The House of Hope and Fear: Life in a Big City Hospital Book

This book is more of a behind-the-scenes look at how a large public hospital is run than it is a collection of stories about the author's interactions with various patients while she worked there. The stories are here, but the author doesn't mine them for the full dramatic effect that she could have. The overall effect is tempered somewhat by the author's agenda, which is to present the difficulties of providing health care to the poor and uninsured. Since I agree with her that we need universal health care, I didn't find that annoying, but apparently some readers have.

As far as the writing goes, I thought the author's analytical skills were stronger than her narrative skills. That's not to say that the book was boring because it wasn't. But it was clear that her strengths lie in meticulous research and thoughtful analysis rather than in pure story-telling. In other words, this is a "smart" book, which I happen to like. I especially appreciated the Appendix where she suggests resources for those who would like to learn more about issues surrounding health care today. I've already put three of the books she recommends on hold at the library and I'm looking forward to delving into things like the history of public (or "charity) hospitals, unequal health care and the role of the pharmaceutical industry.