Match Day - by Brian Eule (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Each year on the third Thursday in March, more than fifteen thousand graduating medical students exult, despair, and endure Match Day: the result of a computer algorithm that assigns students to their hospital residencies in almost every field of medicine. The match determines the crucial first job as an intern, and ultimately shapes the rest of his--or, in increasing numbers, her--life.

Match Day follows three women from the anxious months of preparation before the match through the completion of their first full year of internship. Each has long dreamed of becoming a doctor. Stephanie Chao is beginning her career as a surgeon. Rakhi Barkowski must balance her husband's aspirations with her own desire to work in internal medicine. Michelle LaFonda moves forward in her quest to become a radiologist, but struggles to find progress in her personal relationship. Each woman makes mistakes, saves lives, and witnesses death; each must recognize the balancing act of family and career; and each comes to learn what it means to heal, to comfort, to lose, and to grieve, all while maintaining a professional demeanor.

Just as One L became the essential book about the education of young attorneys, so Match Day will be for every medical student, doctor, and reader interested in medicine: a guide to what to expect, an insightful account of the changing world of doctors, and a dramatic recollection of this pressured, perilous, challenging, and rewarding time of life.

Review Quotes

"Although the narratives revolve around Match Day, the story is really about how the system of training and practice affects the personal lives of the youngest doctors. The specific demands of medicine lead to a litany of issues each woman struggles with throughout the year. Will my training swallow me up? How do I cultivate meaningful relationships during my few hours off each week? Is it possible to be a resident and have a family? Like the best of Hollywood awards ceremonies, this book's hook may be what is in those little envelopes; but it's the show that is riveting." --NewYorkTimes.com

"A marvelous coming of age narrative about three young doctors and the choices they make. Match Day isn't just about stethoscopes and scalpels; it's packed full of the hidden stuff--romances ruined; romances saved; late-night panics and an unshakeable desire to lead America's next generation of healers." --George Anders, New York Times bestselling author of Perfect Enough

"The phrase "match day" has long been part of medical jargon in the United States. With this book, Brian Eule makes it part of our non-fiction literature. In humane and incisive portraits of three medical students and their loved ones, he conveys the struggle to balance professional aspiration and romantic attachment." --Samuel G. Freedman, author of Who She Was and Upon This Rock

"Skillfully and tenderly, Eule interweaves the lives of three medical couples as they contemplate critical life decisions about career, work, family, and love." --Steven A. Schroeder, MD, Distinguished Professor of Health and Health Care, University of California, San Francisco

"Highly informative...compelling...Eule is a gifted storyteller with a knack for anecdotes. He brings us deep into the lives of these young people and celebrates the real-world rigor of residence training...Required reading for future doctors." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Brian Eule is a graduate of Stanford University and received an MFA in writing from Columbia University. He has worked as a journalist for two Massachusetts newspapers, as well as contributing to Stanford Magazine. He lives with his wife in Northern California.