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River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize
What Cannot Be Undone: True Stories of a Life in Medicine
In his award-winning debut essay collection, What Cannot Be Undone, Walter M. Robinson shares surprising stories of illness and medicine that do not sacrifice hard truth for easy dramatics. These true stories are filled with details of difficult days and nights in the world of high-tech medical care, and they show the ongoing struggle in making critical decisions with no good answer. This collection presents the raw moments where his expertise in medical ethics and pediatrics are put to the test. He is neither saint, nor hero, nor wizard. Robinson admits that on his best days he was merely ordinary. Yet in writing down the authentic stories of his patients, Robinson discovers what led him to the practice of medicine—and how his idealism was no match for the realities he faced in modern health care.
ACCLAIM
“It was a gift and a relief to see the human being inside of our desperately complicated systems of mortality in both near-cinematic visceral detail (‘I want to put my fingers in the wound to prove it is real’) and profound reflection—faith, fear, ethics. If we’re going to understand what’s happening to healthcare in this country—to life and death—we need to understand its people. We need What Cannot Be Undone.”—Megan Stielstra, author of The Wrong Way to Save Your Essays
“Among physician authors, Dr. Robinson stands out for his ability to peel away the common clichés and tropes that populate so much of this literary genre, giving us unflinching insights into both the utterly mundane as well as the truly extraordinary experiences of physicians and patients alike.”—Robert D. Truog MD, director of the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School and coauthor of Talking with Patients and Families about Medical A Guide for Education and Practice
“What are the limits of the power of doctors, and of human beings? When should we intervene, and when it is our job to watch and to accept? Reading Walter Robinson is like getting stories from a brilliant war correspondent. He’s our man on the ground, and the ground is medicine, life, and death. A gorgeous and important book.”—Joan Wickersham, author of The Suicide Putting My Father’s Death in Order and The News from Seven Variations on a Love Story
“By showing us what is often hidden behind a white curtain, Dr. Walter Robinson explains how to reconcile ourselves, as others have, to sickness and to health. Everyone who has ever sweated it out in a hospital waiting room should read this astonishing book.”—Susan Cheever, author of Home Before Dark
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Walter M. Robinson is a physician and a writer in Massachusetts. He is also a founding editor of EastOver Press and Cutleaf, an online literary journal. His essays have appeared in wildness, Months to Years, AGNI, Ruminate, The Sun, The Literary Review, and Harvard Review.
ACCLAIM
“It was a gift and a relief to see the human being inside of our desperately complicated systems of mortality in both near-cinematic visceral detail (‘I want to put my fingers in the wound to prove it is real’) and profound reflection—faith, fear, ethics. If we’re going to understand what’s happening to healthcare in this country—to life and death—we need to understand its people. We need What Cannot Be Undone.”—Megan Stielstra, author of The Wrong Way to Save Your Essays
“Among physician authors, Dr. Robinson stands out for his ability to peel away the common clichés and tropes that populate so much of this literary genre, giving us unflinching insights into both the utterly mundane as well as the truly extraordinary experiences of physicians and patients alike.”—Robert D. Truog MD, director of the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School and coauthor of Talking with Patients and Families about Medical A Guide for Education and Practice
“What are the limits of the power of doctors, and of human beings? When should we intervene, and when it is our job to watch and to accept? Reading Walter Robinson is like getting stories from a brilliant war correspondent. He’s our man on the ground, and the ground is medicine, life, and death. A gorgeous and important book.”—Joan Wickersham, author of The Suicide Putting My Father’s Death in Order and The News from Seven Variations on a Love Story
“By showing us what is often hidden behind a white curtain, Dr. Walter Robinson explains how to reconcile ourselves, as others have, to sickness and to health. Everyone who has ever sweated it out in a hospital waiting room should read this astonishing book.”—Susan Cheever, author of Home Before Dark
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Walter M. Robinson is a physician and a writer in Massachusetts. He is also a founding editor of EastOver Press and Cutleaf, an online literary journal. His essays have appeared in wildness, Months to Years, AGNI, Ruminate, The Sun, The Literary Review, and Harvard Review.
176 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 13, 2022
35 people want to read
About the author
Walter M. Robinson
6 books8 followersWinner, River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize
In his award-winning debut essay collection, What Cannot Be Undone, Walter M. Robinson shares surprising stories of illness and medicine that do not sacrifice hard truth for easy dramatics. These true stories are filled with details of difficult days and nights in the world of high-tech medical care, and they show the ongoing struggle in making critical decisions with no good answer. This collection presents the raw moments where his expertise in medical ethics and pediatrics are put to the test. He is neither saint, nor hero, nor wizard. Robinson admits that on his best days he was merely ordinary. Yet in writing down the authentic stories of his patients, Robinson discovers what led him to the practice of medicine—and how his idealism was no match for the realities he faced in modern health care.
In his award-winning debut essay collection, What Cannot Be Undone, Walter M. Robinson shares surprising stories of illness and medicine that do not sacrifice hard truth for easy dramatics. These true stories are filled with details of difficult days and nights in the world of high-tech medical care, and they show the ongoing struggle in making critical decisions with no good answer. This collection presents the raw moments where his expertise in medical ethics and pediatrics are put to the test. He is neither saint, nor hero, nor wizard. Robinson admits that on his best days he was merely ordinary. Yet in writing down the authentic stories of his patients, Robinson discovers what led him to the practice of medicine—and how his idealism was no match for the realities he faced in modern health care.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
unfinished
March 16, 2022I read about the first 30 pages and skimmed to page 58 (out of 159). The opening title essay was a good one, about Henry, a boy with cystic fibrosis awaiting a lung transplant. He was already on the table having his diseased lungs detached when the surgeon got a call telling them the donor lungs were damaged. Without new lungs, he wouldn’t survive. Two days after the aborted surgery, his ventilator was removed, a symbol of the death of hope. The next essay, also about a lung transplant patient, felt redundant and mawkish by comparison; the third was overlong and again, repetitive (and I couldn’t tell whether it was autobiographical or fictional). In the crowded field of doctor-penned literary memoirs, this didn’t stand out.
December 7, 2023
This is a gripping collection of essays that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the medical world. Robinson shares the thoughts and practical considerations involved in procedures like lung transplants in a way that is clear, emotional, and thought provoking.
February 19, 2022
This is an important collection of essays written by a doctor from his lifetime of professional experience, primarily working with cystic fibrosis patients. The details are not always pleasant or comfortable to read, especially if you're a bit squeamish, as I am, about the inner workings of the body. However, the experience related in these essays expertly shows the complexity of cystic fibrosis, of the body in general, and of the inner workings of the mind and soul of a medical professional. I so admire how Robinson is able to break down complicated medical information so that I, as a lay person, am able to understand it. In addition to being a pulmonologist, Robinson has served for many years as a medical/hospital ethicist, and the ethical questions--about why and how a person is treated--are some of my favorite parts of these essays. In reading WHAT CANNOT BE UNDONE, it's clear how such a collection would rise to win the prestigious River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize. We are all better off for Dr. Robinson's experience.
June 26, 2024
I loved this book of essays from a pediatric pulmonologist who shared exacting details and sharp insights about himself, the medical system, and his patients and their families. I started this book a few years ago and stopped because some of the medical descriptions were so real-life that I felt dizzy and almost sick (always having been one who is near to fainting when given a shot and has avoided being hospitalized his entire 60+ year life. This book is a generous and revealing portrait of this author’s work as a doctor, but also his journey to understand his role in a system that sometimes serves neither doctor or patient. Highly recommended!
February 26, 2022
When we go to the doctor, we hope the person behind the medical mask knows what they’re doing, cares about us, pays attention, takes their time, will stay with us if things get rough. But how often do we think about what it takes to become that person? In “What Cannot Be Undone,” pediatric pulmonologist Walter M. Robinson shows us the science of medicine—and also its heart and soul. If you are a human being in a mortal body, please read this brave and beautiful book!
May 17, 2025
Dr. Walter Robinson is a pediatric pulmonary physician who specializes in cystic fibrosis. This book contains stories both of his patients and others he has encountered. Some of the stories deal with ethical issues that this era of advanced medicine has created.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews