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When they first started the dissections, there were bright mornings to come in from, and warm afternoons to go out to after the day’s work. As the weeks passed, they entered the basement on cooler mornings with a hesitant light, and departed into a fading golden afternoon. The leaves swelled with colour until they became too heavy with the intensity of reds and oranges, and fell to the ground. Each day, more human anatomy was exposed, more of the organs lifted out of their shy hiding places into their first glimpse of light. It was as if the actual daytime no longer existed. Night was just ending as the students arrived in the morning, just beginning as they left. The daytime of sun had been replaced by the fluorescent bathed, whitewashed concrete daylight of the basement, as the inverted parts of bodies were given their belated and temporary glimpses of light.

Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam. 2006.

Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures is a short story collection based on Lam’s experiences in medical school and as a physician. It also marked his debut into the Canadian literary scene. Set in Toronto, the interconnected stories centre on the lives of four young medical students, Ming, Fitzgerald, Chen and Sri.

In 2006, the book won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, which is regarded as the most prestigious literary award in Canada. Following its success, the novel was adapted to a television series, which debuted on HBO Canada in 2010.

Vincent Lam, born in London, Ontario, is a Canadian writer and medical doctor. Lam’s parents came from the Chinese expatriate community in Vietnam and raised him in Ottawa. He completed his medical training at the University of Toronto and is currently working at Coderix Medical Clinic as an addictions physician.

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Vincent Lam

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2021.02.09

Finished reading Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam. A very good read, 8/10. Took me maybe 5 hours.

I particularly liked how the book humanized the medical profession. All too often, I think people tend to treat doctors as all-knowing encyclopedias of information when, in reality, they’re all human and every single one of them is pursuing constant betterment.

After these past few months, I’ve observed that I tend to read books written in the modern fashion much faster than those written in more archaic fashions.

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Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam

... from Anchor Canada ...

Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures welcomes readers into a world where the most mundane events can quickly become life or death. By following four young medical students and physicians – Ming, Fitz, Sri and Chen – this debut collection from 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Vincent Lam is a riveting, eye-opening account of what it means to be a doctor. Deftly navigating his way through 12 interwoven short stories, the author explores the characters’ relationships with each other, their patients, and their careers. Lam draws on his own experience as an emergency room physician and shares an insider’s perspective on the fears, frustrations, and responsibilities linked with one of society’s most highly regarded occupations.

From delivering babies to evacuating patients and dealing with deadly viruses, the four primary characters in Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures are made thoroughly human by Lam’s insightful detail, realistic dialogue, and expert storytelling. The medical world is naturally filled with drama, but it’s the author’s ability to give equal weight to the smaller moments that really brings this book to life.

Published in 2006.

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The Headmaster’s Wager was likely the first book I added to my Goodreads page. Vincent Lam tells a fictionalized account based on his own family history of life in Vietnam in the Chinese community. The headmaster, Percival Chen in the book is modelled on Vincent’s grandfather, a gambler and womanizer who ran an English school in Vietnam. The American presence in Vietnam means there was work for students from the school, at the same time there is political tension and secret agents. For the longest time, Percival believes he can be personally be untouched by the war and violence, but his son gets in trouble and must find a way to save him.

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