Singular Intimacies

Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue

By: Danielle Ofri

Narrated by: Ann M. Richardson

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

Singular Intimacies is the story of becoming a doctor by immersion at New York's Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the country. When Danielle Ofri first enters the doors as a medical student, she is immediately plunged into the teeming world of urban medicine. It is here that Dr. Ofri develops a profound instinct for healing and, above all, learns to navigate the tangled vulnerabilities of doctor and patient.

©2003 Danielle Ofri (P)2018 Beacon Press

Critic Reviews

"Danielle Ofri is a finely gifted writer, a born storyteller as well as a born physician, and through these fifteen brilliantly written episodes covering the years from studenthood to the end of her medical residency, we get not only a deep sense of the high drama of life and death, which must face anyone working in a great hospital, but also a feeling for the making of a physician's mind and soul." (Oliver Sacks, MD, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat)

"What is it like to become a doctor? Danielle Ofri answers with candor and humility and pride. This book should be required reading by anyone contemplating a life in medicine." (Richard Selzer, surgeon and author of Letters to a Young Doctor)

"Any reader, physician or not, will find in Singular Intimacies the essence of becoming and being a doctor." (Robert S. Schwartz, MD, New England Journal of Medicine)

Too Many Words Obscure Story

I have read and enjoyed Ofri's more recent works, but this must be one of her early books.. She provides so much detail about her every waking (and sometimes not waking) moments that I can't remember where she is in her story. This book is close to 10 hours in length but could easily be 4 hours. I gave up after 2 hours as the details were too mundane and detracted from her stories. I use books like this in a narrative medicine class. I would use this as an example of what not to do, but my students just don't have time to devote to meaningless detail and Ofri's use of words for words sake.

A bit too much self absorption

The process of medical training was interesting, as were many of the patient stories, but I tired of the constant stream of insecurities the author shared. The fear of being inexperienced in a high pressure environment was clearly understood and could have used up less space in an otherwise nice read.

Wonderful

Danielle Ofri returns with a book focused on the start of her career at Bellevue. Through a large number of cases she leaves the reader/listener on edge and gasping at the existential physical, mental and emotional demands of caring for patients - including some on verge of death; and one crass, racist, misogynistic patient - Mr. Good indeed. The content is well-thought out, and like her previous writings establishes Ofri in the same category as Gawande, Mukherjee etc. Ann Richardson again provides a top quality performance of an Ofri text, it’s a fantastic partnership and I hope to enjoy more in future. Finally, Ofri is unique in her writings amongst her contemporaries due to displaying the vulnerability and emotionalism that being a doctor incurs. Bloody brilliant.