At times gut-wrenching, at-times joyous but all the time beautiful, Matt McCarthy's The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly is one of the most unfailingly honest books I've read in a long time. It's the rare (and some would say nonexistent) doctor that starts off confident, and McCarthy pulls no punches about his insecurities in his account of his first year as an intern.McCarthy's memoir is one of utter exhaustion and debilitating doubt, and there is one horrible situation that shows just how dangerous the hospital can be. But along the way, he repeatedly learns that while knowledge of the practice of medicine is acquired almost completely on the job (a job that has thirty-hour plus shifts), the "art" of medicine is something else entirely -- something that really can't be taught.
The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly is so hard to put down; McCarthy's empathy for his patients comes through loud and clear on the pages, so much so that you come to care about them just as much. This is definitely one of the best reads of 2015, so don't miss it!
MY RATING - 5
