Oxygen

Surgeon's tend to get the glory but the anesthesiologist has an essential role in the operating theatre. It's not one I have ever given much thought to and I was completely captivated by Casella's examination of the profession.Dr Marie Heaton is a skilled and dedicated doctor whose life is thrown into turmoil when a child dies from complications related to the anesthesia she received during a reasonably routine procedure. Marie agonises over the child's death, and much of the story explores the difficulty Marie has in coming to terms with it, especially when it seems she may somehow be at fault. As her professional life disintegrates around her, Marie seeks solace in the distant relationships she has with her family and her colleague, show more Joe, but only with her all her questions answered will she accept the inevitable.Oxygen has a quiet resonance and lyrical tone that draws the reader into the emotional journey of the character. While some may find it a bit slow I was caught up in Marie's tragedy, not just at the loss of her patient but also her isolation and fear. The book explicitly communicates the weight medical professionals carry, and while I may envy them their financial recompense I can certainly see how it is deserved when it is so absorbing. Even though at times I think there was a little too much repetitive angst, my sympathy and empathy remained with Marie.Cassella humanises the necessary medical language and procedurals with skill, able to do so I would imagine because it is her experience with the profession. The book illustrates the dedication and knowledge required to care for patients, and the responsibility medical professionals have. Cassella also speaks to the problems in modern day health care, and particularly the legal vulnerability of hospitals and doctors in situations where things go wrong. Marie is almost entirely helpless once there is legal involvement and as things drag out, the tension increases.The twist at the end is not wholly unexpected but particularly confronts the fragile construct of our faith in health care.Thought provoking and absorbing, Oxygen is a stunning, complex novel. I am looking forward to reading more by this author. show less

Marie is an anesthesiologist who works in a busy Seattle hospital. One day, a child in surgery with dies on her operating table, calling into question her role in the child's death. When the mother sues the hospital, Marie begins to question her ability to care for children while obsessively absorbing herself in research in an attempt to figure out why the child died. In the course of this, she is forced to take a leave of absence and becomes isolated from her peers at the hospital. Her friend/boyfriend Joe tries to support her but since he is a fellow anesthesiologist at the hospital, there are limits as to how much Marie can share with him. This novel was an interesting perspective on the role of anesthesiologists and the risks show more incurred by practicing medicine where life and death hang in the balance in even routine cases. The negative impact of malpractice suits on both the victims and the doctors makes the reader understand that there really are no winners when it comes to these tragic situations. I enjoyed this novel although it was somewhat slow in the middle. It took a twist I didn't fully anticipate, which made the ending better, though not fully resolved. show less

Anesthesiologist Marie Heaton might be responsible for the death of one of her patients. It's a winningly simple, inherently emotional premise, and author Carol Cassella takes the pathos three steps further. Said patient Jolene is eight years old, mentally retarded, and the only child of a lower-class, single mother. Marie is, of course, driven to find the cause of Jolene's death. Could she have prevented it? Did she miss something in her preliminary evaluation? Stakes rise when the girl's mother files a lawsuit.

The author is herself an anesthesiologist, so it's not surprising that the hospital scenes are detailed and seem accurate (disclaimer: I'm a mere layman). The book's main characters are sympathetic, if sometimes simplified. show more Marie is a controlled analyst at the core, which lends more resonance to the book's earthquake of uncontrollable events. Best friend and love interest Joe is a boyish lost soul who tends to trigger Marie's nurturing instincts. Both Joe and Marie are more than just types, though, possessing endearing quirks like amblyopia and a penchant for chocolate tortes and vinyl records.

Unfortunately, the book isn't as good as it ought to be, due to several broken fiction rules. Telling (not showing) happens on nearly every page, eliminating the chance for reader discovery. The author provides detailed physical characteristics and brief personal history for nearly every minor character, so the reader can't know who to pay attention to and who to disregard as a one-scene walk-on. Characters tend to speak in paragraphs, not lines. Marie's introspection, though sometimes compelling, also sometimes runs rampant.

In summary, more white space would have really improved this book.

However, though the style and mechanics beg for streamlining, the story itself held my attention. I wanted to find out what happened to Jolene and what would happen to Joe and Marie. The lack of resolution regarding a certain character's fate got under my skin (which means I cared, which is a good thing). Overall, while Oxygen didn't compel me to rush out for the author's next book, I found it worth the read. show less

This book was a lot of different things: literary fiction, medical thriller, and a romance of sorts. It was very interesting and enjoyable, and it also did read to me like a debut novel, which is what it is. It truly has everything but the kitchen sink in it and I think experience dictates paring down and eliminating. The story is about an anesthesiologist who has a child with a disability die on her operating table. Anesthesiologists are probably the only kind of doctor that I don’t harbor resentment against and it was very interesting to read about one. I picked up this book at a little free library when I had nothing to read, and it’s not the kind of thing I would ordinarily have chosen. I feel that I was rewarded for going show more outside my comfort zone and would read another novel by this author. show less

Part medical thriller, part exploration of the medical (& legal) industries, part family story. ?áGood for book-club discussion. Some bits beautifully written:
Notes gather and swirl into imagined shapes; Ravel's minor chords and runs stir a communion of unresolved pathos that cuts to my core. ?áWe are two thousand strangers revering music composed almost a century ago, discovering emotion evoked through vibrations of air. ?áI close my eyes and let the piano crescendos wash over me, penetrate me, sweep me into a universe where these last weeks of my life could dissolve into inconsequential bits of fallen stars."

The only aspect (besides the climactic resolution) that I find implausible is the assumption that the mother of the dead show more child will sue for malpractice. ?áI wouldn't. ?áI have never had desire for revenge, for wrecking someone else's life because they made a mistake. ?áAnd I cannot believe I'm unique.

I can't imagine a sequel or similar book by the author being as engaging as this, but I would consider reading something else by her.

I just wish I had a fifth the author's ambition & energy. ?áShe's a practicing anesthesiologist, a married mom of two sets of twins, *and* a traditionally published author!?á" show less

Carol Cassella, the author of Oxygen, has written an engaging medical thriller. This is the story of Marie Heaton, a 37-year-old anesthesiologist, who has worked for the last seven years at a large Seattle Hospital, earning the respect of her colleagues. She has finally paid off her student loans and is leading a fairly comfortable life. Her story is told in the first person. The author is herself an anesthesiologist and I found the beginning of the book very interesting as she explains what happens to the human body when anesthesia is introduced.

Dr. Heaton’s life is suddenly sent into a tailspin when an 8-year-old little girl, in for a routine surgery, dies on the operating table. There is no apparent cause and Dr. Heaton goes over show more and over the case, trying to figure out what went wrong. She is suddenly thrown into the world of lawyers and malpractice insurance and colleagues who want to avoid her.

The reader is also introduced to Marie Heaton’s family and her close friend, another anesthesiologist. As the story progresses we learn more and more about who Dr. Heaton is and how she got to this place in her life. I found the writing engaging, beautifully worded. The author writes beautifully, sentences flowing with great imagery so that you can clearly see the room, feel the heat, picture the person. I do feel the story bogged down just a little in the middle with Dr. Heaton agonizing over the loss of her patient. But then, perhaps that is a very accurate portrait of the despair one feels day-to-day when one has suffered the loss of confidence in one’s job, the loss of stature among one’s colleagues, and when one is embroiled in the politics and intrigue of the big business of health care.

There are surprising twists at the end. Overall I would highly recommend this book for those who enjoy well written medical thrillers. show less

. Fiction about an anesthesiologist whose life changes dramatically when an 8-year-old seemingly healthy girl dies while on the operating table in her care. This, of course, devastates Dr. Marie Heaton and shakes the very foundations of her belief in herself and her ability to do her job, and she begins to spiral downward into a depression. She obsesses over the case, working over and over in her mind and poring over records trying to determine what she might have done differently. She tries to imagine how the girl's mother is feeling and even goes so far as to follow her, trying to see how she is handling things, imagining all the different ways the woman must hate her. But it's also the story of a woman, not just a doctor. Marie's show more relationships with her family are interesting, in some ways wonderful and in others as dysfunctional as you can get. This case helps her to work through some of her own personal issues that are only brought to light with the strain of this case. I suspected something was rotten in Denmark with Jolene Jenson’s death fairly early on, and though I wasn't sure exactly what it was, or who was involved, I wasn't surprised at the outcome. The ending was a bit of a let-down for me, and fairly predictable, I have to say. If not for that, I would give it a full five stars--as it is, I'd give it four-and-a-half. I really enjoyed the author's writing style and thought that she captured the essence of the medical community very well, of the atmosphere in the surgical area--I say this both from the viewpoint of a patient who has had several surgeries as well as from the viewpoint of a nurse. This is not my "usual fare" when it comes to reading books, but it was an excellent change of pace and I do indeed feel richer for having read it. I'll be looking for more work from this author in the future! A- show less