Doctors And Doctors' Wives

Its finest moments set in emergency rooms, operating rooms, and board meetings where doctors decide their colleagues' fates, Roe's novel follows the interlocked fortunes of two friends from medical school to professional practice. Brilliant, domineering Willie Stringer and gentle Greg Hopkins dissect their first cadaver in 1955, in a scene presaging the hasty diagnosis and botched operation that Willie performs years later on Greg's 12-year-old son. Throughout life Willie, whose flawed personality is blamed on his shrewish mother Andromache, is a spoiler. He falls in love with Liz, a gifted musician, but loses her when she sees him in bed with her friend Ellen. Willie marries Ellen; Liz marries Greg. The plot unfolds in competent soap-opera style, but retired physician Roe does better with medical procedural scenes, imbuing them with interest.
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