The Physician by Noah Gordon

Book:  The Physician 

Author:  Noah Gordon

Grade:  B+ 

Recommended To:  People who like epic novels 

The Physician was a beautiful find from the Amazon Kindle Daily Deal.  I got this for .99 cents and really enjoyed it.  I wrote that last post about hating everything I've read recently, but this book was the exception.

The Physician is an epic novel about the life of Rob Cole  in the middle ages.  The book starts in his childhood when Cole is orphaned and then becomes an apprentice to a barber-surgeon who teaches him how to deceive people for extra tips and how to  amputate fingers properly.  Cole eventually desires to become an actual physician and pretends to be Jewish in order to be accepted at the famous Muslim medical school in Persia.  Essentially, this book is about Cole's entire life, his encounters, studies, patients, and eventually his return to England.   It is an epic novel spanning 900+ pages and took me about two weeks to finish.

This book is also a beautiful study in the interplay between religious during this time period.  Rob must secretly study Jewish traditions and practices in order to pass as Jewish when he gets to Persia and the author does a lovely job of describing the Jewish faith.

This author must have put a tremendous amount of work into studying this time period and the very beginnings of medical study and it shows in his writing, his descriptions and the dialogue.  This is a very comprehensive read and I've discovered that Gordon wrote two other books in this "Cole Trilogy."  

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a very in depth historical fiction read about medicine, healing, and faith.  It was beautifully written and all-encompassing and I truly enjoyed reading it.

Happy Reading!!