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The Care of Strangers
Working as an orderly in a gritty Brooklyn public hospital, Sima is often reminded by her superiors that she's the least important person there. An immigrant who, with her mother, escaped vicious anti-Semitism in Poland, she spends her shifts transporting patients, observing the doctors and residents ... and quietly nurturing her aspirations to become a doctor herself by going to night school. Now just one credit short of graduating, she finds herself faltering in the face of pressure from her mother not to overreach, and to settle for the life she has now.
Everything changes when Sima encounters Mindy Kahn, an intern doctor struggling through her residency. Sensing a fellow outsider in need of support, Sima bonds with Mindy over their patients, and learns the power of truly letting yourself care for another person, helping to give her the courage to face her past, and take control of her future.
A moving story about vulnerability and friendship, The Care of Strangers is the story of one woman's discovery that sometimes interactions with strangers are the best way to find yourself.
Everything changes when Sima encounters Mindy Kahn, an intern doctor struggling through her residency. Sensing a fellow outsider in need of support, Sima bonds with Mindy over their patients, and learns the power of truly letting yourself care for another person, helping to give her the courage to face her past, and take control of her future.
A moving story about vulnerability and friendship, The Care of Strangers is the story of one woman's discovery that sometimes interactions with strangers are the best way to find yourself.
- GenresFiction
209 pages, Paperback
Published November 10, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 13, 2020
I lived in New York City in the late '60s. I visited throughout the '70s and '80s. Since then, I've stayed with the daughter of a friend in the Williamsburg, visited another in Park Slope. I thought I knew New York and Brooklyn.
Not by a long shot.
In The Care of Strangers, Ellen Michaelson, M.D., takes us to Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, a encampment of twenty-six red brick building in East Flatbush where she did her internship. What she gives the reader is not a memoir but a novel. It is novella only in its length. All the necessary ingredients for a longer work are there: superlative detail, step-by-step action, well-developed characters with backstories, humor and pathos.
We enter the life of Sima, a Jewish immigrant from Poland. Sima is an orderly with dreams of becoming a doctor. The only white orderly at the hospital complex, she ferries patients to and from appointments via connecting tunnels and elevators.
Mostly, she observes. Sometimes, she intervenes.
Sima works double shifts and attends Brooklyn College as a pre-med undergraduate. It's been a four-year haul. She has supporters within the hospital hierarchy: Chief Resident Danielson, who lets her go on rounds, and Nurse Armstrong, who found Sima sleeping in the library with an anatomy book open on the table in front of her.
Sima's Polish-speaking mother knows nothing of this. Encloistered in her fourth-floor walkup, she listens to music in yiddish and grips Sima's arm when on the street. She's done her duty. She got her six-year-old daughter to the U.S. when her husband died, selling his collection of blue glass and silver to buy their tickets. She just wants her daughter to get a "more better job."
For Sima, it's the patients with whom she identifies. They are the detritus of society -- the throwaways -- the poor, the addicted, the dirty, the incarcerated. There is JJ (Jose Iglesia Juarez, a Puerto Rican "training" to become a Jew; Alma May, an eighty-five pound asmatic; Mars Peabody, a former drug addict with a weak heart. Many have been in and out of Kings County with conditions that just won't heal.
Central to the story is the relationship Sima develops with Mindy Kahn, a psych intern from Boston on a medical rotation at the hospital.
They first work together in the prison ward. In four page Michelson describes the setting and the action: the smrod (stench) of the male ward, the cacophony of prisoners' voices, a fight over a tourniquet and a stethoscope, Mindy's inexperience and Sima's involvement. Sima places her hands on Mars Peabody's shoulders. The laying on of hands; she has heard it's vital to patient care.
Later, the two women bond over a conversation about hair.
"My curly hair is softer than an Amsterdam hippy," Sima tells the intern. Whatever that is, she wonders. She paces behind Mindy. They are both Jewish. She really needs a friend. a mentor. She tells Mindy not to use a hair drier, to let her hair go during the summer. Curly is better than frizzy.
"You've got to get out of New York," Mindy tells Sima.
The Care of Strangers really holds up as a window on a world. Having lived most of my life in Portland, I've known Ellen Michaelson over time. I was a part of her bike-riding cohort. She and I have discussed films and fiction. I read an early draft of the book. I had expected something less concrete, less touching than what she produced here. I was jolted by the mix of Polish and English, the sounds, the smells, and the stickiness of Kings County. I had planned -- as a reviewer -- to be extra critical of the work. I'm not.
For some, the story might seem overwhelmed by detail. Not for me. I was mesmerized by it. I can't help but think of "You Are There," a radio show my family regularly tuned into during the 1950s. From the first page to the last, The Care of Strangers took me to Kings County Hospital and into the heart and mind of Sima.
Not by a long shot.
In The Care of Strangers, Ellen Michaelson, M.D., takes us to Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, a encampment of twenty-six red brick building in East Flatbush where she did her internship. What she gives the reader is not a memoir but a novel. It is novella only in its length. All the necessary ingredients for a longer work are there: superlative detail, step-by-step action, well-developed characters with backstories, humor and pathos.
We enter the life of Sima, a Jewish immigrant from Poland. Sima is an orderly with dreams of becoming a doctor. The only white orderly at the hospital complex, she ferries patients to and from appointments via connecting tunnels and elevators.
Mostly, she observes. Sometimes, she intervenes.
Sima works double shifts and attends Brooklyn College as a pre-med undergraduate. It's been a four-year haul. She has supporters within the hospital hierarchy: Chief Resident Danielson, who lets her go on rounds, and Nurse Armstrong, who found Sima sleeping in the library with an anatomy book open on the table in front of her.
Sima's Polish-speaking mother knows nothing of this. Encloistered in her fourth-floor walkup, she listens to music in yiddish and grips Sima's arm when on the street. She's done her duty. She got her six-year-old daughter to the U.S. when her husband died, selling his collection of blue glass and silver to buy their tickets. She just wants her daughter to get a "more better job."
For Sima, it's the patients with whom she identifies. They are the detritus of society -- the throwaways -- the poor, the addicted, the dirty, the incarcerated. There is JJ (Jose Iglesia Juarez, a Puerto Rican "training" to become a Jew; Alma May, an eighty-five pound asmatic; Mars Peabody, a former drug addict with a weak heart. Many have been in and out of Kings County with conditions that just won't heal.
Central to the story is the relationship Sima develops with Mindy Kahn, a psych intern from Boston on a medical rotation at the hospital.
They first work together in the prison ward. In four page Michelson describes the setting and the action: the smrod (stench) of the male ward, the cacophony of prisoners' voices, a fight over a tourniquet and a stethoscope, Mindy's inexperience and Sima's involvement. Sima places her hands on Mars Peabody's shoulders. The laying on of hands; she has heard it's vital to patient care.
Later, the two women bond over a conversation about hair.
"My curly hair is softer than an Amsterdam hippy," Sima tells the intern. Whatever that is, she wonders. She paces behind Mindy. They are both Jewish. She really needs a friend. a mentor. She tells Mindy not to use a hair drier, to let her hair go during the summer. Curly is better than frizzy.
"You've got to get out of New York," Mindy tells Sima.
The Care of Strangers really holds up as a window on a world. Having lived most of my life in Portland, I've known Ellen Michaelson over time. I was a part of her bike-riding cohort. She and I have discussed films and fiction. I read an early draft of the book. I had expected something less concrete, less touching than what she produced here. I was jolted by the mix of Polish and English, the sounds, the smells, and the stickiness of Kings County. I had planned -- as a reviewer -- to be extra critical of the work. I'm not.
For some, the story might seem overwhelmed by detail. Not for me. I was mesmerized by it. I can't help but think of "You Are There," a radio show my family regularly tuned into during the 1950s. From the first page to the last, The Care of Strangers took me to Kings County Hospital and into the heart and mind of Sima.
November 19, 2020
Compelling read! A fascinating window into the life of an immigrant, Sima, who is an orderly at a public hospital in NYC. Touching character study. Sima fills many roles at the hospital, and her compassion and and humanity ring true. John O
April 28, 2026
good concept, and i really wanted to like this but unfortunately i didn't. the second star is specifically for chapters 21 and 23
December 11, 2020
This is a gem of a Novella. The book grabbed my attention from the first page. I fell immediately into the hospital setting and loved the character development. The Novella takes on grand issues of life and death in a hospital setting, and also covers basic human needs of caring and friendship. I highly recommend this fine read.
March 22, 2023
a quick read but just neutral, none of the characters compelled me
November 12, 2020
After the clunky opening paragraph this was a beautiful story, nicely crafted. It’s a shame for a book this good to start on the wrong foot, but it’s worth getting past the opener and into the heart of the story. I’m sure Michaelson writes from personal experience about the hospital, and you can almost smell it. The simple story of a Polish Jewish immigrant in a New York hospital is captivating.
January 5, 2021
I really didn't care for anyone in this book. The characters have no depth, the story so lacking, the whole thing felt like little stories strung together forced to make up a novella (the huge, bold titles on every chapter [?] didn't help. Yes, format and layout do matter). I bought this for the premise; when I saw the blurb by Charles Baxter I almost put it down, but I'm about to teach a course in Medicine and Literature so I felt somewhat obligated to give this a chance. Was I supposed to feel for Sima and/or Mindy? Sima's immigrant experience and her inability to fit in anywhere (even in the hospital: she's an orderly among interns, and dreams of being like them in the future), especially her relationship with her mother? Am I supposed to feel for Mindy's difficulties as an intern when she really is supposed to be in psychiatry, or her being one of the few female doctors? Was I supposed to see New York as a character in the eyes of the Jamaican nurse, those from Trinidad and Tobago, the eyes of the poor and the addicts? Not a thing here shaped up, leaving the characters and me empty. Giving this one star because it was a fast read and it didn't require more of my time, and another for the character of Mars Peabody, the only one I faintly cared for.
October 15, 2020
"Sometimes caring for strangers is the best way to find yourself".
Sima is an orderly in a large County hospital in Brooklyn. She works nights so that she can go to school during the day. She wants to be a doctor, though it seems impossible to think of herself as one of the doctors. She aspires to be like Dr. Khan -- a Jewish woman doctor.
Through Sima, we see her patients. Those who seem to turn up every month or so, those whose problems can't be solved. The patient who is handcuffed to his bed, the drug addict. Mrs. Sampson, Skinny, Miss Osborne and Alma Mae.
Some will tear at your heart strings. Most will cause you to think. All will leave you with more knowledge than you had at the beginning of the story.
This is Ellen Michaelson's first book. I look forward to many more.
I read this EARC courtesy of Melville House and Edelweiss. pub date 11/10/20
Sima is an orderly in a large County hospital in Brooklyn. She works nights so that she can go to school during the day. She wants to be a doctor, though it seems impossible to think of herself as one of the doctors. She aspires to be like Dr. Khan -- a Jewish woman doctor.
Through Sima, we see her patients. Those who seem to turn up every month or so, those whose problems can't be solved. The patient who is handcuffed to his bed, the drug addict. Mrs. Sampson, Skinny, Miss Osborne and Alma Mae.
Some will tear at your heart strings. Most will cause you to think. All will leave you with more knowledge than you had at the beginning of the story.
This is Ellen Michaelson's first book. I look forward to many more.
I read this EARC courtesy of Melville House and Edelweiss. pub date 11/10/20
December 24, 2020
This book is a tender, beautiful tale of two uncertain women who, with time and experience, learn to lean on each other and discover their strengths. Set in a Brookyn public hospital in the 1980s, when AIDS was just beginning to appear, The Care of Strangers is narrated by Sima, a Jewish refugee from Poland, who works as an orderly, transporting patients throughout the hospital. Sima is in night school, with ambitions to be a doctor, but she's stymied by her fear of that one last course and by her mother, who believes she shouldn't try to rise above her humble origins. Enter Dr. Mindy Kahn, an intern who plans to become a psychiatrist but must rotate through the medical wards, and is hopelessly out of place. Slowly, the two of them become friends. The novel is peppered with wonderful characters and descriptions of the ancient building, as well as unforgettable head nurses and elevator operators, but most of all it's the patients we love. That Michaelson is a doctor adds to the authority in the setting, and you get the feeling that some of the experience she writes about just may have been her own. I loved this book, from beginning to its understatedly emotional, absolutely satisfying ending.
January 28, 2021
I HATE rating this two stars. I just could not get into it.
I know this is set in a gritty county hospital in Brooklyn in the 1980s and that resources were scarce, but since when have interns ever put in IVs? Since when have nurses just sat back with arms crossed, and laughed as they watched the doctors struggle to perform a stick? Never- that's when.
I know the author was trying to broach sensitive and serious topics but I just never fell in love with Sima's character, didn't believe her friendship with Mindy, and didn't get enough of the journey of Sima from orderly through to her medical studies.
Orderlies also cannot do all of the tasks Sima took it upon herself to do so this whole thing just wasn't believable to me. I'm surprised because the author is a physician and maybe county hospitals were just that different, especially back then- who knows. Just wasn't my favorite medical read.
I truly appreciate Melville Publishing gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
CW: Code blue situations, loss of a parent, fractured family relationships
I know this is set in a gritty county hospital in Brooklyn in the 1980s and that resources were scarce, but since when have interns ever put in IVs? Since when have nurses just sat back with arms crossed, and laughed as they watched the doctors struggle to perform a stick? Never- that's when.
I know the author was trying to broach sensitive and serious topics but I just never fell in love with Sima's character, didn't believe her friendship with Mindy, and didn't get enough of the journey of Sima from orderly through to her medical studies.
Orderlies also cannot do all of the tasks Sima took it upon herself to do so this whole thing just wasn't believable to me. I'm surprised because the author is a physician and maybe county hospitals were just that different, especially back then- who knows. Just wasn't my favorite medical read.
I truly appreciate Melville Publishing gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
CW: Code blue situations, loss of a parent, fractured family relationships
April 5, 2026
I hate to rate reads under 3 stars, but this novel was not what I expected.
The characters are flat with lengthy expositions that don't truly characterize the depths of the characters' relationships with one another. Show me the mental turmoil and tensions through small actions, dialogue, and personal details!
Although the plot/setting is situated in the '80s, the novel being written in 2020 had me hoping the author would have embraced more of the medical ethics from the '90s and onward, but I found myself cringing at the patient interactions. It's hard to like any of the medical protagonists when they act unethical or ignorant to their patients' needs. All I can hope for is that not all of these anecdotes are based off real scenarios.
While not a huge issue, there were also scattered grammatical errors and typos that took me out of the reading. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but after a certain scene toward the halfway point, I had to put it down altogether.
The characters are flat with lengthy expositions that don't truly characterize the depths of the characters' relationships with one another. Show me the mental turmoil and tensions through small actions, dialogue, and personal details!
Although the plot/setting is situated in the '80s, the novel being written in 2020 had me hoping the author would have embraced more of the medical ethics from the '90s and onward, but I found myself cringing at the patient interactions. It's hard to like any of the medical protagonists when they act unethical or ignorant to their patients' needs. All I can hope for is that not all of these anecdotes are based off real scenarios.
While not a huge issue, there were also scattered grammatical errors and typos that took me out of the reading. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but after a certain scene toward the halfway point, I had to put it down altogether.
April 28, 2021
The Care of Strangers consists of connected hospital vignettes featuring Polish immigrant Sima and intern Mindy Kahn. Sima and her mother escaped anti-Semitic Poland for a life in Brooklyn where Sima works as an orderly in County hospital. Dr. Mindy Kahn is an overwhelmed intern from Boston who Sima feels needs a friend. That friendship is not dwelled upon, instead it is the everyday comings and goings of regulars at the hospital that make up the bulk of this novella. Written by a physician, The Care of Strangers does not glamorize nor demonize life at the hospital, instead presents the scenarios matter-of-factly. Low key but interesting, The Care of Strangers is worth your time.
May 9, 2021
This book is all the things the blurbers say--poignant and touching and lovely. I love that it's an immigrant story and a workplace story and a story about strong women facing obstacles. I love the gritty setting of a public hospital in Brooklyn in the 80s, at the dawn of the AIDS epidemic. I love all the Polish words and the way Sima connects her experiences of anti-Semitism in Poland to the experiences of racism the Black patients at the hospital. And I love reading about the singular experience of women in medicine back then. We all love workplace stories, and what an intense workplace! Michaelson is a skilled and elegant writer, and she knows her material like the insider she is.
July 19, 2025
I was drawn into this story from the first sentence. The characters and the setting feel real, although this is a work of fiction. Ellen's experience as a doctor adds credibility to this story and makes it believable. The emotions of Sima's struggles to graduate college against her mother's wishes and her desire to befriend Mindy are raw and compelling. Mindy and Sima are complex characters whose needs and desires are developed extremely well throughout the story, and so are the scenes. I lived in New York City for a year and a half and reading the descriptions of places in Brooklyn and Manhattan brought back a lot of memories.
January 21, 2021
I was lucky enough to hear excerpts from this book while it was being written, and enjoyed those glimpses. The finished work is every bit as good as the hints I got then, and satisfying in its realization. Memorable characters and scenes that illustrate the tentative relationship we often have with our own feelings and motivations work together to paint a picture of the main character's working life in a New York City Hospital, in a time before AIDS. Bravo, Ellen Michaelson!
February 4, 2021
A wonderful story about life in an urban community hospital, a new immigrant, a new intern and how their lives intersect. Very real feel to it (felt like I was in the hospital making these decisions!) and also about family and love. Highly recommend it!
June 15, 2022
Very interesting but it felt like there wasn't any emotion behind it - like the events were being related exactly as they happened with no regard to the emotions behind them. Interesting cultural commentary but without much heart.
January 12, 2021
This book was a reminder why I wanted to pursue medicine and surgery. Also the bitter truth that I couldn't. That I am not.
April 15, 2022
it was fine
March 15, 2023
Short and sweet. All the characters definitely seem like real people
August 25, 2025
ending brought me to tears
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews