4 out of 4 stars
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McDowell written by William H. Coles is a thought-provoking novel that follows the story of a world-renown surgeon named Hiram McDowell as he continuously faces challenges and obstacles in his life, including himself. McDowell is the kind of book that can make you fully interested once you start reading the novel. It is a kind of book that everyone cannot fully enjoy, but the plot developments that are happening and will unravel as the story progresses on is what can make you interested. It is the kind of book that gives you deep, reflective, life questions one cannot simply ignore. It is the book that is a masterpiece in writing, character and plot development, and the themes discussed, especially on about life.
Firstly, as expected of William H. Coles who had written a lot of famous books and had garnered numerous achievements from his works. McDowell was descriptive yet detailed, not leaving one single word to be useless and must have importance and meaning. Coles’ style of writing may be seen as an objective, but it is immersive for the reader to continue reading.
Second, the characters and the development were the most interesting element of the story, especially on the main character. This is a kind of story that is heavily dependent on its characters, and in my own opinion, it had not left me disappointed. As a reader, you have to understand that these characters are humans, as much as a human you may be, so that you cannot easily pass judgment to them unless you are on the same shoes as them. These characters also made you view the various perspectives on the importance of life, although it may only be a glimpse of it. Especially on the main character, you can see real character development which can make you fully support him despite as to how he was introduced in the first half of the story.
Lastly, what truly stands out from this book than the other books that I have read before are the themes presented. The way the themes were shown in the book is like making you swallow a pill that you do not like but had to swallow it in the end. It was simply thought-provoking, and you as a reader, lose the definite line of right and wrong momentarily. Each action that a character brings, whether he/she may be a supporting character or not, gives various and impactful consequences to other characters that don’t necessarily give out positive or negative effects. The themes tackling may be controversial issues that are happening in our current society and it is as to why this book is relevant for the current generations today.
I’ll give this book a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. The writing is superb. The importance of each character and their roles to play, the main character and his development throughout the book, and how the story unravels as the main character continues on with his journey is fairly interesting. And most of all, the thought-provoking questions that you continuously have to ask yourself even though you may not be part of the story is what gets you immersed. This is a book that you must read at least once in your lifetime. I recommend this to anyone, especially to those young adults and above, to read this book and I assure you that it will give you another perspective in life.
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McDowell
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