Hello, it’s Heather with another
book review!
Author: David Z Hirsch
Published: April 2016
Publisher: Self-published
Length: 284 pages (this varies
depending on the copy you get I think)
Rating out of 10: ★★★★★★★
Didn’t get frazzled is a fictional
medical-comedy told through the sarcastic narrative of Seth Levine; it pans
over the years he is working hard to get his degree. With exams coming up and
stress blooming like steam coming out of a kettle, I felt pretty fortunate to
get such a fun book to read. Seth narrates the story in such a light-hearted
manner that between cringing at his misfortunes in sympathy, you have to laugh.
The plot itself is easy to follow, the reader checks in at him during several
parts of his life, gaining an insight as to how the American medical schooling
system works but more importantly understanding how his relationships with
friends and his girlfriend develop. There is some medical jargon, but it’s in
no way confusing to the reader, simply adding a sense of realism.
Seth’s interactions with the
other characters mimicked those on comedy shows beautifully, making nearly
every conversation an excellent read. The medical twist to it provides plenty
of chances for these comedic moments, several gross stories being shared with
the reader and the first chapter being literally called: A beautiful slice of
dead penis (he performs a transection on this area of a cadaver). And yet the
humour did not squash out the morality – you can’t help but love Seth, he
stands up for what he believes in, even if it may lower his popularity from
other doctors. He’s also a human. Lots of comedy authors forget that their
characters have other emotions aside from happy and laughing at their life;
Seth goes through a troubling time, battling with a bad-relationship that he
struggles to maintain but also does not want to leave, on top of all his
studying and witnessing some patients in severe pain. His empathetic attitude
makes him thrive in his work, as does his ability to not get ‘frazzled’. Though
if the book were to improve, I think it would have been insightful to see how
he dealt with more pain through his profession, since those involved in medical
careers will often cross paths with death usually by no fault of their own. The
other characters accompany the story brilliantly, and the author managed to
juggle between his different friends without any confusion.
“I saw a mom last week who brought her daughter to the ER because she
thought her kid had chicken pops.”
Jeff cracked up, and I joined in. I always called Jeff when I needed to
cheer up.
“I knew she meant chicken pox, but each time she said chicken pops I
thought, did Kellogg’s come out with a new chicken-flavored Pops cereal?”
I finally found the skills gained
from watching Casualty – do not eat or think about eating whilst the characters
are inspecting a patient. Anyone squeamish will need to skim through these
parts to avoid anything too unsettling. Personally, I was fine with it, to be
honest if you are troubled by surgical shenanigans then perhaps not reading a
book set around a medical student is better. In fact, the only parts I was less
keen on were the more sexual, intimate scenes, which is purely my personal preference
in books. Like the medical parts, this was not overly explicit, and these only
popped up a few times, so did not make the read bad by any means.
Targeted at an adult audience
that appreciate comedy, I really enjoyed this one. Any students will find they
can relate to the multitude of awkward situations and quantity of studying as
well as the need for friends in such frantic time to retain ‘unfrazzled’; if
you’re a medical student then this is a must-read. If you’ve read this or are
considering doing so, please do leave me a comment!
Links for anyone that wants to purchase this are below:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Didnt-Get-Frazzled-David-Hirsch ebook/dp/B01DOHSK0M/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Didnt-Get-Frazzled-David-Hirsch-ebook/dp/B01DOHSK0M/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/didnt-get-frazzled-david-z-hirsch/1123610624 ean=2940152949414
LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/18996986
No comments:
Post a Comment