BODY OF WORK Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab

BODY OF WORK is Christine Montross's memoir of her first year in medical school, during which she studied human anatomy with the help of "Eve?" an elderly woman who donated her remains for that purpose. Thoroughly and methodically dissecting a human cadaver is an experience that includes equal parts revulsion, fascination, empathy, and indifference. Renée Raudman touches on each of these in all the appropriate places, and with just the right level of emotion. Her tone, like Montross's writing, is often irreverent and dryly funny, without ever being disrespectful. The author interview at the end gives an added glimpse into the anatomy lab. D.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 08]