A Young Doctor’s Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov

The Notebook has seven short stories based on the notes of a young Russian doctor (Bulgakov) and then a second book ‘Morphine’ describes the experience of another young (though we believe fictitious) doctor yet possibly based on Bulgakov’s own experience.

Some of our group were initially concerned about the subject thinking it might be full of the blood, guts and gore of the operating theatre. Their fears turned out to be unfounded and the book was, in fact, an excellent account of life in rural Russia at the start of the last century.

Bulgakov uses plain language to great descriptive effect. He makes excellent, often humorous, descriptions that are genuine and authentic.  He shares his own concerns in an honest, straight-forward style and leaves the reader a little more able to imagine what life must have been like for Russian peasants. Particularly striking are his descriptions of the harsh winter weather and blizzard conditions a doctor would have to travel in to make emergency calls.

Morphine is more haunting than the Notebook and some of the group found it quite boring as it ‘goes on a bit’.

Because each member of our group sources their own copy of each book we read we can have quite an array of different editions when a classic book is chosen. For this book we had two different translated versions. The original translation (A Country Doctor's Notebook) was much straighter in its language than The Young Doctor's Notebook so, for example: The Embroidered Towel became The Towel with the Cockerel Motif.

Despite the differences both versions of the book leave the reader feeling that Mikhail Bulgakov was a conscientious, compassionate man who had a great willingness to learn and was humble and intelligent enough to know when to take advice from others in his team who had more experience.  

Would we recommend this book? Yes, definitely although possibly not for a book group choice as it doesn't lead to extensive discussion.

Our next book and meeting are: Pure by Andrew Miller which we will be discussing on at 8.15pm on Tuesday 9th July. We hope to meet at Gatehangers as usual but that will depend on the new landlords. Sian will host and we will confirm venue with the next book choice.