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A review by oz617
War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line by David Nott
4.0
It feels a little heartless to write about having enjoyed a book that chronicles so much real, tangible hurt, but War Doctor really is in equal parts thrilling, hopeful, shocking, and upsetting. The descriptions of injuries manage to straddle the line between visceral and clinical, successfully humanising everyone involved. I’ve seen some other reviewers criticising the switches between very simple language and long medical terms, but to me it only serves the narrative of a man speaking from the heart – it feels like this is a chronicle he needed to tell. He sees things in medical terms, and describes everything else quite matter-of-factly, creating an interesting dissonance when paired with how objectively horrific the events described were.
The writer occasionally talks about the political reasons for conflicts with the kind of arrogance you’d expect from an outsider. He’s clearly an incredibly accomplished doctor, and I’m sure being on the ground in so many conflicts makes it easy for anyone to assume they understand the politics, but it’s still sometimes uncomfortable to read. Most notably this comes across when he discusses his time in Palestine – he talks of both sides as being equally, unreasonably dangerous to the other, while simultaneously acknowledging that every Palestinian missile fired was immediately destroyed in the air by the incredibly advanced Israeli defence system. It was a moment that made me look back on the rest of the book less favourably – what other conflicts were being misrepresented by this influential foreigner? I would very much like to find similar books written by Dr. Nott’s native colleagues.
Still, as long as you don’t come to what is really a personal, medical account expecting to learn about politics (at least, those politics not immediately concerned with medical care), this is a hugely informative and depressingly enjoyable read.
The writer occasionally talks about the political reasons for conflicts with the kind of arrogance you’d expect from an outsider. He’s clearly an incredibly accomplished doctor, and I’m sure being on the ground in so many conflicts makes it easy for anyone to assume they understand the politics, but it’s still sometimes uncomfortable to read. Most notably this comes across when he discusses his time in Palestine – he talks of both sides as being equally, unreasonably dangerous to the other, while simultaneously acknowledging that every Palestinian missile fired was immediately destroyed in the air by the incredibly advanced Israeli defence system. It was a moment that made me look back on the rest of the book less favourably – what other conflicts were being misrepresented by this influential foreigner? I would very much like to find similar books written by Dr. Nott’s native colleagues.
Still, as long as you don’t come to what is really a personal, medical account expecting to learn about politics (at least, those politics not immediately concerned with medical care), this is a hugely informative and depressingly enjoyable read.