Didn't Get Frazzled: Humorous Medical Fiction

By: David Z Hirsch

Narrated by: David Gilmore

Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

• International Book Award Bronze Medal Winner Readers' Favorite (Fiction - Humor/Comedy)
• INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist (Humor)

Medical student Seth Levine faces escalating stress and gallows humor as he struggles with the collapse of his romantic relationships and all preconceived notions of what it means to be a doctor. It doesn’t take long before he realizes not getting frazzled is the least of his problems.

Seth encounters a med student so arrogant he boasts that he’ll eat any cadaver part he can’t name, an instructor so dedicated she tests the student’s ability to perform a gynecological exam on herself, and a woman so captivating that Seth will do whatever it takes to make her laugh, including regale her with a story about a diagnostic squabble over an erection.

Didn’t Get Frazzled captures with distressing accuracy the gauntlet idealistic medical students must face to secure an MD and, against the odds, come out of it a better human being.

• Read by David Gilmore, an award-winning voice actor specializing in audiobook narration with over 15,000 units sold. His 35-year experience as a human anatomy and physiology instructor has enhanced this seamless and engaging performance.

This comedy-drama is an exciting addition to the grand tradition of medical novels by Samuel Shem, Lisa Genova, and Noah Gordon.

©2016 David Z Hirsch (P)2019 David Z Hirsch

Critic Reviews

"Echoing the comedic tone of the 1989 comedy Gross Anatomy, the novel's affection for this uniquely strange experience makes it the best fictional portrayal of med school since ER. Readers will savor the experience." (BlueInk Review, starred review)

"Entertaining, educative, and unflaggingly funny, this debut novel will particularly appeal to real-life med students searching for a fast-moving, relatable respite between classes." (Kirkus Reviews) 

"Reminiscent of a cross between the television sitcom Scrubs and a medical version of One L by Scott Turow, Didn't Get Frazzled is by turns sardonic, touching, raucous, sexy, and sometimes downright gross. It's also hugely entertaining." (Foreword Clarion Reviews)

Everything you wanted to know about medical school

Didn't Get Frazzled: Humorous Medical Fiction
: David Z Hirsch (pseudonym)

Everything you wanted to know about medical school, but were afraid to ask.

This fictionalized accounting of a young med students travels through med school and his personal life. The author shows good and bad bed side manners. (Most of us have unfortunately seen both sides.) Life and death during the different rotations. His group of fellow students add their own spin. I've gone searching for more from this author.



The narration was well done. The characters were well portrayed by David Gilmore.



I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Funny and informative

What an unusual and often hilarious way to understand the trials of becoming a doctor. You learn things about trying to have a relationship and also medical information you might not know.

funny - just funny

I really loved this read - I know it has a lot of medical terminology that I didn't get but I still found myself in tears laughing over some of these stories. I loved Seth - his character is the best. He is patient and caring - sometimes too much so in the case with April. I at times found his relationship or lack there of with her distracting but I really like how Seth was able to find resolution in all the aspects of his life. Narration was perfect - I loved the tone Gilmore gave Seth - perfection! Great read, loved both the humor and emotions this book evoked!

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Unexpectedly good

I thought this book was just going to talk about medicine and hints the reason a book should not be judge by its cover. Everyone should read this book it explain the dreadfulness of being a medical student they way I see it. The book had a lot of laugh out loud moments and you really get to see the behind the scene of the medical personnel. I like Seth for not allowing the people he was under rub the negativity they felt on him he kept tru to himself. If this was a series I would have read all of them. Amazing book.

Didn’t Get Frazzled!

A humorous look at the life and times of being a med student. (Ok, there are some serious moments too, but it was the humor that really got me.) I have a whole new appreciation for what medical students go through on the road to becoming a doctor!

Well written and a great performance. A truly enjoyable listen!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

The Joys of Med School

I LOVED this story.
Although it's billed as fiction, I'm betting there's a good deal of real life experience in this laugh out loud look at the life of a young med school student doing his hospital rotations. It's told with a self-depreciating humor and accurately portrays the exhaustion young med students feel, the struggles to maintain any kind of rewarding social or romantic life and the daily comedies and tragedies of life in a busy hospital. Written in simple language and with explanations for the technical bits, you don't need to be a medical professional to enjoy the ride as our hero makes his way through 4 years of medical studies.
Well worth your time if you're looking for something a little different from your normal hospital thriller or medical romance.

Laughed out loud

Well written and hilarious, with realistic characters and great dialogue. The performance, however, put it over the top. His delivery is spot on.

Love Love Love This Book

I wasn't sure what to expect when I listened to this book but I LOVED it!!! I didn't want it to end...I laughed so hard and then there were spots that I wanted to cry...Seth (the main character) draws you in like you are there..I could picture the entire book while listening to it..I can't recommend this book enough!!!!!!!

An engaging and enjoyable read

As always, I have to state that this book was given to me for free in exchange for a review.
I always like to state that this does not impact my review or my opinion of the book. My reviews are honest and my own opinion of the story, performance, and overall thoughts on the book.

The main character, Seth and his band of cohorts are medical students enduring the trials and tribulations of medical school while also trying to manage the intricacies of their love lives. Hirsh has a distinctive voice, raw, real and at times hilarious. There were times I laughed out loud. But there were also times when I felt the gravity of the situation as life and death hung in the balance. His characters were believable and multidimensional. They came alive on the page and added a deeper dimension to the stressors endured in the path to becoming a doctor.

The story flows at a steady pace through various clinical scenarios, some funny, some sad to the roller coaster ride of twenty-something relationship issues. Back in the day, I dated a medical student so I could relate to the complexities.

Throughout it all, Seth reigns as the hero, often showing better clinical judgment than the person mentoring him, whether it be an attending or an intern. In that regard, the story lives up to its title, Didn’t Get Frazzled. I’d like to think that any doctor I entrust my care to would have done the same.

This story is a vivid glimpse into the life of a medical student. I highly recommend this engaging and enjoyable read.

Too much fun!

friendship, contemporary, NYC, college, situational-humor, verbal-humor

The memorization, the hours, the social life, the fellow students, the obsessions with pseudo diagnosis, and all the bad jokes and pranks. Medical School whether in NYC or anywhere is a trial by fire survivable only with humor. As a retired RN it is almost a given that I would enjoy this light hearted fiction about the transformation this student goes through while suffering relationship angst. I loved it!
I won the audiobook in a giveaway! David Gilmore is the voice actor who gave even more life to the fun.

Really really funny!

Seth is stressed out about his exams his crazy instructors his love life or rather the love life he wants and that’s all a good day. This is dark humor but it’s humor with an IQ an old man is it funny I love this book and I’m so glad I brought it. I can only hope there will be a second book with Seth so Jay and Jan and all the other crazy characters. I highly recommend this to those who love the laugh and are good with dark humor because it is an LOL fest! I also thought the narrator did a superb job kudos to you.

Entertaining and informative

Highly entertaining and interesting journey of a medical student.
The narrator does an exceptional job of bringing this story to life, He has a very clear voice which is pleasing to listen too.
I received this audiobook for free and wanted to give an honest review

Perfect blend of humour, pathos, and medical yuck!

Following medical student Seth as he negotiates the ups and downs of life as a medical student and trainee doctor, this audio book really made my daily commute something to look forward to! Perfectly mixing humour and pathos, Seth learns how to cope with strange situations, oddball fellow students, obstructive supervisors and impenetrable bureaucracy, making a difference where he can, despite the impact on his personal life, and all while maintaining a facade as being the man who “doesn’t get frazzled.”

Switching between stomach-churningly gross, laugh out loud funny, and downright romantic, one moment we’re with Seth on a date and the next we’re following him into an internal medicine chapter entitled “brown splatters” or hearing him recount the tale of a student who is so convinced a patient has priapism that she can’t stop physically examining his erection. The resulting mix could be a mess, but David Z Hirsch instead creates a perfect blend that puts me through the wringer but left me uplifted and grateful for the sort of doctor that Seth looks like becoming.