What Happened in Thanh Phong
New York Times
Published: May 20, 2001
Each of us who lived through the Vietnam War is haunted by memories of that time. Barbara Tuchman called it a ''march of folly.'' None were in control -- Lyndon Johnson, Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap, Richard Nixon -- all players in a hellish script. One United States senator, Bob Kerrey, tortured in soul; another, John McCain, tortured in body; all of us humbled in our collective fallibility. Many began with the concept of a just war. Most knew, by the Tet Offensive of 1968, that it was all senseless carnage. As a psychiatrist in the Navy Medical Corps in the early 1970's, in the safety of Pearl Harbor, I listened to the tale of our corpsman who had jumped through the window of an up-country Vietnam medical dispensary as a 5-year-old blew up with the hand grenade he carried into the place like a death toy.
Owen Stanley
Surman, M.D.
Boston
The author is a practicing general hospital psychiatrist known internationally for his work on psychiatric and ethical aspects of solid organ transplantation. Following the death of his wife Lezlie, Dr. Surman devoted six years to After Eden: A Love Story, a non-fiction novel with a deeply personal and unique view of events both tragic and transcendent. Owen lives in Boston with his new wife, who lovingly adopted Lezlie and shares in her living memory.
Illuminates the adaptive process in human tragedy, dramatizes the conflicts that can develop in the medical setting, and depicts the love and warmth that can embrace a stricken family in end-of-life care. Candid revelation, rich dialogue, and strong character development make this a unique reading experience for a general adult audience, for health care professionals, for clergy, and for families of patients with catastrophic illness.
After Eden: A Love Story is a non-fiction novel based on memoirs of a general hospital psychiatrist who detects abnormal presence of fluid on examination of his wife’s abdomen. Her fatal illness from ovarian cancer is the subject of a candid narration of love, loss, and recovery. Selected chapters dramatize the narrator’s altered role, the family’s experience, the complexity of medical interactions in the setting of tragic illness and the hope that follows from a loving marriage and a fulfilling career of patient care. Strong character development, rich dialogue, and candid revelation by the narrator make this a unique work. The writing is richly introspective, authoritative, and uncommonly honest. The dialogue is compelling. The characters are real people who grow with the narrative. This book will appeal to a general adult audience as well as to health care professionals and families of cancer patients.
