Bringing Out the Dead by Joe Connelly Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Bringing Out the Dead
Book Review: Overall winner, maybe a bit far out.....
Summary: 4 Stars
I must say that overall the book was very good. I found that I could not put the book down for the first half of the story. I have been involved in EMS for many years and can identify with some of the feelings of the main character. I was somewhat disappointed with the last half of the book though. I felt that the story began to stagnate and seemed too surreal at the end. There was not much resolution for the character. Perhaps this was to afford a venue for a second book. Certainly, he has done what most of us in EMS only talk about. He has written a book that has become a movie. My congratulations!Book Review: Plot: Life.
Summary: 5 Stars
"Bringing Out The Dead" by Joe Connelly. Random House Audio Books, 1997. Read by Campbell Scott.
Joe Connelly worked as a medic for nine years. From this experience in the Times Square area of New York City, he has developed a character, Joe Pierce, who is being consumed by his employment as an Emergency Medical Technician in the New York's Hell's Kitchen area. The description of the medical procedures used on accident victims, victims with drug overdoses and victims suffering from "mundane" problems such as cardiac arrest, are all vivid and realistic. But, beyond these often hypnotizing descriptions, the author introduces the ghosts of those whom Frank Pierce has killed ... by being too late or not being proficient. These ghosts look out windows at the main character, smile at him as he drives by in an ambulance and appear at the most awkward times. This book is more than just a repetition of medical lessons learnt.
Joe Connelly sets the action in New York's Hell's Kitchen, an area historically noted for its roughness. For example, in 1863, the so-called draft riots began in Hell's Kitchen, with more than 2,000 people killed. The last time I looked, there was no hospital on 56th Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. No hospital nicknamed "Misery". There is, however, a Catholic hospital, St. Clare's, on 51st Street, between Ninth and Tenth, and I wonder if the author has used St. Clare's as the prototype for his novel. As I listened to Campbell Scott reading the book, I envisioned the ambulance going up and down the streets, and, as far as I could make out, the author has them going the correct way, for example, West towards the Hudson on 51st Street. Campbell Scott has done a good job reading this short book.
Book Review: Pollyanna, Please Don't Read This Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes it's a heavy, dark book, but a man who has lived the experience wrote it. Even though it's hard to tell where the truth stops and fiction begins, this tale provides a learning experience. Constant ministering to the dying takes its toll. Could I have saved that last one, or do I want to save this one? The rewards seem slim after a few years of driving a rescue squad ambulance. And..surprise (or maybe its not a surprise) bureaucracy rears its ugly head even in this life and death operation.This is one of the most unusual book that I have ever read It's a fascinating view of a life that I knew nothing about, even though I spent 25 years of my life as an executive in both general and psychiatric hospitals. I heartily recommend the book, but only if you are not afraid to view a dark side of the world.
Book Review: Pour the grave juice, quitting time's near...
Summary: 5 Stars
Joe Connelly's first novel is powerful stuff, definitely not for the faint of heart or those predisposed to depression. Frank Pierce is a downtrodden EMS medic whose world is rocked by the ghost of a girl he helped to kill and the memory of his ex-wife, who couldn't handle the afterburn. Connelly's prose is red-hot - he doesn't so much write as he does attack the beast - it leaps at your spine and pulverizes it, like being inside of a jet engine. He gets in and gets out, spinning EMS shop talk that's all red meat and arteries bursting wide open and grey matter boiling in flame. A former New York City medic, Connelly knows of what he speaks, and doesn't sugarcoat any facet of Frank's world, which seems to begin and end with the bottle as he tries to drink away the trail of broken bodies his occupation brings to his doorstep. By no means is "Bringing Out The Dead" the feel-good novel of the year, but watch for Connelly. He's got the goods, the bads, and plenty of the uglies.Book Review: Pretty darn realistic! Read this with Talking Trauma!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a pretty darn good look at the dark underbelly that confronts most EMS workers on their daily routine. I'd say read this, Tangherlini's Talking Trauma, and maybe the classic pictorial Knife and Gun Club. Perhaps also take a look at the movie, Broken Vessels.