The Spanish Doctor by Matt Cohen

The Spanish Doctor Reviews

• 
  Javier Adan

  Entretenido aunque no termine de leer lo
• 
  Tom

  This book traces the life of Jewish physician, Avram Halevi, from 1391-144. He develops into a gifted surgeon trained at Montpellier and practicing in Spain during the times of the Jewish persecutions there. It extends to the establishment of his family in Kiev.
  
  At times I was reminded of the life of Maimonides, the Jewish Hippocrates except that this chronicle was suffused with the violence and sex of that age.
  
  As we watch the development of this individual, through triumph and despair, the key sentence in the book is delivered by an individual who acted as a rabbi to the Jews of Kiev who encourages Halevi to: "Admit that you are a man who knows himself". This is a reminder that the first field of knowledge described by the ancients was self knowledge. Maimonides would have understood perfectly.
• 
  Richard Rogers

  This is a hard book, but a good one. Well written. Affecting. Not what I expected, frankly, but that's my fault.
  
  This is the story of a Jewish man in 14th Century Spain who becomes a successful doctor. As much as anything, it is a biography, following him across Europe and across the decades of his life. It is also the story of the violence against Jews at that time in Spain and France and Italy and elsewhere, and the intolerable choice they were given--convert, giving up your identity, or face extermination at the hands of the mob, which was fully supported by the church. And, if you convert, be ready to be hated and attacked anyway.
  
  There was one more choice: move away, losing everything, but still face the same violence in another country, sooner or later.
  
  It is suffocating and horrifying to read about Avram Halevi and how he tried to navigate a world that hated him from birth. Before birth, really, as he was conceived when a Christian rioter raped his mother. This theme continued throughout. There were no right choices for him or for his people. There was no "Just leave us alone" option. There was no hiding. There was only murder and destruction, followed by the survivors rebuilding and moving on.
  
  This is novel is more literary than I expected; I took it for more of a genre novel, historical fiction with a triumphant hero sort of thing, but it's not that. As a result, the pacing is different than I looked for, the story and conflict broader. But I liked it, despite my scant appreciation, usually, for literary novels. The writing is spectacular, the canvas is wide, the history is engrossing, and I'm glad I gave it a chance.
  
  Some of it is ugly. Some is brutal. Some is tragic. But some is beautiful and even hopeful. I'm gonna hold on to those bits.
  
  Recommended, especially for those who lean toward literary fiction.
• 
  Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~*

  2 1/2 stars
  
  Really had a hard time with this one.
  Way too much political religion for me to grasp.
  Leans more towards literary fiction..if that's your cuppa.
  Long winded,dragged..then got into some scenes not for the squeamish.
  Cover fooled me, thought it would have had romance that would have kept my attention at least.
  Took me forever to finish it :(
• 
  Paky

  Está bien, el tema y la trama resultan atractivos, pero el ritmo narrativo y las descripciones de personajes y ambiente de la época, no llega al nivel de otras novelas históricas del medievo.
• 
  Carly Svamvour

  Discarded from my collection Oct 2k10 - might read it sometime . . . dunno'.
  
• 
  Ángela Santander

  7