Saturday, August 11, 2012

Island Practice

Island Practice: Cobblestone Rash, Underground Tom, and Other Adventures of a Nantucket Doctor by Pam Belluck 274 pp.

Dr. Timothy J. Lepore (rhymes with peppery) is the type of doctor you don't find anymore. He is similar to the old time country doctor, on call pretty much 24/7 (except for during the Boston Marathon), he treats just about every ailment, and performs surgeries (sometimes with a handmade obsidian scalpel) that he and the small hospital on the island of Nantucket can handle. He's the high school football team doctor, medical examiner, and an expert on tick-borne diseases. Occasionally his practice isn't always confined to people. Now in his late sixties, it won't be long until Nantucket loses the services this gem of a man. He's treated the famous and the unknown and been paid in cookies, antique guns, or nothing at all. He has unusual hobbies like collecting roadkill for his falcon and knitting dog hair sweaters. He is a self proclaimed gun nut with a large collection of firearms. He is a walking contradiction in that he is rabidly conservative but gives cancer patients marijuana cookies and performs abortions. In this biography, Belluck gives an honest portrayal of this unusual man with all his expertise, eccentricities, faults, successes, and failures.

No comments:

Post a Comment