Mere Mortals

by Neil Ravin

Upon the death of his wife, Dr. O'Brien looks back on their life together from the time of their first meeting

Genres: Fiction

420 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1989

Reviews

[Biolith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this first many years ago, and still have to re-read every few years.
Does more for me - and less cynically - than House of God or Mount Misery could ever approach, perhaps due to the lack of arrogance or bile.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a couple of Ravin's other books, including one, 'M.D.', that includes the familiar setting of the Whipple cancer hospital, also present in this one, though I don't recall any of the characters making appearances in both. Here we are introduced to Dr. O'Brien in the immediate aftermath of a car crash that has injured him and left his wife dead or close to it. O'Brien narrates the book as a flashback to how they got to this point. His wife, Caroline, is a charge nurse at Whipple, and O'Brien is a resident who meets her when one of his intern suggests a treatment for a patient that Caroline suspects, from years of experience, may do more harm than good. Through the remaining months of his residency, O'Brien balances his schedule and education with trying to woo Caroline, who he finds out is also his neighbor, helpful because he rotates out of Whipple and thus doesn't see her at work as often. Eventually, O'Brien's residency ends, and the couple is forced to contemplate their future when the option for him to remain in New York is not on the table (though the first chapter identifying Caroline as his wife indicates that they end up together).
Without spoiling anything, I thought the most of the book was good, albeit a sappy romance, but the ending was a huge letdown, though I thought Ravin tied it in well with the rest of the book. Unlike 'M.D.', HIV has been officially identified now, though research into its mode of action and ways to treat it is still in its infancy. Being a young child around the time these two books were written, I hadn't realized the impact HIV had on the medical world when it was discovered, but seeing how it played a significant part in both books, clearly to Ravin, it was huge. While the doctor in the first book was trying to link the mystery illness to the fact that it appeared almost exclusively in the gay male population, here O'Brien is seeing the effects of Kaposi's sarcoma, a previously rare form of cancer, on HIV positive patients and trying to figure out what about the virus makes patients more vulnerable to this cancer. HIV doesn't really have anything to do with the ending, I just found it interesting that Ravin made it a focus in both of these books and would be interested to read his later works to see how the evolution of HIV knowledge factors into those storylines.

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, but the ending really sucked.

[Tammy Downing · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well written novel about a young doctor and the nurse he falls in love with. Their lives and their careers are woven together in a compelling narrative.