Under the Knife is a medical memoir written by Dr Liz O’Riordan, a “breast surgeon who got breast cancer. Twice”. This clear and candid bio pretty well describes her debut memoir.
Given the proliferation, if not saturation, of the genre in recent years, I think it is reasonable to expect something novel or nuanced from newly published medical memoirs. The physician’s hero journey – a doctor-to-be receives the call (often at a questionably young age), undergoes painstaking initiation (see: irascible bosses and kindly nurses, and/or vice versa), only to be transformed from a medic to a healer by the wisdom of one patient and where do I sign my book deal? – may have archetypal overtones but it’s also repetitive.
O’Riordan’s memoir sticks to the formula but promises new-ish views along the way: a woman operating in a male-dominated speciality; the mental health risks posed by inhumane working conditions and flying too close to the burnout sun; and most pertinently, a breast surgeon who gets breast cancer. Twice.
The ways in which her experience as a patient exposed unsatisfactory elements of her practice as a surgeon are particularly interesting, and will give any clinician readers pause for thought.
It’s a considerable undertaking, but ultimately an uneven effort. O’Riordan came to prominence through blogging about her multifaceted experience of breast cancer, and her memoir shines brightest in the latter chapters that cover this ground. She is a well-positioned expert and advocate, and those affected by (breast) cancer may find succour and substance in her spirited story. That the book was published in part through crowdfunding efforts speaks to this. The ways in which her experience as a patient exposed unsatisfactory elements of her practice as a surgeon are particularly interesting, and will give any clinician readers pause for thought.
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Other touted themes – such as gender dynamics, burnout, alcohol, mental illness – receive more cursory treatment, however, and at times the writing style blurs the line between blog post and memoir chapter. Stronger editorial input is needed to smooth out the narrative arc and connect the threads.
Be that as it may, there is much to admire about O’Riordan and it is not hard to separate the artistic shortcomings from the human strength that shines throughout. The surgeon who went under the knife and returned to tell the tale: the archetypal ending for the heroine’s journey.
