Tengo Sed

A Novel: Literature and Medicine

By: James Fleming

Narrated by: Matthew Dudley

The Trauma ICU of a Level 1 trauma center is the setting for this thought-provoking novel, which reveals the ruthlessness of medical education and practice. James Fleming recounts a day in the life of a resident in emergency medicine at an urban teaching hospital. The novel's title, which translates loosely as I thirst, echoes the Christ of St. John. Tengo Sed's protagonist, however, known only as Hovercraft because he is always around, always feeling on edge, is not a savior but a hapless resident with a tendency toward mysticism. Through Hovercraft's sleep-deprived eyes we see patients and their families, doctors, and nurses, and we share Hovercraft's increasingly nightmarish perceptions of a world in which things are not going right.

©2010 James Fleming (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

ER Intern, No Sleep, & A Coffee Diet

What could go wrong?

Emergency room: urban desert hospital— meet a young ER intern nicknamed Hovercraft. He's thrown into a world about which he had no idea.

Written like a memoir, by an emergency room doctor in Albuquerque this novel doesn’t let up. Every time you think you know what really goes on in triage, the story will throw you for another loop.

This is like Michael Herr’s “Dispatches” for the medical set.

What a profound touching story

This book is so much more than a well written narrative of a Medical Intern’s experience. It is a beautiful story that travels through time and space peering into the lives and experiences of those who’s Fate brings them to an ER in New Mexico.

Fleming’s skilled use of language quickly paints touching portraits of individuals throughout the novel the listener will not soon forget.

The Intern/narrator (who is around 40), while struggling to master his profession and self doubt, possesses a wisdom and depth to be present to those around him. As a result, in the midst of tragedy and death great depth and insight into the human condition, that’s alway striving for meaning and understanding, is revealed in this novel. It will speak to anyone in any profession.

Mathew Dudley, who narrates the story, is excellent and lays out an enjoyable listening experience.