Judge Mary Beard acclaims ‘accomplished, clever, assured – and, of course, enjoyable’ cross-genre selection contending for £10,000 award
The neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, who first turned to writing in his 60s, has won himself a place on the Guardian first book award shortlist for his acclaimed debut dissecting his life as a brain surgeon.
The 64-year-old is the oldest author on a shortlist that also includes two collections of short stories, a novel, and an investigation into modern China. Hailed by the novelist Ian McEwan as a memoir in which “neurosurgery has met its Boswell”, Do No Harm is Marsh’s attempt to show what life is really like for a brain surgeon. Writing in Saturday’s Guardian Review, Marsh explains how the stories try to capture “the fierce joy of operating and the difficulty of balancing compassion and professional detachment; they show how we doctors are as human as our patients”.
More
The 64-year-old is the oldest author on a shortlist that also includes two collections of short stories, a novel, and an investigation into modern China. Hailed by the novelist Ian McEwan as a memoir in which “neurosurgery has met its Boswell”, Do No Harm is Marsh’s attempt to show what life is really like for a brain surgeon. Writing in Saturday’s Guardian Review, Marsh explains how the stories try to capture “the fierce joy of operating and the difficulty of balancing compassion and professional detachment; they show how we doctors are as human as our patients”.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment