Michelle Johnston
Autor de Dustfall: A Novel
Obras de Michelle Johnston
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Tiny Uncertain Miracles is a miracle sitting right on the shelf of your local bookshop. It combines faith, science, relationships, loss and meaning in a gleaming package that is never dull. It’s wry, witty, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful. I was surprised at the impact it had on me, from memories of a place in my past to my own family. It’s simply a novel you must read if you enjoy the beauty of detailed scenes and exquisite rendering of characters.
The main character is Marick, a chaplain who is basically forced from his role in a large church in the city into taking a job at a large (both physically and in terms of bed numbers) city hospital. He’s the only chaplain to cover all faiths due to budget cuts. His role isn’t really defined, but he’s told almost immediately that he must meet his KPIs which seem to be collecting patient stickers as ‘proof’ of his attendance. (Sadly, Marick doesn’t seem to have been taught the rule of stickers – the closer the sticker is to your nose, the more important it is). It’s an odd introduction as Marick is added to the medical emergency team to offer comfort (to who? When?) as well as assisting families and patients in their hour of need. Marick walks the corridors of the hospital and its joins between buildings (think deserted underground tunnels and corridors that are piled with equipment) and discovers Hugo, just at his moment of triumph. In a laundry converted to a lab in a basement, Hugo has some special bacteria (E.coli to be particular). They just happen to be growing gold. A friendship starts between Marick and Hugo and his wife Vivian. In the meantime, Hugo makes friends with Dolly, the matriarch of the volunteer shop (WHICH DOES NOT SELL CHOCOLATE due to regulations, but instead tuna and crackers. If you’ve ever been incredibly hungry in a hospital at 3am, these still do not tempt you. In fact, the paint looks more appetising). He also meets an emergency department physician who keeps appearing in the most unexpected of places, seeking her own solace.
Meanwhile, the city’s humidity builds and rumours of the golden bacteria grow, culminating in a Christmas standoff outside the hospital. Just as everything seems to go wrong for Marick, Hugo and Dolly, there is a glimmer of hope on the other side…
All the characters in Tiny Uncertain Miracles are memorable and finely drawn. Marick’s back story is told gradually and was rather unexpected (just shows that jumping to conclusions is wrong). He’s initially a bit of a lost figure, but grows as he finds his new life, friends and hope. Hugo is a funny one. He’s complex, prone to big emotion and a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to ethics and fidelity (as is Vivian, his wife, but she’s a lot bolder in her jabs). Dolly is just adorable. I’m sure that she secretly runs the hospital the way she wants it and her own Christmas epiphany, although misguided, made a lot of sense from the heart (and the electrolyte disturbances). The hospital is also a character here. A myriad of add ons, basements and secret (or forgotten sections) it has a life of its own beyond the workers. It’s really only Marick and the ED physician who see this (the staff don’t really seem to have the time). If you know or have worked at a certain hospital in the centre of a capital city in the West, you will recognise some similarities. As second generation staff, I certainly did and it brought back a lot of memories. The basement clinics, the library archives and lost offices and rooms. Getting lost. The secret offices and the rooms that look not have been touched since 1969. Opening up a door to a secret courtyard or equipment graveyard. The tunnels (very, very creepy). The basement reminded me of my Grandma as did the Croatian cleaner, Lilyana and some of her history. It was a wild ride and testament of the power of Michelle’s words to bring that building to life.
Overall, Tiny Uncertain Miracles combines faith and science and friendship and love in a way that is alchemy. It’s a wonderful novel full of emotion and beauty.
Thank you to Harper Collins for the copy of this book. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (más)
The main character is Marick, a chaplain who is basically forced from his role in a large church in the city into taking a job at a large (both physically and in terms of bed numbers) city hospital. He’s the only chaplain to cover all faiths due to budget cuts. His role isn’t really defined, but he’s told almost immediately that he must meet his KPIs which seem to be collecting patient stickers as ‘proof’ of his attendance. (Sadly, Marick doesn’t seem to have been taught the rule of stickers – the closer the sticker is to your nose, the more important it is). It’s an odd introduction as Marick is added to the medical emergency team to offer comfort (to who? When?) as well as assisting families and patients in their hour of need. Marick walks the corridors of the hospital and its joins between buildings (think deserted underground tunnels and corridors that are piled with equipment) and discovers Hugo, just at his moment of triumph. In a laundry converted to a lab in a basement, Hugo has some special bacteria (E.coli to be particular). They just happen to be growing gold. A friendship starts between Marick and Hugo and his wife Vivian. In the meantime, Hugo makes friends with Dolly, the matriarch of the volunteer shop (WHICH DOES NOT SELL CHOCOLATE due to regulations, but instead tuna and crackers. If you’ve ever been incredibly hungry in a hospital at 3am, these still do not tempt you. In fact, the paint looks more appetising). He also meets an emergency department physician who keeps appearing in the most unexpected of places, seeking her own solace.
Meanwhile, the city’s humidity builds and rumours of the golden bacteria grow, culminating in a Christmas standoff outside the hospital. Just as everything seems to go wrong for Marick, Hugo and Dolly, there is a glimmer of hope on the other side…
All the characters in Tiny Uncertain Miracles are memorable and finely drawn. Marick’s back story is told gradually and was rather unexpected (just shows that jumping to conclusions is wrong). He’s initially a bit of a lost figure, but grows as he finds his new life, friends and hope. Hugo is a funny one. He’s complex, prone to big emotion and a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to ethics and fidelity (as is Vivian, his wife, but she’s a lot bolder in her jabs). Dolly is just adorable. I’m sure that she secretly runs the hospital the way she wants it and her own Christmas epiphany, although misguided, made a lot of sense from the heart (and the electrolyte disturbances). The hospital is also a character here. A myriad of add ons, basements and secret (or forgotten sections) it has a life of its own beyond the workers. It’s really only Marick and the ED physician who see this (the staff don’t really seem to have the time). If you know or have worked at a certain hospital in the centre of a capital city in the West, you will recognise some similarities. As second generation staff, I certainly did and it brought back a lot of memories. The basement clinics, the library archives and lost offices and rooms. Getting lost. The secret offices and the rooms that look not have been touched since 1969. Opening up a door to a secret courtyard or equipment graveyard. The tunnels (very, very creepy). The basement reminded me of my Grandma as did the Croatian cleaner, Lilyana and some of her history. It was a wild ride and testament of the power of Michelle’s words to bring that building to life.
Overall, Tiny Uncertain Miracles combines faith and science and friendship and love in a way that is alchemy. It’s a wonderful novel full of emotion and beauty.
Thank you to Harper Collins for the copy of this book. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (más)
Every now and again I come across a book so deeply satisfying that I think to myself, Australian publishing is in good hands. So it is with Dustfall, the debut novel of WA doctor Michelle Johnston, and published by UWAP who consistently publish worthwhile novels. On a day that follows an historic decision by the ACCC to lay charges against senior executives of the ANZ bank, I finished this story of Wittenoom and wondered why corporate crime is so rarely held to account. The next day the ANZ story was buried beneath an avalanche of trivia, and the story of a negligent UK doctor is given great prominence. An interesting juxtaposition…
Johnston’s story is framed around two narratives, both featuring doctors who have made mistakes. As Michelle Johnston says in this interview with Amanda Curtin, there’s a world of difference between the way that medical errors and corporate errors are judged and yet the consequences can be equally fatal for individuals.
Dustfall begins with Dr Lou Fitzgerald’s agonised flight from her medical mistake: in a car not suited to outback roads and without any plan except to get away, she hurtles inland from Port Hedland on the WA coast in the Pilbara. South east, three and a half hours away she stumbles into the ghost town of Wittenoom, notorious in Australia as the place which knowingly condemned its workers and inhabitants to cruel deaths from asbestosis and mesothelioma. After years in which the corporate owners of the asbestos mine and government authorities ignored health warnings, the mine was finally closed for economic reasons in 1966.
Along with incentives to encourage residents to leave, from 1978 town services and infrastructure were phased down and Wittenoom was de-gazetted in 2007. As in real life, Lou in the 21st century finds the site has not been rehabilitated because there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos, yet – also as in real life – there is someone living there despite the danger (reminding me of Lois Murphy’s story Soon, which though set in Tasmania, features a group of residents who for various reasons won’t leave a place that is highly dangerous).
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/06/07/dustfall-by-michelle-johnston-bookreview/… (más)
Johnston’s story is framed around two narratives, both featuring doctors who have made mistakes. As Michelle Johnston says in this interview with Amanda Curtin, there’s a world of difference between the way that medical errors and corporate errors are judged and yet the consequences can be equally fatal for individuals.
Dustfall begins with Dr Lou Fitzgerald’s agonised flight from her medical mistake: in a car not suited to outback roads and without any plan except to get away, she hurtles inland from Port Hedland on the WA coast in the Pilbara. South east, three and a half hours away she stumbles into the ghost town of Wittenoom, notorious in Australia as the place which knowingly condemned its workers and inhabitants to cruel deaths from asbestosis and mesothelioma. After years in which the corporate owners of the asbestos mine and government authorities ignored health warnings, the mine was finally closed for economic reasons in 1966.
Along with incentives to encourage residents to leave, from 1978 town services and infrastructure were phased down and Wittenoom was de-gazetted in 2007. As in real life, Lou in the 21st century finds the site has not been rehabilitated because there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos, yet – also as in real life – there is someone living there despite the danger (reminding me of Lois Murphy’s story Soon, which though set in Tasmania, features a group of residents who for various reasons won’t leave a place that is highly dangerous).
"When she opens the car door and the interior light clicks on, she can see that there are scattered rocks near the front wheel. She picks one up, turning it over. It has a silvery seam cut through the middle, and the fibres pull off with little effort. They look like the grizzled hair of an old man, and she realises this is asbestos, right here in her hand. She knows how dangerous the filaments are; that inhaling a single fibre can sound the march of death, so she drops the rock and wipes her hands on her pants, but then thinks, what does it matter anyway?" (p.9-10)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/06/07/dustfall-by-michelle-johnston-bookreview/… (más)
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Set in a busy Perth hospital, it's the story of Marick, a chaplain who's a bit of a lost soul after tragic events in his personal life. These aren't revealed until later in the novel, and that's indicative of contemporary self-absorption: nobody ever asks him anything about himself even though he is so obviously a lonely man. Living in a dingy flat, he is friendless, and not really fit for the job his religious superiors have pushed him into. (They've offloaded him, really.)
Stumbling around in the labyrinthine innards of the hospital as he tries to reinvent himself in a new, only vaguely defined job, Marick struggles with religious doubt and a lack of training for what is really a counselling role. But without knowing it, he has two strengths: he listens, and he thinks before he speaks; and he has a kind heart. Rushing all over the hospital to tend to patients in extremis and their families, he learns that denominational divisions aren't really relevant when people just need someone to care.
Confronted by parents dealing with the urgent need to make a decision about organ harvesting, Marick's instincts turn out to be just what's needed when the husband asks for help because the wife isn't ready to have the conversation.
Alongside his duties as a chaplain, Marick meets up with Hugo, who is breaking all kinds of ethical rules about the research he's supposed to be doing.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/11/01/tiny-uncertain-miracles-2022-by-michelle-joh...… (más)