This Living and Immortal Thing

by Austin Duffy

'My life is in your hands, doctor, they would sometimes say, which it never was...'

This Living and Immortal Thing inhabits a world of medicine, research, cancer and death. Its disillusioned and darkly funny narrator is an Irish oncologist, who is searching for a scientific breakthrough in the lab of a New York hospital while struggling with his failing marriage and his growing alienation within the city's urban spaces. Tending to the health of his laboratory mice, he finds comfort in work that is measurable, results that are quantifiable.

But life is every bit as persistent as the illness he studies. As he starts a new treatment on his mice, he meets a beautiful but elusive Russian translator at the hospital, his estranged wife begins to call, his neighbours are acting strangely and his supervisor pressures him to push ahead professionally. And always there is the pull of family; of the place he considers home.

Shot through with Duffy's haunting, beautiful descriptions of the science underlying cancer, which starkly illustrate the paradox of an illness at whose heart is a persistent and deadly life force, This Living and Immortal Thing shows how the cruelty of the disease is a price we pay for the joy and complexity of being in the world.

Genres: Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2016

Reviews

[Maureen E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. Read it quickly. I work in the same hospital as the author and know him, but not well.
It was a new experience to read a novel by someone I know and have similar clinical experience with, although I am an oncology nurse not physician.
I enjoyed the laboratory insights and contrast between animal and human patients. Rich symbolism in the views between the apartment and the hospital, the silent music, the Tower of Babel and the bench outside where life goes by and relationships begin.
I enjoyed the literary references and tying in Henrietta Lacks, who lives on in cell lines and also now in literature . Oncology is so immense in its effect upon all involved. One can't turn it off at the end of the day. The "boundaries" do get blurred at times. I especially liked the scene described near the end where the night attendant is describing what happened. I would hope i could be like that nurse.
There were so many aspects to the main character including his relationship with his brother and his estranged wife; each one representing a different aspect of life from disability to frozen embryos locked in a time sharp. He gives a new twist to unplanned pregnancy. I liked the references to Dr Kotz, who I had worked closely with and witnessed his mental decline without losing his humanity.
Yes perhaps there could have been more or deeper delving but it was a glimpse inside the complicated head of the post doc.
Is the Translator translating more than language? Is this the essence of translational research veiled?
I want to know more and hope he writes a sequel so I find out what happens.

[Ameer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not qualified to write book reviews but, i quality to write to Dr Austin Duffy, the author. I worked closely along side Austin for a number of years as registrars in medical oncology in university hospitals in Dublin.

I enjoyed his book & its sarcastic nature. Its beautifully written. There were multiple characters but, he gave a detailed description of each one of them. It didn't feel over crowded.

The book is well constructed. Romantic scenes were written well. He smartly bypassed any social or legal embarrassment by clearly separating the narrator from the author. Cork was mentioned as a result instead of Dundalk for example. Similarly there was freedom to dig in a justified manner at colleagues & supervisors without giving the impression they are real life characters.

The voice Russian girl who lives in America -apart from first meeting- comes with an Irish accent! Her brother spoke in far more medical jargon for a lay person. The conversations need to be adapted more to the background/education of the characters.

In parts it was almost like a memoir with natural progression listing his genuine favourite things in life such as football, Jazz & painting of course.

The next challenge to Austin is to get out of his comfort zone (hospital setting). Medics feel comfortable writing about diseases, patients & procedures. The challenge is to take the wealth of human emotions we have from patients & write a non-medical novel.

I have known Austin as a lovely man & a brilliant doctor. He is now a wonderful writer & i will certainly look out for his next book.

[Teresa Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

David seems traumatized by his experiences as a clinician, and his inability to give his patients what they really want- hope, certainty, a cure.... So he has found refuge in the laboratory, where he feels more control, lavishing attention on his experimental mice, seemingly in replacement of people he has treated where he suffered an emotional paralysis. Disconnected from his wife and physically removed from his family, his emotional life is barren until he meets the beautiful Marya, a volunteer at the hospital he works at.
As the story progresses we delve into the minutiae of the lab work he carries out. I am not sure if this is of great interest to other people, but I found this either boring or became frustrated with inaccuracies (research mice are kept within animal facilities where they are cared for, not in a general laboratory for instance, at least in every research facility I have worked in). David manages to interact with surprisingly few people on a daily basis, unlike the bustle of lab life as I know it.
After finishing the book I must admit I struggle to see the point of the story. The synopsis suggests that cancer is the price we pay for the joy and complexity of living, whereas I don't see these things are related.

[Morpheyy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was happy to float along in the meandering plot of this lyrical book. Not much happens, but it is the kind of writing which makes you happy to follow with a shrug and a smile. The author, a man of medicine himself, makes the science understandable yet fascinating and somehow makes cancer cells sound beautiful, matter-of-fact and less scary.

Just 1 little thing though: one of the compliments of the book on the cover said that it was "life-affirming". I did not find it so.

[H. J. Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The last thing a sick person wants from a well person - especially if that well person is a doctor - is perspective... it must be galling for them to sit and hear it from you, with your countless years ahead of you like an endless patchwork of fields stretching out towards the sun."

4.5 stars

About: An Irish post-doc is working in a New York City hospital, researching the effects of a drug to cure cancer. Separated from his wife and with no five year plan, his life enters a routine as controlled as his lab work. But then he meets Marya, a Russian translator who becomes a new variable in his life - one he wants to discover as much about as possible.

The Good
The voice in this novel is fantastic. It's first person (I don't think we ever get the main character's name) and the way he sees the world can seem dry and overtly analytical as he makes these very detailed observations about people and places, but they read so perfectly. Often it feels like you're reading non-fiction with the level of detail and realism. You really feel like you understand how his world works and who these people are that he interacts with. Maybe better than he does as sometimes he makes observations but doesn't connect the dots on what this means - leaving the reader to guess the plot twists before he does.

At the same time, inside of all these observations and a lot of heavy science (his research is very well documented to the reader), the prose presents a man with so much hidden emotion. His caring nature, his honesty and his ability to love and love almost without sentimentality, really attaches you to him. You feel like Marya - discovering the serious silent post-doc with hidden depths.

The Bad
The story is very easy to predict and builds slowly. I enjoyed the experience but I could see other people being turned off by the lengthy descriptions of his lab work that, while important to his character, often doesn't move the story along. The footnotes are also very annoying and I found myself giving up and skipping them as they didn't seem to add anything to the narrative.

The Somewhat Iffy
The ending wasn't exactly satisfying. Yes, I did cry so there was definitely a lot of emotion and I'd come to really care about the cast of characters. However, we're not really left with a sense of what these events have done to impact the main character's life. He has plenty of decisions to make and changes are coming his way, but it seems like he presses a reset button at the end.

Overall
A vivid and beautifully told story about life and illness and the randomness of it all. I loved the main character's unique perspective and the meticulous detail given to the mundane.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd book in some ways - it is told in the first person and you are never told the name of the narrator, for one. He is an Irish oncologist doing post-doctorate study in New York, estranged from his wife, who decided not to accompany him to the USA. There are other characters: an Irish colleague named Cillian whom he suspects of having an affair with his wife; Deep, an Indian colleague who shares his lab; Solter, his boss, who is a man who knows what he wants too achieve and isn't always too patient with the narrator, who doesn't; Marya, a Russian translator with whom he makes friends; Uri, Marya's brother, who appears to be a self-made man; Yvonne, his estranged wife, who tells him she has become pregnant with one of three embryos they had frozen before his departure. The story begins slowly, and continues at much the same pace, but it grows on you and you do want to find out what will happen, though as in real life, in some ways you never do. I am torn between giving it three stars or four, but the writing is good enough to deserve four, so that's what I decided on. It might have helped if I had not had to put it down to get on with reading other books which I needed to read more urgently on several occasions!

[kangsol · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a student majoring in Biology, I learned a lot of new and interesting things about the biology of cancer through this book. As an oncologist, Austin Duffy greatly explained how normal cells become cancerous-- or in his words "how they receive immortality". Furthermore, even though I had only worked in a laboratory once, the author was able to describe the cancer-drug experiment he was currently doing on a group of mice with simple language that was easily understood. Also, I found it fascinating that with today's technology, we are able to preserve cells from people who have passed away many years before. And this was what Duffy's experiment was all about-- inserting cancerous cells of those who have passed away (or sometimes still alive) into experimental mice, one of which he named Henrietta as she received the cells of Henrietta Lacks (HeLa cells). On the other hand, I did feel gloomy and sad a couple of times throughout the book. Albeit it should be of no surprise since the two are closely associated, I still couldn't get used to the topic of cancer and death. In addition, I found that I didn't really like how at times the book just rambled about things that I feel like shouldn't be included.

Overall, This Living and Immortal Thing was a good read.

[Ellie T · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's rare I have to skip bits of a book but the graphic description of the things that are done to lab mice in the quest for a cure for cancer was too much for me. I know it happens. I don't think it's right (but might feel differently if the work would cure one of my children of cancer).

Anyway, this is the story of an Irish doctor who's relocated to the USA, without his wife who chose at the last minute to stay in Ireland. Their relationship is potentially over. The doctor, who doesn't seem big on interpersonal skills, decides to move into research and spends his days studying the effects of treatments on mice who have been bred with genetic defects then injected with cancer cells. Possibly for this reason I didn't feel much of a bond with him. One day, sitting on the smoking bench, he meets a Russian girl and they develop some kind of relationship.

I predicted the twist from very early on which made me feel clever. I felt so very sorry for Henrietta and the mouse crew. Not for me this one.

[Nisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished the book and I feel like something is missing. Yes, I need more. I can't believe it just ended like that.

It's a refreshing story concept. It actually feels just like reading a daily diary of a scientist, or probably I could say 'postdoc' but you get so much from it. I appreciate all the science terms mentioned in the book even though I kind of need to go to Google everytime I came across them but hey, new knowledge! Something that I just feel a little bit off is that I think the story plot is a bit flat, it's like driving a car on a straight road and you can already spot your destination before even starting the engine. But still, I like the book and had such a great time reading it. It's that kind of book you'd have in hand whenever you decide to spend your time relaxing with a cup of coffee ;)

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of this book or of the author, Austin Duffy, but I liked the back cover blurb so decided to give it a try. I was a little put off at first because there were a lot of footnotes. Some added to the back story but most of them were to explain medical terminology and facts relating to cancer research.
However, as the story developed the feeling that I was reading a text book began to fade and I found myself absorbed. By the end I was left with the sense of having read something that dealt with an interesting combination of the mundane and the profound. Enjoyable in an unexpected way.

[Han Whiteoak · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. Very easy to read. I loved the detail about the science, although I don't know how the protagonist gets away with being so unsystematic in his mice experiments (giving Henrietta a bit more drug, antibiotics, getting the vet in...).

Some of the imagery is a bit overwrought, and the frequent references to an adult woman as "the girl" annoyed me. I didn't like the protagonist very much, although that didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book. The gradual reveal of the situation with his wife is well done.

[Lorna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am sorry but I didn’t like this book at all. I persisted to the very end to look for its redeeming factor. Perhaps I am an old softie but I didn’t like hearing about the experiments on the mice in such graphic detail. I also found the link to the cancer patients upsetting. OK the man himself was traumatised by a pending divorce and losing cancer patients so he hid away in the laboratory with his experiments on mice. When there appeared to be some light with a budding relationship with a young Russian translator at the cancer clinic we find she is a patient. No, not for me.

[Caroline Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely book set ina US oncology hospital where the narrator is trying to figure out his life choices. Separated from his wife in Dublin after failed IVF, trying to keep contact with his parents and downs syndrome brother with whom he has a close bond. Meets Maya, a translator who it turns out is a patient. Very natural depiction of isolation and connections.

[Sheila Pritchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued by this unusual novel. I liked it!

[Zulaikha Osman · Rating 3 out of 5]

True to its title

[Matthaeus · Rating 3 out of 5]

It reads like a cross between memoir and popular science. There's some excellent imagery, especially of his New York surroundings, but the narrative skill to make the most of this is slightly lacking. The medical explanations and experiments were the most interesting element, and the author seemed most comfortable and confident in his lab. I didn't mind having to look up the terminology, as it made me feel like I was pro-actively learning. The backstory of marriage and IVF is filled in adequately. It isn't particularly compelling, but the relationship with Marta blossoms in the quality of its telling, as it does in the storyline, and carries us through to an affecting conclusion. I still want to hear more about Deep and his drosophila, though.

[Shubha SV · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. The details of the city was described like a true New Yorker. The scientific research details in this book were interesting and informative. I did not find myself caring much about the characters for the first 150 pages and at times the pacing was slow. The character stories in the second half was compelling and the story warps up nicely.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one, the character is a bit 'buttoned up', 'held back', and bogged down with the daily minutiae of caring for Henrietta who is obviously suffering from the cancer treatment ... and it's a slight shock to learn who she really is. A mouse.

[Jude · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting and unusual book - a little quirky, very humorous in parts, and very touching at times.

[Derbhile Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very well written, but despite its title was cold and lifeless. It read more like an interesting lecture on the formation and division of cancer cells than a novel. Duffy also creates a distance between the reader and his main character. I suspect this was deliberate, but it was hard to connect and empathise with him as a result. And of course, as is common with literary fiction that I've read. It had a non-ending. I'm giving it three stars because there's no doubt that Duffy can write and one of his characters, a Russian translator, was very well drawn.