From the Bookshelf of Retro Reads…

The Citadel

A.J. Cronin

Start date: April 1, 2020

Finish date: May 15, 2020

Discussion: Buddy reads

Discussion leader: Hana

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What Members Thought

Aug 26, 2015 Dorcas rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite-reads, a-j-cronin, england-uk, medical

Wonderful. I picked this up for $1 at a used book store. I didn't recognize the title or the author but figured, what do I have to lose, it's only a buck, right?

Once I started reading, it all came back to me. I read this twenty years ago and in my mind I lumped it with Francis Brett Young's "Dr. Bradley Remembers" which is another great book, high on the list for a re-read, and very similar in style and subject matter to "Citadel".

You know a good book when twenty years later you still know all t ...more

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Apr 25, 2020 Bobbie rated it really liked it

Shelves: group-reads

Group Read for Retro Reads Group, April 2020
This was my fourth A. J. Cronin book and as a retired nurse I enjoyed reading about the history of medical practice in the early 20th century in Wales and England, some of my favorite places to read about. Cronin was a doctor and many of his protagonists are doctors as well. In this novel, he follows a young doctor beginning his career and marriage in small mining towns in Wales and then moving on to London. There was a good bit of medical information ...more

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Jun 20, 2016 Theresa rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

Andrew Manson, fresh out of university, is ready to take on the world. Full of zeal and passion to change the world of medicine for the better, Dr. Manson has a desire to research and treat pulmonary disease, specifically tuberculosis, that seems to be the culprit especially among the mining population.

In this novel the reader follows Andrew Manson along his path from one disappointment to another, until he finally caves in to the draw of materialism and for a while, loses his dream. Will he eve Andrew Manson, fresh out of university, is ready to take on the world. Full of zeal and passion to change the world of medicine for the better, Dr. Manson has a desire to research and treat pulmonary disease, specifically tuberculosis, that seems to be the culprit especially among the mining population.

In this novel the reader follows Andrew Manson along his path from one disappointment to another, until he finally caves in to the draw of materialism and for a while, loses his dream. Will he ever re-discover his initial passion?

“More than ever it was borne upon him that happiness was an inner state, wholly spiritual, independent – whatever the cynics might say – of worldly possessions. All this time, when he had been striving and tearing after wealth and position and succeeding in every material sense, he had imagined himself happy. But he had not been happy. He had been existing in a kind of delirium, craving more after everything he got. Money, he thought bitterly, it was all for dirty money! First he had told himself he wanted to make a thousand pounds a year. When he reached that income he had immediately doubled it, and set that figure as his maximum. But that maximum, when achieved, found him dissatisfied. And so it had gone on. He wanted more and more. It would in the end have destroyed him.”

I really like A.J. Cronin, but this book seemed a little tedious and disappointing to me. There is a lot of medical terminology that is hard to decipher, and I also did not appreciate the main character's treatment of his longsuffering, patient wife, Christine. However the author brings redemption to the character when he makes a bad decision in surgery and suffers the consequences.

"He did not know what church it was, nor did he care. He simply sat down in the back seat of all and fixed his haggard gaze upon the dark enshrouded apse. He reflected that Christine in their estrangement had fallen back upon the thought of God. He had never been a churchgoer, but now here he was, in this unknown church. Tribulation brought people here, brought people to their senses, brought people to the thought of God.”

Thankfully, along the way, Andrew Manson has made a couple of long-term friends that support him when he most needs a helping hand. There are lessons to be learned in this book, and the reader is made aware that the choices made in life will ultimately have their effect.
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Apr 17, 2017 Radwa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: made-into-a-movie-play-or-series, classics, favorites

اسباب كثيرة جعلتني اعطي للرواية تقييم بين 3.5 - 4
اولا أنها تتحدث عن حياة الطبيب ومهنة الطب
ثانيا انها تناولت كفاح طبيب شاب عقب تخرجه مباشرة وكيف حصل على الخبرة اللازمة
ثالثا الحديث عن الاطباء المشاهير وعلاجهم الخاطئ للمرضى واهتمامهم الأول والأخير بالجانب المادي دون النظر لمصلحة المريض

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