Review by JEnglert -- McDowell by William H. Coles
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JEnglert
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- Latest Review: McDowell by William H. Coles
Review by JEnglert -- McDowell by William H. Coles
[Following is a volunteer review of "McDowell" by William H. Coles.]
3 out of 4 stars
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McDowell by William H. Coles is a fictional novel that reads a bit like the coming of age story of an adult. Our protagonist, Hiram McDowell, is a world-renowned surgeon and avid mountain climber. He has climbed the ladder in the medical profession while correspondingly climbing most of the world’s highest and most dangerous peaks. While inarguably a gifted surgeon and almost single-handedly responsible for opening a medical clinic in a destitute area of Nepal; McDowell is an arrogant, self-centered misogynist. He lives his life without concern for the misery and neglect experienced by his family and colleagues as a result of his behavior. At the beginning of the story, the only redeeming quality which can be seen is the genuine love he has for his son and his love of jazz music. This story follows Hiram McDowell to the top of his stellar career and back down the other side as his life falls apart and he begins to learn what is truly valuable in life.
This book was well-written and appears to be professionally edited. However, there was one exception where the writing was slightly confusing. In Chapter 1 where the author explains the relationships including his children and marriages. It’s a little confusing because it states "His second wife died in 1999..." and then two years later he marries his third wife Carol. However in the next paragraph which starts "1999", and he's returning home to his wife Carol whom he didn’t marry until 2001. This confusion could easily be corrected by changing that date in the following paragraph to "2001".
The author does a reasonable job of developing the characters of those who are closest to McDowell including his children, his wife, colleagues, and even the reporter and bounty hunter who ultimately try to take him down. There are some great characters in this book however, overall the relationships between the family members seem very impersonal and cold. If we're being honest, any child who was raised by this man would likely not have learned to have healthy and loving relationships and that could be the author's intent; to show the emotional damage he's done to his children. An example of this is when his daughter Ann experiences a horrific incident leaving her physically and mentally traumatized and while McDowell is in the same town, even the same hospital, he doesn't make it a priority to see her. He just doesn't find it important to check on his child. I understand this is likely one way to illustrate just how backward McDowell's priorities are, but it's hard to believe they're biologically related and he was around during her formative years when he cares so little for her.
My favorite part of this book was one of the characters introduced midway through the book. Maud is the owner of a book store in a barren small town. She’s a tough old, no-nonsense lady who doesn't tolerate impertinence or suffer fools. She is the kind of person who can look right into the soul of someone and tell them some hard truths that are uncomfortable but need to be heard. She’s almost mystic in her ability to look into McDowell and tell him her honest opinion about him, call him out on some difficult truths and most impressively, she doesn't back down in the face of his anger. She is one of the major influences on McDowell that help him begin his journey back to humanity and I love that she was such a tough and interesting character.
My least favorite thing about this book was in the second half of the book, where the author begins introducing new characters with unique personalities and life experiences. These characters were enjoyable to read about, however, the writing style became slightly inconsistent with the introduction of these new characters. For example, McDowell meets a new character named Gatemouth Willie Brown, a jazz player in New Orleans, who comes from a poor New Orleans parish. In these passages, the grammar and writing style changed significantly to show the reader the way this character speaks including poor grammar and slang. However in a previous chapter, when he met Hulga Steinweg who is an older German woman who has only been living in the U.S. for about 20 years, the author failed to adapt the writing style to include what one would assume would be a heavy german accent and perhaps some grammar or pronoun issues.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and give it 3 out of 4 stars. I gave it three stars due to the reasons expressed above. I would recommend it to those who are looking for an engaging story dealing with a man's struggle to find his humanity including some unexpected twists and turns.
******
McDowell
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
3 out of 4 stars
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McDowell by William H. Coles is a fictional novel that reads a bit like the coming of age story of an adult. Our protagonist, Hiram McDowell, is a world-renowned surgeon and avid mountain climber. He has climbed the ladder in the medical profession while correspondingly climbing most of the world’s highest and most dangerous peaks. While inarguably a gifted surgeon and almost single-handedly responsible for opening a medical clinic in a destitute area of Nepal; McDowell is an arrogant, self-centered misogynist. He lives his life without concern for the misery and neglect experienced by his family and colleagues as a result of his behavior. At the beginning of the story, the only redeeming quality which can be seen is the genuine love he has for his son and his love of jazz music. This story follows Hiram McDowell to the top of his stellar career and back down the other side as his life falls apart and he begins to learn what is truly valuable in life.
This book was well-written and appears to be professionally edited. However, there was one exception where the writing was slightly confusing. In Chapter 1 where the author explains the relationships including his children and marriages. It’s a little confusing because it states "His second wife died in 1999..." and then two years later he marries his third wife Carol. However in the next paragraph which starts "1999", and he's returning home to his wife Carol whom he didn’t marry until 2001. This confusion could easily be corrected by changing that date in the following paragraph to "2001".
The author does a reasonable job of developing the characters of those who are closest to McDowell including his children, his wife, colleagues, and even the reporter and bounty hunter who ultimately try to take him down. There are some great characters in this book however, overall the relationships between the family members seem very impersonal and cold. If we're being honest, any child who was raised by this man would likely not have learned to have healthy and loving relationships and that could be the author's intent; to show the emotional damage he's done to his children. An example of this is when his daughter Ann experiences a horrific incident leaving her physically and mentally traumatized and while McDowell is in the same town, even the same hospital, he doesn't make it a priority to see her. He just doesn't find it important to check on his child. I understand this is likely one way to illustrate just how backward McDowell's priorities are, but it's hard to believe they're biologically related and he was around during her formative years when he cares so little for her.
My favorite part of this book was one of the characters introduced midway through the book. Maud is the owner of a book store in a barren small town. She’s a tough old, no-nonsense lady who doesn't tolerate impertinence or suffer fools. She is the kind of person who can look right into the soul of someone and tell them some hard truths that are uncomfortable but need to be heard. She’s almost mystic in her ability to look into McDowell and tell him her honest opinion about him, call him out on some difficult truths and most impressively, she doesn't back down in the face of his anger. She is one of the major influences on McDowell that help him begin his journey back to humanity and I love that she was such a tough and interesting character.
My least favorite thing about this book was in the second half of the book, where the author begins introducing new characters with unique personalities and life experiences. These characters were enjoyable to read about, however, the writing style became slightly inconsistent with the introduction of these new characters. For example, McDowell meets a new character named Gatemouth Willie Brown, a jazz player in New Orleans, who comes from a poor New Orleans parish. In these passages, the grammar and writing style changed significantly to show the reader the way this character speaks including poor grammar and slang. However in a previous chapter, when he met Hulga Steinweg who is an older German woman who has only been living in the U.S. for about 20 years, the author failed to adapt the writing style to include what one would assume would be a heavy german accent and perhaps some grammar or pronoun issues.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and give it 3 out of 4 stars. I gave it three stars due to the reasons expressed above. I would recommend it to those who are looking for an engaging story dealing with a man's struggle to find his humanity including some unexpected twists and turns.
******
McDowell
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Latest Review: McDowell by William H. Coles
