Physical

An American Checkup

By: James McManus

Narrated by: Patrick Frederic

A wild ride through the dark heart of American health and health care, plus sex, drugs, and stem-cell wars.

PHYSICAL is the story of a hard-living, happily married, middle-aged American (the author) who gets a three-day "executive checkup" at the Mayo Clinic and is thereby forced to confront his mortality, not to mention glove-wearing doctors and the pair of dominatrix-esque technicians who supervise his stress test quite strictly. James McManus must understand his revised actuarial odds in the light of his not-so-long-lived forebears and the fact that his youngest children are only six and five years old. He has to survive his own cardiovascular system, inherited habits, and genetic handicaps long enough to see Bea and Grace into adulthood. But with so much at stake, and in spite of his terror of death, he may not have the willpower to follow the Mayo clinicians' advice.

On a related health front, McManus's twenty-nine-year-old daughter, Bridget, has lived with juvenile diabetes since she was four, and the Bush Administration's opposition to the stem-cell research that could save her life makes him feel like he "might have to do something rash." Meanwhile, should he have a vasectomy? Or try for another child, having lost his only son? How much longer will he be able to perform such manly feats without Viagra? Is his grateful wife sleeping with the brilliant opthalmological surgeon who saved their daughter's vision?

PHYSICAL negotiates the political and medical forks in the labyrinth of our health care system and calls for sanity and enlightenment in the stem-cell research wars. It's a no-holds-barred, wrenching, often hilarious portrait of the looming mortality of a privileged generation that can't believe the party's winding down, if not over.

©2006 James McManus; (P)2006 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

<p>“Irresistible . . . His prose is flashy, funny, and unexpectedly erudite . . . the writer's equivalent of a royal flush.” —<i>Time on Positively Fifth Street</i><br><br>“Exhilarating . . . As tension-packed as any thriller . . . A great story. James McManus bet big and won.” —<i>The New York Times Book Review (cover review) on Positively Fifth Street</i><br><br>“Astounding . . . Wildly entertaining.” —<i>Men's Journal on Positively Fifth Street</i><br><br>“An engaging portrait of the tournament from the inside. It's made all the more effective by the author's own reading. His voice has a touch of weariness that helps color passages about the almost endless hours at the poker table. Because McManus is a novelist, he has a strong sense of pacing. And because he is a poet, he is adept at effective word choice. Both are especially effective in the audio version of his book.” —<i>AudioFile magazine on Positively Fifth Street</i><br><br>“Highly rewarding, an entertaining, informative and dramatic yarn, full of twists and turns and sweaty palms, read all the more convincingly by an author who's not just acting the part.” —<i>Dallas Morning News on Positively Fifth Street</i></p>

Very interesting, liked his perspective

I enjoyed this book. It sometimes got a little technical, but was very informative. Being the parent of an adult with juvenile diabetes, I feel this book brings forth and explains a lot of issues we face. Being the spouse of a fifty something male, I enjoyed the "physical" experience, while gaining valuable information!!

Drivel

Just so much tripe and nonsense from a know-it-all left of center journalist. McManus should stick with poker and Vegas murders. I only wish I could get my money back on this one.

Disappointing

The description of this books sounds much better than the reality. The book quickly descends into shrill ad hominem attacks against most members of the conservative ranks. Unfortunately, this means the issues most interesting to me are given short shrift. Worse yet, although the author could not have known it at the time, his counter-example of the work done in Korea on stem cells has turned out to be fraudulent. Altogether, very disappointing.