Literature Annotations
 |
McIntyre, Vonda N. |
| Genre | Novel |
| Keywords | Alternative Medicine, Art of Medicine, Caregivers, Euthanasia, Physician Experience, Professionalism, Psycho-social Medicine, Science Fiction, Sexual Abuse, Suicide, Survival, Women in Medicine |
| Summary | The initial chapter in this novel, Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand (annotated separately), sets the stage for the quest of the young healer/heroine, "Snake," to find a replacement for the snake she had carelessly allowed to come to harm, in the course of caring for a seriously ill child. The remainder of this coming-of-age novel chronicles Snake's journey during her "proving year" (aka/residency training). Over the course of this year, Snake continues to minister to the sick and encounters, among others, a patient who demands assistance in suicide, a patient who refuses treatment for a gangrenous leg, and a young girl who has been sexually abused (whom Snake eventually adopts and begins to apprentice). There are, as well, myriad lessons in humility, rigidity of thought, and ethnocentrism. |
| Commentary | See annotation for Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand. Dreamsnake won a Nebula (Science Fiction) Award. |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Edition | 1978 |
| Place Published | Boston |
| Annotated by | Kohn, Martin |
| Date of Entry | 12/30/96 |
| Last Revised | 01/22/97 |