Review by marartsch -- McDowell by William H. Coles

[marartsch]

[Following is a volunteer review of "McDowell" by William H. Coles.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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McDowell by William H. Coles is about a middle-aged, top rated surgeon who is credited and admired for his work in providing healthcare to millions, while at the same time accused of wrongdoing in certain aspects of his work. He is later accused and convicted of murder, escapes prison and while on the run begins to rebuild his life. During this time, he feels that he was wrongly accused and has a burning desire to tell his side of the story by writing his memoirs. There are many colorful and interesting characters involved in his life, both pre-prison and post-prison. McDowell himself is a colorful character. Besides being a wealthy, top surgeon, he is also a musician, mountain climber, womanizer, and not-so-good husband and father.

The story starts with a description of a mountain climbing trip in Nepal, wherein his fellow traveler became ill and could not continue.

Hiram McDowell was Regent to the Board of Directors of the International College of Surgeons, but that wasn’t enough for him. He wanted more authority. Did he want this authority for his own benefit? Or, did he want a vehicle to provide better health care for those who did not have access to it? It depends on each of the character’s point of view. Read and draw your own conclusions. I found myself going back and forth between wanting to like and support him, and then hating him for some of the things he did (or supposedly did).

What I enjoyed most about this book were the fact that most (but not all) of the characters in the book had individual stories that I would have liked to have explored further. For example, in the stories about Billie and Sophie’s photographic trip to India, I would like to have known more about the characters who were the reason for Sophie’s trip – documenting the plight of women.

Another example is the story of Maud and Pop. They were McDowell’s first contacts after his escape from prison. I wanted to know more about their past.

My favorite character is Winona. Winona is an artist who lives in a trailer park in Nevada. I believe it was through Winona that McDowell began to look at his life differently.

What I liked least about this book, is that it just seemed to be “too much.” Too many characters. Too many stories, some of which I would have loved to have seen developed into their own novels (especially the ones mentioned above). McDowell himself seemed like “too much.” There were so many aspects to him described in this book that I could not believe that he could be a real person. Yet even with these negatives, I found the book to be engaging.

I did not appreciate the sexual undertones that were thrown in. I know it was relevant to the extent that the author was attempting to point out that McDowell was a womanizer, however, I think that the author camped on the details a little too much for my personal taste, and I found it distracting.

I believe the book was professionally edited and found no glaring errors.

I gave this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. I think the negatives I described are more about my personal likes and dislikes than they are about the quality of the book. But because of these personal likes and dislikes, I could not rate it any higher. However, despite these negatives, the book is interesting and engaging, and I recommend it highly.

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McDowell
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