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highly recommended |
"A hauntingly moving memoir of the relationship between a cadaver named Eve and the first-year medical student who cuts her open Christine Montross was a nervous first-year medical student, standing outside the anatomy lab on her first day of class, preparing herself for what was to come. Entering a room with stainless-steel tables topped by corpses in body bags is shocking no matter how long you've prepared yourself, but a strange thing happened when Montross met her cadaver. Instead of being disgusted by her, she was utterly intrigued-intrigued by the person the woman once was, humbled by the sacrifice she had made in donating her body to science, fascinated by the strange, unsettling beauty of the human form. They called her Eve. This is the story of Montross and Eve -- the student and the subject-and the surprising relationship that grew between them. Body of Work is a mesmerizing, rarely seen glimpse into the day-to-day life of a medical student-yet one that follows naturally in the footsteps of recent highly successful literary renderings of the mysteries of medicine such as Atul Gawande's Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. Christine Montross was a poet long before she became a doctor and brings an uncommon perspective to the emotional difficulty of the first year of medical school-the dispiriting task of remaining clinical and detached while in the anatomy lab and the struggle with the line you've crossed by violating another's body once you leave it. Montross was so affected by her experience with Eve that she undertook to learn more about the history of cadavers and the study of anatomy. She visited an autopsy lab in Ireland and the University of Padua in Italy where Vesalius, a forefather of anatomy, once studied; she learned about body snatchers and grave-robbers and anatomists who practiced their work on live criminals. Her disturbing, often entertaining anecdotes enrich this exquisitely crafted memoir, endowing an eerie beauty to the world of a doctor-in-training. Body of Work is an unforgettable examination of the mysteries of the human body and a remarkable look at our relationship with both the living and the dead."
A close look at our relationship with both the dead and the living 
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"When I listen to any patient's heartbeat or lungs, or feel for someone's liver or pulse, or find tendons to tap with my hammer in order to test for reflexes, the structures I picture hidden beneath the skin are all--all of them--Eve's. [Eve was the name the author gave to the cadaver she had to dissect during her first year of medical school.]...I cannot begin to know what led Eve to give me such a gift [of her dead body for dissection], whether it was practicality or altruism or cynicism or love of science or some other, equally unknowable, aspect of her personality or life. What I do know is that she neither knew me nor knew anything about me, and yet she bequeathed to me this offering, unthinkable for centuries, that has formed the foundation of my ability to heal...Bit by bit, I cut up and dismantled her [dead body], a beautiful old woman who came to me whole. The lessons her body taught me are of critical importance to my knowledge of medicine, but her selfless gesture of donation will be my lasting example of how much it is possible to give a total stranger in the hopes of healing."
The above is found in this mesmerizing book, a memoir authored by Christine Montross, M.D. (now a resident in psychiatry at Brown University.)
This book brought many memories back for me as I at one time had to do some dissecting of a human body. The author does not clarify this but dissection is a technique used to study the structure of the body, whereas anatomy is a field of scientific study. Studying the body by dissection is called macroscopic or gross anatomy.
This book is not only about Montross' dissection of Eve during her first year in medical school. Montross was so affected by her dissecting experience with Eve that she set out to learn more about the history of cadavers and the discipline of anatomy. Her curiosity took her from such places as an autopsy lab in Ireland to the University of Padua in Italy (where Andreas Vesalius (1514 to 1564), a forefather of anatomy, once studied); she also learned about other things such as about body snatchers, grave robbers, and anatomists who practised on live criminals (called vivisection).
The author also sprinkles throughout the book her own views about various issues including her thoughts on becoming a doctor. Here is one of my favourites that I can identify with:
"It's not that med school is difficult conceptually, it's just that there's such an incredible amount of information to learn and attempt to retain [or memorize]. There is no need yet for any kind of original thought. So far our learning is regurgitation at its most pure."
At the beginning of each chapter is a back and white image or picture. All these images (except one) are from the first anatomy book (actually book series) entitled "De Humani Corporis Fabrica" (1543), literally meaning "The Fabric of the Human Body" by A. Vesalius, who was, as mentioned above, a forefather of anatomy.
Also, at the beginning of each chapter is a thought-provoking quotation from others. This is my favourite since it is so true based on my own experience:
"Anatomical textbooks give the misleading impression that everything in the [body] is immediately distinguishable. The unsuspecting student plunges into the laboratory carcase expecting to find these neat arrangements [found in the text] repeated in [the cadaver], and the blurred confusion which he [or she] actually meets often produces a sense of despair." (Jonathan Miller)
Finally, my only minor complaint with this book concerns a section in the last chapter where the author pays homage to her grandparents. I felt that this section was a bit too long.
In conclusion, this is truly a unique book--lyrical, insightful, introspective--that takes the grossness out of gross anatomy!!
(first published 2007; preface; 12 chapters; epilogue; main narrative 290 pages; bibliography; acknowledgements)
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Beautifully done! Thank you!
This is the book I should have written, wish I had written, and Dr. Montross does it so much better than I ever could have. My experience dissecting a cadaver in medical school was 30 years ago, and her thoughts, musings, and observations of herself and others helped me know I was not alone. This experience does have an effect on students, and it is not even remotely addressed in a way that allows the students to process their full range of emotional response in a safe and supportive manner.
This book opens the door to a psychological but little discussed trauma that is the initiation of a medical career.
Bravo and thank you!
Will you donate your body to medical research?
We have all thought of death. We have all imagined our bodies rotting after death. Many prefer incinerating their bodies, preferring ashes to decaying flesh. However, not all religions allow cremation, and thus, some of us are stuck with living with the thought of a decaying body. This thought is scary to most of us.
All of life is about death and decay. Every day, people around us die. Within our own body, death looms all the time. Cells in my body are dying as I write this. Indeed, we are born to die. And maybe we die to be reborn, sort of like a computer reboot. Some scientists believe death is beneficial to evolution, knocking off the weak genes and improving them in subsequent generations. If we all lived forever, evolution would have no opportunity to improve us. Death can therefore be looked upon as a way of improving ourselves, or an evolutionary upgrade. Any of you been watching the TV series Heroes?
In this book, you will follow the life of a medical student during her journey in body dissection. You will learn what it is like being around a dead body. What does a dead body smell like? What is it like cutting a dead body into pieces? Can a dead body know what we are doing to it? Those are all questions, among many others, medical students (as well as philosophers) ask all the time. And you'll be joining the circle and asking many more questions at the end of this book.
The author traces the history of body dissection, and actually flies first to Italy for her research. In the old days, doctors were desperate for dead bodies in order to learn more about the functions of the living body, and thus help the living. But not many people would volunteer to donate their body to science. The business of body-snatching was thus born. Bodies were often stolen from cemeteries. So prevalent was this practice at the time that families hired armed guards to watch over their family's burial grounds. The poor obviously could not afford such luxury, and their bodies were often stolen and then sold to hospitals.
Fresh bodies earned the most money. A body sold right after death earned more than a day or more old cadaver. This gave rise to another business: killing the patients before they die. Why wait for a person to die? Kill him and give his body for research, and earn big money! Real criminals just killed a person, whether ill or not, and then sold his body. Why wait for the person to be terminally ill?
Not only was there the fear of having your body stolen from the cemetery, but there also was the fear of being donated for research while being still alive. This often happened, and there are many stories of people having been buried alive! This of course gave rise to the tales of zombies! In fact, many acted as zombies for they were partially brain dead from oxygen deprivation. A person can quickly exhaust the oxygen supply in a coffin!
Prevalent at the time was live dissection. This was the preferred method, since the body is still alive, and doctors can better study and understand the functions of the body. But honestly, who would want to be cut off while still alive in the name of science? Unfortunately, many did not have a say. Prisoners were often used as live dissection subjects!
The author tells some horror stories that happened during her medical school. For example, students would cut off the penis of a cadaver and insert it into the vagina of another cadaver. How disrespectful to the dead! There are many other similar stories. Having sex with a dead body is not unheard off.
What is it like transporting a dead body, or part of a dead body? Does the body become an object for study, or the thought that this body was once a person lingers in one's mind? What is it like being in a room alone with twenty dead bodies?
I found it interesting that nowadays medical schools and hospitals are very cautious about which bodies they purchase. For example, if a person just died, the hospital or school researches the person's name and checks whether a student from the same family is one of their resident students. Could you imagine dissecting the body of your own father or uncle? Many psychologists will tell you that the dissection of a body gives trauma to a person, regardless whether the deceased is known or unknown to the dissector.
Nowadays, there is a movement to dissect bodies using 3D software and virtual computer programs. Maybe one day soon, all the dead can rest in peace.
A very prevalent multi-billion business nowadays is selling body parts. Many body parts are sold by poor people. Many body parts are taken from people forcefully. I once saw a movie about an American tourist going on a holiday in a South American Country, meeting a woman at a bar, who later drugs him. He wakes up in his hotel bathtub in icy water. One of his kidneys was surgically removed to be sold! Such stories do happen. There are reports that this is now happening in Iraq, with organs either sold by the person or being forcefully removed!
One important question you will ask yourself at the end of this book: will you give your body for medical research? I already answered this question for myself.
This is one of the best books I have read. The author has a great writing style, poetic at times. You will not be able to put this book down. And you will be scared out of your wits!
I was almost EMBARASSED!
I was almost EMBARASSED to let people see me buying this book! I was somehow afraid people would think me odd, gross, macabre, etc. However, as soon as I began reading the book I was taken in, and almost couldn't put it down! I am recommending this book to everyone I know. It is an amazing, eye-opening, gentle view of "life" after death, as in what happens to our bodies and what goes on in the minds of those who are still living. This is an excellent book for anybody interested in medicine, life, human nature, death, the body, you NAME IT! EXCELLENT BOOK!
Mildly-entertaining (but overly-emotional) description of anatomy class! 
It's certainly an interesting concept for a book--observe the process of first-year anatomy lab at a medical school and watch the fur fly. There are a lot of good details here from Montross on both what the process means in historical terms as well as how it affects those who do it. However, Montross' prose when it comes to her self-observation is too simplistic to carry this book much beyond average. She writes in the tone of an emotional fourteen year-old on an online journal complaining about how someone has wronged her--the descriptions are too emotionally-loaded, too extravagant, too...much to do anything other than get in the way. But if you move quickly through these parts, there's a lot of good to see here as well. Mildly recommended.
reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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based on 22 reviews
