I guess many readers may open this book expecting a sort of hybrid of James Herriot mixed with Adam Kay. Sad to say, any such expectations will be doomed to disappointment. It’s not that the book lacks humour, there are enough laugh out loud moments to satisfy this requirement. It’s just that the ‘tone’ of the book occasionally jars too sharply. There is a very difficult balance to be struck by a doctor writing a book such as this, and ‘Dr Sparrow’ perhaps doesn’t always get this balance right. Adam Kay has demonstrated that the rather black humour for which the medical profession is notorious needn’t stand in the way of achieving that elusive balance. The almost mandatory arrows directed to the (admittedly crucifying) stresses and trials of medical training as a junior doctor do not strike a false note, so what is it that misses the target?

This is always going to be a highly subjective opinion but, for this reader, at least, there are one or two episodes that ought to have been edited out, and, perhaps, a little too much effort devoted to establishing a ‘Jack the Lad’ persona through some (exaggerated?) accounts. This reader found those episodes that allowed the professional trying to do his best for his patients to be seen, albeit with a carefully attuned ear for the humour to be found in the everyday, could have been given greater prominence at the expense of some of the less attractive episodes.

However, there is sufficient in the book to maintain the reader’s interest, and a good supply of merriment. It may be Michael Sparrow’ misfortune that James Herriot and Adam Kay, in their different ways, have set the bar quite high.

This follows Michael Sparrow the author and General Practitioner in the English Countryside. While reading the first twenty percent of this book I wondered why anyone would want this man as a doctor.
But as the story progress he gets better at his craft. This follows him from school through a stint in the RAF with time spent in Belize. As he comes back to the English Countryside it takes you in to a side of medicine that many may not get to experience leaving in farm and ranch community were a house call maybe twenty minutes away. These place so small that a trip is not wasted such as the office secretary may drop off a couple prescriptions to patients along the way. There were times that he even as had the opportunity to try his hand at being a vet like the time he had patient whose dog was struggling and come to find out he had a couple of fingers stuck in his throat. For a while I was wondering were the humor was going to come it took a while but ii is there depending on your interpretation it maybe a little disturbing. There is a chapter that also deals with what happens to these givers of life when the they fall off the rails. This is worth a read and I would recommend it.
I received an ARC from Netgalley for a fair and honest review. I see that this book has been released a few times in the past so it must be the most current version coming.

If you were hoping that Michael Sparrow would prove to be another James Herriot then I am sorry you are going to be disappointed, he isn’t!. He does try with loads of stories from his career in medicine from medical school, through RAF into general practice in Devon thats the problem there are just so many stories if maybe they were a little longer, more believable even, then it would have been so much better. There is no doubt that he tells a good tale and he has experienced more in his lifetime than probable the rest of us can only dream about, it is just that we dream and are maybe envious. Like most doctors, for some reason, he thinks only they work long unsocial hours, that they are underpaid and overworked but we don’t need reminding of his opinion quite so often thank you. Not a book I would read twice and nor will I seek out the next instalment but you may enjoy it so give it a go and make your own mind up.

I think my expectations were too high and I expected a sort of James Herriot type of stories.
Unfortunately I was wrong and even if it made laugh at times the book didn't keep my attention.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

An interesting read about a country doctor (obviously). An easy book to pick up and to put down. Had it's moments, and if I was more in the medical field may have meant more. Didn't find a lot funny, so may just be me. Would recommend.

This book didn't grab my attention at all. It felt forced and wasn't very enjoyable. I stuck with it to the end so I could give as positive review as I could but it just didn't work for me

An easy read - nice to read when you need to switch off a bit. Started off a bit oddly, going back and forth but the stories he told were genuinely funny.

The first part of this book could aptly be titled The (Mostly) Drunken Mishaps and Adventures of an Accidental Doctor. After a lackluster academic showing, and for reasons that aren't quite clear, the author settled on a career in medicine where he apparently never let a little thing like medical school interfere with a chance to visit the local pub. Any chance to visit any pub. To the point that, if he is to be believed, he was drunk or hungover on duty a great deal of the time. He comes across as obnoxious, rude, and mostly unconcerned with much of anything but himself.

That pretty much sums things up until around the 43% mark (according to my trusty Kindle).

It's at that point that the doctor, now in the RAF, is stationed in Belize. Things get much more interesting from here on in... Mostly because the focal point of the stories are someone other than the doctor himself. Makes for much better reading.

After the Belize portion of the book we finally get around to the promised anecdotes of a country doctor. That part is okay. By this time the author has done such a great job of presenting himself as an obnoxious jerk who finds humor at the expense of others (including his own patients) that he and his reminisces are just about irredeemable. Between snarky commentary and bouts of self-pity on the imposition of having to administer to patients this book falls far short of entertaining.

I realize that some of it is most likely intended as tongue-in-cheek humor - the problem is that it doesn't succeed at it.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Perhaps I was expecting this book to be more like the James Herriot books that I read from days of old. Whatever it is, I am rather disappointed. I had no interest in reading about the students days which took up about a quarter of the book,

Still, this book may amuse medical students and others in the medical world. It was just not for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Duckworth Books for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Had so been looking forward to reading this one. But found it awful to read. Very badly written. So very glad he was not my doctor that’s all I can say. It was uninteresting and dragged on

fun, medical-doctor, situational-humor, verbal-humor, reminiscences, England*****

Can you imagine a physician who doesn't think he's God Almighty and has all the answers in the universe even though he couldn't correctly diagnose an ear infection using an otoscope? Well, this well seasoned General Practice physician (now known as a Family Practice Physician) is just that miracle. This self effacing humorist covers his professional life from med school onward into a rural practice in the English countryside where he learned as much from his patients as they did from him, all with his tongue firmly in cheek. Even though I am of similar vintage, a nurse, and an American I could easily relate and laughed my sox off throughout the book. Loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Duckworth Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

I love books like this, I have read many similar over the years.
As soon as I saw this on Netgalley I hoped they would let me have an advance copy as I was looking forward to reading all of the funny and bizarre stories that would happen to a Country GP.
I actually work with a GP called Dr Sparrow so found it hard not to continually think of him in my head reading it.
The Dr Sparrow from this book made me laugh out loud, cringe in a few occasions but in a I can't believe you did that manner and made me wish we could chat over a beer listening to some of these.
I really wish the start was a little more condensed and we heard more about his latter days as a proper Country GP. Some of the book is a little jumbled and could do with rearranging in a better order, some parts hard to follow.

I enjoyed it and could see through th jumble and bravado. I will go and read his 2 others.

I was somewhat disappointed by this book. It didn't flow well, seeming to be just a collection of anecdotes, some of which were funny, others similar to ones heard before and the rest plain exasperating. I was hoping for a book more like the Vernon Coleman series about a country GP, which was probably why I found it a bit hard going. It concentrated too much on his medical student days, when he seemed to spend little time actually training and more often getting drunk, plus his time in the RAF and not, as the title suggests in his country practice. The book also flitted about chronologically, one eventually settled down to tales of the countryside and then stories of his time in the RAF came back. He did seem to get a little more compassionate and responsible towards the end but I'm just rather glad he's not my GP. It wasn't for me but possibly worth a go for a dip in and out lighthearted book.

Fun read, occasionally cringe-worthy

I enjoyed this book. Some of the anecdotes are funny, some are sarcastic, but all are informative. At the start of the book, author Michael Sparrow comes across as insensitive and incompetent. Some of the anecdotes were truly cringe-worthy and at a certain point, I wondered if the book was worth reading. The answer for me turned out to be a resounding YES. When Sparrow’s humanity starts to show, he becomes the type of author one wants to have coffee or beer with. Overall, it is a great book and I recommend it.

I found this amusing but just a little bit self indulgent. There was a distinct lack of country anecdotes considering the title!!

I’m kind of glad that Michael Sparrow, the author of the memoir Country Doctor, is not my doctor. He declares more than once that he doesn’t know what he’s doing, that he spent a lot of his med school years drinking, and is frequently irritated by his patients. On the other, I would love to spend an afternoon in a pub with Sparrow as he recounts his uproarious misadventures as a Royal Air Force doctor in Belize and general practitioner in Devon and Cornwall.

There is a narrative, of sorts, to Country Doctor. Sparrow shares his bumpy road to becoming a doctor, from his ability to dissect earthworms in school, to his madcap school days, through his air force career, to being a GP in a cushy county in southern England. From page to page, however, Sparrow is more likely to tell his readers brief stories about weird patients, reckless men from the RAF, and his drunken shenanigans with his fellow students. Some of these stories are barely a page long and are more like vignettes than anything else. This is a good book for people looking for someone to dip in and out of.

The other thing that comes through Country Doctor is Sparrow’s irrepressible and often inappropriate sense of humor. It’s a wonder that Sparrow doesn’t get beaten up more than he does, given his habit of mouthing off to whoever is bothering him. It’s also a wonder that Sparrow made it through med school and five years of RAF service at all. He frequently says that his supervisors and superior officers are glad to see the back of him when he moves on to his next gig. Sparrow’s jokes and pranks are all (well, mostly) forgivable because he has one thing that redeems him as a doctor: a wonderful bedside manner. One woman who has a drunk Sparrow to deliver her child tells him while he’s trying to apologize for whatever he did that she’d never laughed harder while she labored.

I’m not all that sure what I think of Sparrow myself. I think I might have loved him if Sparrow was less self-deprecating of his medical skills. He frankly scared me more than once as he talked about his lack of knowledge. I thought of other doctors from comedies I’ve seen or read, like the crew from M*A*S*H* or from Man’s 4th Best Hospital. Sparrow is not quite in the league of those hilarious, flawed, genius doctors. But then, in rural Devon, Sparrow doesn’t have to be Hawkeye Pierce. He just needs to know his patients. Sparrow may not know the bones of the human body, but no one knows his patients better…or is more willing to take the piss out of them as needed.

I just did not finish the book. It was not at all what I expected or it was described to be. Just felt he was full of himself, and didn't care much about anyone.
Thanks, NetGalley for the advance copy to review.

1 STAR

This book is horrifying, not hysterical. Dr. Sparrow thinks very highly of himself and seems oddly proud that he only passed medical school due to the professors not wanting him around anymore. He thinks it is amusing to downgrade and belittle such an honorable profession. I am utterly astonished that anyone found this book funny and/or worth printing. It is beyond drivel.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.