The Apprenticeship of Doctor Laverty
by Patrick Taylor
Insomniac Press, 2004
Reviewed by Adam Swimmer
The Apprenticeship of Doctor Laverty isn't your
typical Canadian novel. Unlike its title's nod to a
Mordecai Richler work, the book doesn't take place in
a small Jewish community in 1950s Montreal, nor does
it take place in turn of the century Prince Edward
Island or some Godforsaken snowbound locale. In fact,
Patrick Taylor's book doesn't take place in Canada at
all, but is set in Ballybucklebo, a fictional Irish
town near Belfast.
It's 1964 and Dr. Barry Laverty has just received his
medical degree and moves to the small town to work as
the assistant for the local doctor, Fingal Flahertie
O'Reilly. Barry first encounters the eccentric country
doctor as he's pitching Seamus Galvin, a local
resident, into the bushes for failing to wash his feet
before having his sore ankle examined. O'Reilly
explains to Barry that patients should never have the
upper hand otherwise they'll walk all over you.
The book follows his first month of apprenticeship in
Ballybucklebo and it feels a little episodic as
chapter after chapter follows the two doctors as they
see patients in the clinic and make housecalls. They
also spend a lot of time, quoting passages to each
other, everything from nursery rhymes to great works
of literature to the bible, like, novels have taught
me, all good boys with a solid European education can
do at the drop of a hat.
Through it all, though, Barry tries to reconcile his
medical training with O'Reilly's approach to
treatment. He routinely gives vitamin shots to
patients through their clothing, makes brash diagnoses
which often turn out to be right and humiliates
patients who give him a hard time. But O'Reilly does
help people. Through the narrative, the reader also
sees Barry assimilate himself into the community.
Trained as a medical doctor himself, Taylor writes
from a point of expertise. His descriptions,
especially of anatomy and surgical procedures, have a
clinical, graphic quality. In fact, the writer shares
much in common with his title character. They both
hail from Bangor County Down in Northern Ireland.
Although Taylor emigrated to Canada in 1970 and now
lives in Bowen Island, B.C., and Ballybucklebo
doesn't physically exist, Taylor is essentially
writing about his own past and he's at ease doing it.
The fish-out-of-water narrative is a little less
farcical than expected. It's not like say, Northern
Exposure where everything is a little surreal and
completely baffling to the city doctor. Even the more
colourful characters, such as Seamus, the alcoholic
carpenter, and his scheme to make money for his family
with rocking ducks and Maggie MacCorkle, who complains
about headaches two inches above her head, are painted
with realistic strokes. Dr. O'Reilly, himself, perhaps
isn't as comical as the writer intends, but it's an
interesting portrait of a caring doctor, who needs to
be perceived as a brute.
Unfortunately, Taylor feels the need to tie up every
loose end in the last couple of chapters. And a
romance subplot, although providing a break to the
structure, is woefully underdeveloped. But there's a
subtle charm to The Apprenticeship of Doctor Laverty
that keeps you turning the page.
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