In My Father's House - Hardcover

Wilson, Dr. Hunter E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801843375 ISBN 13: 9780801843372

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992

Synopsis

When the Chief of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Clayton Hallam, collapses in mid-sentence during his retirement ceremony, preliminary evidence points to a stroke. But Jim Gallier, an intern about to be assigned as Dr. Hallam's physician, will soon arrive at a different diagnosis. The encounter changes the lives of both men, as the young doctor who secretly doubts his fitness for medicine comes to know the eminent surgeon whose brilliant professional successes mask deep personal failings.
In My Father's House is the story behind one man's rise to the top of his profession at one of the world's leading medical institutions. As a patient in the hospital he once helped administer, Dr. Hallam looks back on a life rich in professional accomplishment and personal tragedy. The story he recalls - and relates, in part, to the young doctor who knew him first as a paragon and now as a patient - takes Clay Hallam from Johns Hopkins Medical School in the 1930s to a military field hospital in Burma during World War II, from an exclusive private clinic serving Richmond's social elite to the execution cell of a Saudi prison in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists.
Reliving these distant events raises questions Dr. Hallam finds himself still unable to answer - or even to confront. Who really wrote the anonymous letter that nearly ended his marriage and career? What secret lies behind the puzzling symptoms that accompanied his apparent stroke? Why did his surgical skills permit him to save the only man he ever wished to kill - and fail him when he needed them most desperately?
Dr. Hallam's gradual recovery is a process of healing not only for himself but also for his wife and daughter, each of whom has paid a price for his outward success. It also brings forgiveness, for others as well as for himself, and a new understanding of what defines a successful life. And when Jim Gallier must finally decide whether to leave his career in medicine, only Clayton Hallam knows why he should not - and why he can never be told.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

This flawed first novel by a doctor trained at Johns Hopkins University's hospital concerns two doctors, one just beginning his career and the other ending his, and both immersed in the harshly competitive yet exciting world of academic medicine. When Clayton Hallam, a much-admired professor of neurosurgery, collapses during his retirement speech, he is placed under the care of Jim Gallier, a smart, likable intern. Friendship and mutual respect quickly develop, and soon each is revealing his personal demons to the other. Flashbacks explore Clay's often troubled career--the price he has paid for taking responsibility for human life and the consequences of all-too-human errors--while Jim is unsure of his goals and himself. The encounter, predictably, revitalizes both men. Wilson's compelling inside view of the medical world, however, cannot override didactic discourses, an at times unsophisticated narrative style and stiff dialogue. The final revelation, a coincidence that pushes the bounds of believability, irreparably damages the story.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This solid first novel by a Baltimore physician is steeped in traditional values and rather old-fashioned diction. Although young adults will find the dialog stilted (male interns who room together refer to each other as "roomies"), older readers will appreciate the book's richly nostalgic tone and the author's sincerity. Wilson agilely handles the many flashbacks from 1985 to the 1940s and 1950s, and the plot moves swiftly. During his retirement speech, the chief of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital collapses. The young intern charged with his care gets personally involved with this prestigious patient, as the chief relates to the younger man his own rich and turbulent life story--a tale rife with love and infidelity, drugs, daring, and emotional turmoil. Good, if not memorable, popular fiction, this is recommended for larger public library collections.
- Joyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0801843375
• ISBN 13: 9780801843372
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288