An Irish Country Doctor
Patrick Taylor
Forge Paperback. First published 2004
James Herriot with his immensely popular series of books about a veterinary surgeon's travails in Yorkshire is clearly the forerunner, if not the inspiration for this book and the two ('An Irish Country Village' and 'An Irish Country Christmas') that apparently followed it. Barry Laverty, obviously a thinly disguised version of Taylor himself, goes to a northern Irish (i.e. Ulster) village with the unlikely name of Ballybucklebo, immediately after his medical degree at Belfast, to take up his first job as assistant to the well-established Dr. O'Reilly. The latter is large hearty country doctor, fond of taking even imaginary illnesses seriously, but dishing out placebos and nostrums to treat them. There follow the expected, but mild, clashes between 'modern' medicine and the more earthy and holistic treatments of Dr. O'Reilly. Both systems chalk up a couple of victories each. Interspersed with these extracts from a medical notebook are many 'charming' anecdotes about the eccentric villagers and their doings. We are also given tales of Laverty's attempts to woo an independent and career-minded civil engineer.
The book is very light. No serious issues are addressed. The troubles of Northern Ireland between Protestants and Catholics, that came to an uneasy end sometime towards the end of the last century, the period in which the story is set, are mentioned in passing, and do not impinge on the narrative. The book managed to hold my interest to the end, though almost all the characters and events and their descriptions are easily anticipated. Having avidly read all of Herriot's books, and having only recently read De Bernieres' "Notwithstanding" I was constantly assailed by a sense of deja vu during the time it took me to finish this book. It would be an ideal read for a long train or airplane journey, though.
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