A Case of Need is Michael Crichton's Edgar award-winning debut novel, written shortly after he completed his medical internship. Set against the ever-building pressure and pace of a large Boston medical center, the tensions flare-and explode-when a surgical operation tragically ends in death, raising countless questions. Was it accidental malpractice? A violation of the Hippocratic oath? Or cold-blooded murder?
Review:
And alas it seems I have read my last Crichton novel. I had hoped to go out with a bang in this regard, but this book's fuse fizzled out prior to detonation. Why? I'm so glad you asked.
1. Pacing/Intensity. A Case of Need was very slow all the way through, to the point that I got bored at times. So I hoped beyond hope that there would be a nice intense finish like there was in Rising Sun, but no, the climax wasn't really intense either.
2. Muddled Morality. So the hot topic Crichton tries to discuss here is abortion. Remember, this book is from the 1960s, a time when abortion was still illegal in Massachusetts. So is abortion wrong? Crichton says it's not so long as the pregnancy is either inconvenient or detrimental to the mother's health. If the pregnancy doesn't meet those conditions, THEN aborting it is wrong. I have a serious problem with this, since I am completely pro-life. I believe that human life starts at conception and intentionally ending that life at any time after that is murder. Crichton's views though, are neither fully pro-life nor fully pro-abortion; they are somewhere in between, but more on the side of abortion. Crichton also vilifies the pro-life - especially Catholics - throughout the book. There is nothing more distasteful than when authors insult, vilify, or otherwise ostracize people based on religion.
3. Characters. I hate it when authors have a protagonist with an annoying personality. Alex Scarrow did it in A Thousand Suns, and Crichton did it here. The protagonist starts out likeable enough, but by the end of the book he's downright irritating. Also, one of the antagonists isn't introduced until the last minute, so his character is never fully fleshed out/revealed.
4. Ending/Twists. The ending, and the twists it involved, was never properly/fully explained so it really flops in a way that's hard to describe.
A Case of Need is probably my least favorite out of all the books I've read by Crichton. As a book, it's still palatable though, so long as one can see past his views on abortion. Recommended to fans of House or ER (a show which Crichton actually created).
3/5 stars
Abortion is a sensitive topic, so if the author was insulting either side, then SHAME ON HIM. That's completely disrespectful. Personally, I am somewhere in the middle, but definitely more so on the pro-life side.
ReplyDeleteWhen an unborn child is killed, it's essentially murder. So if the mother was irresponsible enough to get pregnant, they should take responsibility for their actions and have the child even if it's causing them pain/death.
The reason why I'm still teetering in the middle is because there are certain circumstances where abortion may be 'necessary' (using that word very loosely, since once again, sensitive topic that really depends on perspective).
Due to a mother's actions, their children may be forced to live their entire lives in poverty, may be sold as slaves or worse. If your child would simply be 'surviving' their entire existence instead of 'living' should they be allowed to die?
In the end, that should be up to them, but obviously, they can't make that decision. Then there's the situation with rape, but I won't elaborate since this comment is WAY too long already. Final note: In my opinion, giving people the choice to kill is wrong and evil, but sadly it may be a necessary evil in certain circumstances.
Sorry for my rant. My brain saw the abortion topic and ran with it. Hopefully, nothing in this post was offensive in any way, that was certainly not my intention at all.
I didn't find that offensive. It just didn't very much to do with the book XD. No big deal.
DeleteOh...right...*coughs* well, your review was good. :D
DeleteThere, comment about the book added. XD
I just kind of went into full out rant mode there. My bad. :)
Hopefully you'll find some awesomely action-packed book that'll make you feel better about this one.
:)
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