I am maybe being too harsh giving this book only 3 stars. Overall it was an enjoyable book, and a great sneak pick at the lives of medical students and new doctors. And this is also where I found fault with this book. At the end it felt a bit contrived.
That the book has autobiographical tinges is obvious (or I assume it anyway). And certainly this does not take away from its merits, but I do feel curious to read Vincent Lam writings about something other than his own immediate experiences. I will pay attention for any follow up books anyway.
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I read this book shortly after it came out, and I think I enjoyed it, but I picked it up again because a friend read it recently and wanted to discuss it. I'm glad I did. The first time I read it I would have been at the end of nursing school, but inexperienced in the actual hospital. I had a lot more to relate to this time. Also, the chapter set during the SARS epidemic is incredibly poignant to read in the midst of Covid-19. I've been the nurse standing in that line, hoping for a comfortable mask, not knowing if I'm going to be the next to get sick. It was chilling and yet I took hope from it as well. We got through that. We'll get through this too. ( )

Interesting characters, two from college in the first story and two more picked up in medical school, with occasional others as they become physicians and encounter patients, though this is a somewhat non-standard take (afaik from having read my sisters residency novel/memoir and assorted MD TV series) but original more in details than thrust. Somewhat grim at its best. ( )

I'm not usually a fan of compilations of short stories. I believe people who write short stories have to be even better writers than novelists because of the limited space, time and words to convey an idea, story or emotion. When I first started reading this book I thought it would also be one of those good attempts but ultimate failures. However, by the time I got to The Long Migration (story #5) I was hooked. The fact that the stories all involve one or more of the characters introduced in the first stories helped I think. Above all, Dr. Lam is a master at choosing the right words and phrases. His pacing fits the milieu of the story so that stories set in the emergency room fit the frantic pace there while the story about his grandfather was slow and reflective I thought.

I think Dr. Lam has done a great job of personalizing medical practitioners and I will be keeping that in mind on my next doctor's visit. ( )

The book is an easy, engaging read (it took me a few days). I didn't realize the chapters were meant to be interrelated short stories until much further down the work. It's an excellent "insider view" from a doctor's perspective, the dilemmas of those in the medical profession: the body politic of the health system, the de-sensitized conditioning necessary to meet high volume and demand, the inevitability of sickness and death, and the tension between remaining professional, yet compassionate, while retaining a sense of one's own boundaries and needs. It speaks of the undeniable need to address more than the physiological, but also the breadth and scope of the fragility of the human condition---be it physical or otherwise---for doctors and patients. ( )