The limits of medicine are also revealed, disturbingly for the lay-patient with a naive belief that modern doctors can cure anyone who reaches hospital alive, and there are some sobering conclusions about how we treat the elderly for those who wish to draw them.

But I wouldn't want to mislead you - this is above all a hilarious account of a year in the life of a junior doctor in those carefree 70s when alcohol and sex were still recreations and not merely pathologies. The hard edge beneath makes that humour all the more effective, and the occasional tragic event makes the laughter as necessary for the reader's emotional well being as it was for the author.

Buy it, read it, and wonder why you had never come across this masterpiece before.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Treat with care, 5 Sep 2003
By A Customer
There's a difference between being a competent technician capable of diagnosing and treating cases and being a good doctor. This book is a cautionary tale of ill-prepared junior medical staff falling into the trap of becoming technicians when faced with the enormity of suffering that disease inflicts upon us. It is superficially quite funny (I remember chuckling over it in my last year of medical school) with its tales of GOMERs and the means by which to 'turf' patients (ie no longer have responsibility for them). But at its core it's a dark and tragic tale of Bergman's near-breakdown at the end of his internship year. Focus on the humour and you're not only missing the point, you run the risk of falling into the same trap.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars excellently dark but american, 17 Dec 2003
By A Customer
this is the original and much imitated "oh no i'm losing the plot and i'm a junior doctor" book. he gets a bit emotional and cheesy sometimes, but its a great collection of the best mess gags.

theres another excellent english junior doctor book by michael foxton called 'bedside stories' which is the angry NHS junior doctor column guy who wrote for the guardian, and thats hilarious and horrible.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Black humour, full of humanity
Essential reading for all medical students and doctors of all ages - black humour steeped in humanity - when you are in hospital as a patient, hope for "The Fat Man" who relies on... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dr. G. Caldwell

5.0 out of 5 stars Prospective medical students must read
A sadistic yet hilarious take on life as a doctor. it made me want to study medicine even more!!!
Published 17 months ago by A. Bhujwalla

5.0 out of 5 stars please please please buy!
A fantastic read for any doctors out there who remember what it was like being a house officer/intern. Surprisingly close to real life in the UK too!! Read more
Published 20 months ago by H. Sarna

5.0 out of 5 stars An Account of Discovering The Meaning of Doctorhood
Samuel Shem's take on the first year of being a Doctor, the internship, is an excellent account of the destruction of the ideology of Medicine and the gradual erosion of innocence... Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2007 by Talc Demon

3.0 out of 5 stars Insightful but self-absorbed
Maybe it's that it's an intern in the US in 1975 rather than a PRHO in the UK in 2000, but a lot of this book didn't click with me or my experiences. Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2006 by Paul Park

3.0 out of 5 stars Funny, but ...
The HOUSE OF GOD was originally published in the 1970's when it was relatively more fashionable to throw eggs at anything that was "establishment". Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2003 by Joseph Haschka

4.0 out of 5 stars House of God, startlingly real
I'd heard about this book as a medical student but only got round to reading it about four years after graduating. Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2002 by Jonathan Soye

3.0 out of 5 stars X-Rated 'Casualty' in print!
Not at all what I was expecting, when a medic suggested I read it to appreciate a little of his working life. Read more
Published on 13 May 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Do you really want to go to hospital?
In light of current medical issues, it is amazing that this book was written as long ago as 1979. I have re-read every couple of years and never cease to be amazed by the black... Read more
Published on 11 Feb 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Life, death and how to survive as a doctor in a cult classic
A book of wry wit and black humour which rightly deserves its cult status amongst doctors. I suspect that much of its off-beat message will miss a non-medical reader, and that... Read more
Published on 12 Jan 1999

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