Medical novel dissects life in ICU

Tengo Sed is the equivalent of a doctor’s stethoscope — preliminary, unobtrusive, yet still useful.
The first novel written by James Fleming, an assistant professor at UNM’s School of Medicine, strips the dramatized action that typifies ER units shows.

The novel’s main character and narrator is Hovercraft, a new doctor who at 43 years old finds himself constantly doubting his abilities. As he makes his rounds and attends to patients, Hovercraft’s introspections explore what it means to be New Mexican and what it means to be a human in the medical world.

Sadly, the novel is about as deep as an episode of Scrubs in its examination of the human question in the medical world.  Hovercraft is a lot like Scrubs’ Dr. Dorian, actually. Often, he is distracted by daydreams and struggles to come to terms with his emotional attachment to his patients.

Unlike Dorian, however, Hovercraft’s humanity holds him back as a doctor. Even if Hovercraft’s search for answers to the human question come up empty, his bleak perspective on emergency medicine comes across as superiorly realistic compared to any other media portrayal of medicine.
The novel’s Albuquerque setting allows it to explore Catholic imagery and symbolism in a way that seems relevant. But the novel isn’t entirely orthodox: Hovercraft’s Trinity is Jesus Christ, Bob Dylan and Plato. These three characters pepper the novel with probing questions that, even if Fleming doesn’t develop them, are at least stimulating to the reader.

Still, the novel has its problems, and one of the biggest lies in its similes and metaphors. They’re are not complex, and, for the most part, they are actually quite easy to understand for the average university student. 

Problem is, there are far too many of them. They clutter the page like black paint splattered across a canvas. Because there are so many similes and metaphors, most of the similes feel forced, and most of the metaphors are underdeveloped.
Early in the novel, for example, Fleming introduces a character named TA Pizza who is “almost like Achilles.”  Later, a rival is introduced in another doctor, Hector. Fleming sets the stage for an epic battle, but does not deliver. Fleming’s Achilles and Hector never raise a spear against each other.

That’s not to say that every metaphor or simile in the novel is lost, however. 
The good ones really shine, like the comparison between the Trauma ICU and the Titanic. The novel’s best metaphor is the way Hovercraft constantly compares himself to Christ. 

As a doctor, it is significant that he sees himself not as the Christ of Bethesda, but as the Christ of Golgotha. His failure as a doctor lies in his attempts to save souls, rather than lives. The novel’s successful doctors are able to separate the life from the soul. Hovercraft cannot, and therefore he cannot thrive in the medical world.

Ultimately, Hovercraft is a failure as a doctor, but the novel itself is a success. If readers can get past the plethora of tired similes and
underdeveloped metaphors, Tengo Sed provides a fresh, realistic look into the world of the Trauma ICU.