Book Review: The Silence of the Snow
Book review… say whaat?? Yes. It’s been two years since I moved to Wellington and awkwardly I still haven’t been invited to join a book club so this is my outlet. Not that this is about me (more on that later) - this is about the brilliance that is Dr Eileen Merriman and her hospital-based novel The Silence of the Snow.
The book is about a junior doc (Jodi) and a senior doc (Rory) at Nelson Hospital and chronicles not only their connection, but also Jodi’s journey from medical student to competent house surgeon and Rory’s own personal anaesthetic demons.
As stated, Dr Eileen Merriman wrote this book. I will sum her up in three bullet points (and fail to do her justice):
She is a consultant haematologist which is an uber-specialty of medicine. You have to do a disproportionate number of exams and be disproportionately brainy to qualify and do this job.
She is a very very talented author. I have no idea how she fits in writing with her day job and family, but Dr. Merriman is no hobby author. She has won LOADS of awards (check out her website) and is a little bit famous, particularly with our rangatahi. My teenage daughter likes her more than me (to be fair, this isn’t a stretch, she’s going through a ‘phase’).
She is a mentor for Wāhine Connect. That’s because she is a solid and good wahine that also wants to give back. How about them apples. Doctor, author, and mentor too.
The book. Again, 3 bullets.
Eileen is both gifted and accurate. She has perfectly portrayed the trauma of being a junior doctor, and I was startled by the memories and emotions it raised. I was lucky to have such a great bunch of house surgeons, nurses, and senior medical staff to help me through that time. But at times while reading, I felt highly anxious - I could feel that tension of constantly wondering if I was doing the wrong thing, and even reading about Jodi on night shifts reminded me of peanut-butter toast and nausea. It also brought back memories of a few special patients. I still think about the family man who came into ED worried about his angina and left with a cancer diagnosis. He thanked me as he left…
I read it in the second week of the school holidays over two days and it was only two days because my husband selfishly wanted to turn the light out. I have no idea what the kids were doing because I-Was-Reading. And it wasn’t just because I’m a total narcissist and kept waiting for myself to enter into the next chapter (oh had I not mentioned that I was right there with Eileen at Nelson Hospital back in the day? That’s right. I KNOW HER.)
For days afterwards, I thought about resilience and fragility and medical school and our whole health system. In this book, we see Rory suffer and spiral. But we also see harm - albeit to a lesser degree - to Jodi, patients, and other staff, just by virtue of working in the system. Is this OK?
So, in summary: Eileen is a legend, the book is excellent. If you are whanau to a junior doctor - read this to know what really happens. If you are a clinician yourself - it is very real (brace yourself) but enjoy the memories.
Ngā mihi,
Juliet
