Read: Yes
Length: III
Quick Review: A sweet tale about the finding the beauty in a small town.
Patrick Taylor writes about Northern Ireland and doctors with authenticity because he’s a retired doctor from Northern Ireland.
An Irish Country Doctor is a sweet story. None of his writing feels trite or imaginative but grounded in reality, which is how I like my novels. Even though the town of Ballybucklebo is imagined, it is obvious Taylor has native experience with the region and people he’s inhabiting.
Ballybucklebo remains deeply rooted in their traditions and heritage. Doctor O’Reilly is the esteemed and trusted village doctor. It’s 1964, and the world is changing. O’Reilly brings young Doctor Barry Laverty into the fold as his assistant bringing with him new medicine and point of view. The town is inhabited by a group of highly eccentric yet totally lovable villagers. Barry is put off at first by O’Reilly’s unconventional treatments and rather bizarre medical practice in general. At a shocking pace, Barry is taken in by the community and begins to fall in love with the entire profession of General Practice in a small village.
The novel is full of Irish phrases and Taylor’s own unique word plays. It’s hard not to be drawn into his prose. His style is straightforward, but there are lots of descriptive bits. Normally, I am not a fan of too much descriptors, but Taylor is not excessive nor too flowery.
Ireland is a majority Catholic country, and was just as conservatively Catholic as you can imagine in the 1960’s. Taylor deals with issues that were prevalent during the time – and today, as well. The plot is thickened with touches of pregnancy out of wedlock, birth control pills, abortion, poverty, deadbeat dads, among other things. If the novel were any shorter, the abundance of hot button issues would have been a bit much; however at 429 pages set in a poor village, it’s appropriate. Taylor has touches of feminism as the books is riddled with strong female characters including a female civil engineer student. Even the aging Doctor O’Reilly is pro birth control, pro choice, and tells husbands to help their wives with the children.
The story is a sweet one allowing you to escape into a lovely small village of Northern Ireland. Every storyline wraps up with a nice, neat bow.
Memorable Quotes:
“Sometimes we doctors aren’t much better than a bunch of Druids.”
Title: An Irish Country Doctor
Author: Patrick Taylor
Publisher: Forge Books
Copyright: 2004
ISBN: 9780765368249
