On This Page
Description
Richard Gordon's life was moving rapidly towards middle-aged lethargy - or so he felt. Employed as an assistant in general practice - the medical equivalent of a poor curate - and having been 'persuaded' that marriage is as much an obligation for a young doctor as celibacy for a priest, Richard sees the rest of his life stretching before him. Losing his nerve, and desperately in need of an antidote, he instead signs on with the Fathom Steamboat Company. What follows is a hilarious tale of show more nautical diseases and assorted misadventures at sea. Yet he also becomes embroiled in a mystery - what is in the Captain's stomach remedy? And more to the point, what on earth happened to the previous doctor? show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Doctor at Sea - Richard Gordon ***
Although not usually a massive fan of the comedy novel , there have been a few exceptions over the years. I recently started reading David Nobbs and James Herriot and was advised to give Richard Gordon a try. These books seem to come from the same sort of time period and also spawned a run of successful films based on the books. Doctor at Sea was the first one I came across so decided to give it a try, it was only when I read other reviews that I found out that maybe this wasn’t the best one to start with. Apparently even though this is the second in the series it doesn’t really fit in with the other books and is more of an autobiographical stand alone novel.
We follow the author as he completes a 3 show more month stint as ships surgeon aboard a Steamboat Company vessel. The majority of the book is made of anecdotes regarding the various characters he encounters and their medical problems whilst trying to keep his sanity whilst most of those around him are losing theirs. For me the book just wasn’t all that funny, I found the main character a bit too full of himself and at times just annoying. In books like this I think the narrator needs to have a certain warmth so we care about what is happening to him, I just didn’t feel any of that and therefore didn’t really want to read on. It is a shame because there were a number of side characters that I really did enjoy reading about, and these made me want to finish the book. I suppose I was hoping for more of a ‘Carry on’ type of read with a lot of laugh out loud jokes and predicaments, instead I got a book that was possibly trying to be a bit more intelligent that it needed to be.
A bit of a disappointment, obviously I have to take into account the age of the book and that it hasn’t really dated all that well. I don’t think I will be reading any other books in the Doctor series, but I can see why some people may enjoy them. 3 stars (barely). show less
Although not usually a massive fan of the comedy novel , there have been a few exceptions over the years. I recently started reading David Nobbs and James Herriot and was advised to give Richard Gordon a try. These books seem to come from the same sort of time period and also spawned a run of successful films based on the books. Doctor at Sea was the first one I came across so decided to give it a try, it was only when I read other reviews that I found out that maybe this wasn’t the best one to start with. Apparently even though this is the second in the series it doesn’t really fit in with the other books and is more of an autobiographical stand alone novel.
We follow the author as he completes a 3 show more month stint as ships surgeon aboard a Steamboat Company vessel. The majority of the book is made of anecdotes regarding the various characters he encounters and their medical problems whilst trying to keep his sanity whilst most of those around him are losing theirs. For me the book just wasn’t all that funny, I found the main character a bit too full of himself and at times just annoying. In books like this I think the narrator needs to have a certain warmth so we care about what is happening to him, I just didn’t feel any of that and therefore didn’t really want to read on. It is a shame because there were a number of side characters that I really did enjoy reading about, and these made me want to finish the book. I suppose I was hoping for more of a ‘Carry on’ type of read with a lot of laugh out loud jokes and predicaments, instead I got a book that was possibly trying to be a bit more intelligent that it needed to be.
A bit of a disappointment, obviously I have to take into account the age of the book and that it hasn’t really dated all that well. I don’t think I will be reading any other books in the Doctor series, but I can see why some people may enjoy them. 3 stars (barely). show less
This was one my favourite books in the Doctor in the House series.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
54+ Works 1,780 Members
Gordon Ostlere was born on September 15, 1921 in England. He was a surgeon and anaesthetist at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. He wrote several technical books under his own name including Anaesthetics for Medical Students, Anaesthetics and the Patient, and Trichlorethylene Anaesthesia. He also wrote novels, screenplays, and accounts of show more popular history under the pen name Richard Gordon. He became a full-time author in 1952. He books included the Doctor series of novels, The Alarming History of Medicine, and The Alarming History of Sex. He died on August 11, 2017 at the age of 95. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Il dottore in mare
- Original title
- Doctor at Sea
- Original publication date
- 1953
- Important places
- Atlantic Ocean; South Atlantic Ocean
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 108
- Popularity
- 300,210
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.92)
- Languages
- 5 — Czech, Dutch, English, German, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 13
- ASINs
- 8
