A History of the Present Illness

I just finished A History of the Present Illness: Stories by Louise Aronson, due out later this month.  Wow.  This is a fantastic debut work of fiction by a very talented author.  Aronson not only holds an MFA from the Warren Wilson College Program for Writers but also an MD from Harvard.  That is talent on another level.

The stories are centered in the hospitals, nursing homes, neighborhoods, and sights around San Francisco.  We follow the lives of random individuals affected by disease in different ways.  The elderly deal with the loss of freedom.  Doctors and nurses come to terms with the horrific things they see day in and day out and the cost of making a mistake.  Medical students make the tough decision of becoming a doctor or having the luxury of not being on call 24/7. 

I was intrigued and a bit nervous going in to this one.  Would the book be too technical?  I am not exactly an expert on medical procedures.  Fear not as Aronson writes with beautiful clarity and focuses on the human struggle of patients as well as doctors and nurses.  I found myself re-reading passages which is a rarity.

"Becoming a Doctor" is a particular interesting tale of a young woman going through her medical training.  She details her relationships with the members of her class.  The mix of compassion, competition, understanding, and sexism show how truly difficult it is to train for this profession.  "Lucky You" shows us an extremely talented medical student who, despite being perhaps the most worthy of her group, drops out of med school and spends her days walking dogs.  Her reaction to an accident shows why she may have made the right decision.  "Vital Signs Stable" is a heartbreaking story of a family making a decision about its matriarch. 

Aronson has written a beautiful selection of short stories that are sure to make you think.  It will stick with you long after you finish the final page.