Martina Scholtens

A very readable memoir of sorts. Scholtens reflects on her life as a doctor while working in a refugee clinic in Vancouver. She revisits with one particular family throughout the book and mentions other patients as their visit reflects components of her practice. The book is more about Scholtens as a doctor and mother than about her patients. They are the foil for her reflections and introspection. I wish there had been more depth to her interactions with the patients than her personal/professional realizations, but perhaps that is a reflection of the clinician's life: they only see such small snippets of their patients that there can't be a depth to their story, because so much of it is missing. I'd recommend the book to women who are caught between a challenging profession and home life, who are seeking direction or "self-help" without wanting a self-help book. The book does give some perspective on what it must be like to be a newly arrived refugee, too.… (plus d'informations)