Oxygen
Carol Cassella
Reviewed by Susan Wiggs
Physician Carol Cassella’s haunting debut novel has generated a lot of pre-pub buzz — for good reason. It’s exactly the sort of book that gets people excited — fresh and different, something you can’t wait to share with a friend or better yet, with your book group. It’s a clear-your-schedule and turn-off-the-phone novel, the kind you want to hide away and read straight through to the end.
OXYGEN tells the story of Dr. Marie Heaton, a gifted anaesthesiologist facing a doctor’s worst nightmare — dealing with the fallout after something in the O.R. goes terribly wrong. It’s not a thriller, although a sense of impending danger and doom pervades each scene, building to a stunning and inexorable climax. Nor is it a medical procedural, though the book pulls aside the curtains on the mysterious and frightening (to lay people, anyway) workings of the operating room. OXYGEN is a story of tragedy and redemption, intricately plotted and told in a compelling voice that will keep you riveted to the page.
Marie is a woman you’ll recognize — deeply committed to her profession, connected to her sometimes-difficult family, a woman hiding passion behind a facade of quiet restraint. She is almost hyper-vigilant when on the job, almost as though to make up for the fact that she’s bypassed a rich personal life of love and family. Her one-time lover, the sexy and enigmatic Joe Hillary, is now her colleague and best friend. The change in their relationship is a hint at Marie’s emotional dilemmas as well as a key element in the plot. Her demanding and judgmental father manages to complicate matters, even as he unravels old issues from the past and, in a scene of stunning insight, points Marie toward finding a resolution for the present situation.
Cassella’s precise narrative style perfectly mirrors the workings of a gifted physician’s mind. With blade-sharp insight, she lays bare the failings of a well-run but flawed hospital and the larger health-care system. When a routine procedure goes horribly wrong, Marie finds herself in the midst of a storm that threatens her career, her self-confidence and the choices she’s made inside and out of the O.R. The ending is deeply emotional, resonating with powerful sentiment yet never sentimental. And it’s just right for this character — unexpected, yet inevitable. It’s an ending that will have you reaching for the Kleenex, then flipping back to the beginning to discover just how cleverly the trap was set. If you're like me, you'll be clamoring for a sequel about a key secondary character.
I loved this book the way I loved MIDWIVES by Chris Bohjalian. I imagine there will also be favorable comparisons to THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER, or maybe THE LOVELY BONES. The publisher describes this book as "Atul Gawande meets Jodi Picoult," an awkward but apt shorthand to tell the reader that it combines the literary medical voice of the former with the tautly wound psychological drama of the latter. Yet Cassella writes with a quiet precision and grace all her own, firmly establishing herself as a talent to watch.
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About the Reviewer:
Susan Wiggs's latest novel is JUST BREATHE. She has 3 RITA Awards, 2 feature film options, a master's degree and a lifelong love affair with the written word. She lives on the beach on an island in Puget Sound and her life, like her books, is filled with friends, family and the inevitable canine companion.
Please find her on the web at www.susanwiggs.com and www.susanwiggs.wordpress.com.
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