The Strange Case of Dr.Simmonds and Dr.Glas (Hardcover)

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Review
'Mr Abse is a real writer' Sir John Betjeman

Dannie Abse, Welsh poet, ardent Cardiff City supporter and retired doctor, has combined these disparate elements of his life to produce a slim volume written in the form of a journal, which has been longlisted for the 2002 Booker prize. The novel raises the issue of moral murder. Can the physician who is bound by the Hippocratic Oath ever justify depriving another human being of medical aid, thus causing his death? Dr Robert Simmonds is a bachelor fast approaching his 40th birthday when he becomes besotted with the wife of one of his patients. Yvonne Bloomberg is young and beautiful, and ensnared in a wretched marriage with a husband who makes overbearing sexual demands on her. An initially platonic relationship between Simmonds and Mrs Bloomberg gradually deepens, and she lends him a copy of Doctor Glas, a classic Swedish novel written in 1905 by Hjalmar Soderberg. The infatuated Simmonds is aghast to find incidents in the novel seem to parallel those in his own life; he feels almost out of control, watching helplessly as events hurtle on towards their unavoidable, dreadful conclusion. Deceptively brief, Abse's book nevertheless combines the stifling intensity of one man's descent into despair as he senses his life falling apart with an acute perception of changing shifts in attitudes between the 1950s (when the novel is set) and the present day. The shadows of Jekyll and Hyde, and the eponymous Dr Glas, loom large, creating an atmosphere of haunting menace. In a dramatic finale, Simmonds destroys his copies of Dr Glas, as if by doing so, he can avoid the inevitable. This is a profoundly disturbing work, in which the boundaries of morality are under siege and the almost priest-like role of the doctor is no longer taken for granted. There are echoes with recent events; euthanasia is a topic freely discussed in the tabloids, abortion is considered a right and the family doctor can no longer be regarded as the holder of a sacred trust to preserve life. Abse has woven a powerful spell which will leave readers unsettled yet full of admiration for the complexity of his writing. (Kirkus UK)

Product Description
The story of Dr Robert Simmonds's disastrous infatuation with one of his patients, the young, unhappily married Yvonne Bloomberg, takes place during the post-war utilitarian days of the 1950s. When Yvonne presents her doctor with a Swedish novel about a certain Dr Glas, Robert Simmonds immediately recognises their similarity. 'I Dr. Simmonds' he writes in his diary 'acknowledge such an affinity with you. I understand your loneliness, your non-physical attachment to a woman, a woman who is innocent - and your belief in purity of action, however risky. I live here in 1950, you in a novel published in 1905. And yet you think my thoughts, speak words I could utter, accomplish deeds I might emulate.' The trouble is that the fictional Dr Glas deliberately murders the husband of the one he loved. In this spell-binding novel, Dannie Abse draws on his medical background to create a compelling narrative in which motives and action all come into question.

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2 Reviews 5 star:    (0) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Unusual to say the least, 2 April 2007 By  SJSmith (UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    This review is from: The Strange Case of Dr. Simmonds and Dr. Glas (Paperback) This took me a while to get into. I was pleased I'd taken it away with me and had nothing else to read; otherwise at home I may have not continued reading it. It is very strange with elements of Freud appearing in the fictitious prose. Dr Simmonds is a batchelor in 1950s London (I believe he's in his 40s). He is given - by 2 different people - a copy of a 1905 Swedish classic 'Doctor Glas' which is a novel posing the question of a pure moral murder. This book sees Dr Simmonds becoming involved in the same circumstances that occur in the book he is given. It takes a while to get into, but once you have it's worth it. Dr Simmonds is a dry character whose humour may not appeal to everyone. I like the line "it will be wonderful if cortisone does prove to be an effective remedy for severe rheumatoid arthritis. At present, the tapping noise of sticks on the road to Lourdes is too loud." The ending seems to make it more like non-fiction than fiction when the 'journals' of Dr Simmonds are sold. However I don't feel like the end leaves the book complete. Worth a read. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   4 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars Puzzling and therefore ulimately unsatisfying, 16 Oct 2002 By  K Mansfield (Suffolk) - See all my reviews A strange book. Beautifully written by the poet Dannie Abse,it tells the story of Simmonds, a London GP, prevented from becoming a surgeon by a boyhood accident which damaged his hands, and possibly prevented from forming a permanent relationship by the facial scarring caused by the same accident. He forms an infatuation for a patient's wife and begins to identify with the protagonist in a Swedish novel, Dr Glas, who murders his patient's husband. Lacking the courage of his convictions, Simmonds ulimately fails to kill the despised husband but brings about a fate which is infinitely worse. I didn't understand the ending .. The best aspects of the book were the brilliant evocation of seedy, impoverished post-War Austerity London and the subtle attack on anti-Semitism. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 2 customer reviews...		Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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