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The Children's Hospital

by

The Children's Hospital Cover

ISBN13: 9780802143334
ISBN10: 0802143334
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

 

Staff Pick

You would think that any novel attempting to conflate the best elements of Scrubs, Noah's Ark, and Lord of the Flies would necessarily be too overwrought and/or gimmicky, but this story is intensely compelling from its first pages. Adrian is obviously well-versed in medical terminology, but it never overwhelms the sheer force of the plot or undermines his finely honed characters. Yes, it's long, but you won't put it down — I promise.
Recommended by Nathan, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A hospital is preserved, afloat, after the Earth is flooded beneath seven miles of water. Inside, doctors and patients are left to remember the world they've lost and to imagine one to come. At the center, Jemma Claflin, a medical student, finds herself gifted with strange powers and a frightening destiny.

Review:

"The Children's Hospital establishes Chris Adrian as a remarkable American fabulist in the tradition of Melvin Jules Bukiet and Tony Kushner, writers who define and confront the terrifying moral choices of a new century." Washington Post

Review:

"This enormous book is as beautiful and chilling as the flood itself.... The reader does not sink into the depths but skips with surprising ease across the bright surface." Los Angeles Times

Review:

"[A] complex deluge myth for our own time.... The music of Adrian's prose holds all of the plot's oddities in perfect alignment.... cleverly conceived and executed brilliantly." San Francisco Chronicle

Review:

"The Children's Hospital is intelligent, seductive and beautifully realized." Hartford Courant

Synopsis:

Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “one of the most revelatory novels in recent memory . . . Cleverly conceived and executed brilliantly,” The Childrens Hospital is the story of a hospital preserved, afloat, after the Earth is flooded beneath seven miles of water, and a young medical student who finds herself gifted with strange powers and a frightening destiny. Jemma Claflin is a third-year medical student at the unnamed hospital that is the only thing to survive after an apocalyptic storm. Inside the hospital, beds are filled with children with the most rare and complicated childhood diseases—a sort of new-age Noahs Ark, a hospital filled with two of each kind of sickness. As Jemma and her fellow doctors attempt to make sense of what has happened to the world, and try to find the meaning of their futures, Jemma becomes a Moses figure, empowered with the mysterious ability to heal the sick by way of a green fire that shoots from her belly. Simultaneously epic and intimate, wildly imaginative and unexpectedly relevant, The Childrens Hospital is a work of stunning scope, mesmerizing detail, and wrenching emotion.
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About the Author

Chris Adrian is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, Gob's Grief and The Children's Hospital. A pediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital, he received an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and is a student at Harvard Divinity School.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:
Nichole Stoner, January 12, 2012 (view all comments by Nichole Stoner)
The Children's Hospital is certainly a piece of art that deserves more attention than it receives. Though not exactly what one would call "normal", the beginning of the book gives nothing away, drawing the reader in as Chris Adrian uses his skills to portray this odd, floating hospital city. The story just gets stranger as the characters try to survive in this new world and keep some kind of order. The book becomes harder to put down as stranger things continue to happen, more often than not causing more questions than giving up any answers. It's a book that really makes you think.
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Jennifer Lackey, January 4, 2010 (view all comments by Jennifer Lackey)
This is a beautiful book! Adrian has the ability to spin his words into a world that I loved to be sucked into when I was reading and one that I actually found myself missing throughout the day. The characters are complex and the storyline is rich with imagery that makes the strange world and characters in this book seem very real. One caveat I had while reading was that there were a few too many spelling errors that should not have been overlooked by the editor. However, a few spelling errors are nothing compared to Adrian's ability to tell such an engrossing story.
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mzchocolatetree, January 1, 2010 (view all comments by mzchocolatetree)
I loved this book so much. It was a true page turner that I was able to escape into every time I read it--I even almost missed a couple of stops on the T while I was reading it because I was that engaged. It combined fantasy with the apocalypse featuring a female character who was multi-dimensional. I loved trying to figure out what exactly was happening and what would happen next. This impulse buy turned out to be one of the best books I've read ever.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780802143334
Author:
Adrian, Chris
Publisher:
Grove Press
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Science Fiction - General
Subject:
Fantasy fiction
Subject:
Angels
Subject:
Science Fiction and Fantasy-A to Z
Copyright:
2007
Edition Description:
First Trade Paper Edition
Publication Date:
20071031
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Language:
English
Pages:
624
Dimensions:
8.25 x 5.5 in 28.5 oz
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Related Subjects


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The Children's Hospital Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$8.50 In Stock
Product details 624 pages Grove Press - English 9780802143334 Reviews:
"Staff Pick" by ,

You would think that any novel attempting to conflate the best elements of Scrubs, Noah's Ark, and Lord of the Flies would necessarily be too overwrought and/or gimmicky, but this story is intensely compelling from its first pages. Adrian is obviously well-versed in medical terminology, but it never overwhelms the sheer force of the plot or undermines his finely honed characters. Yes, it's long, but you won't put it down — I promise.

by Nathan
"Review" by , "The Children's Hospital establishes Chris Adrian as a remarkable American fabulist in the tradition of Melvin Jules Bukiet and Tony Kushner, writers who define and confront the terrifying moral choices of a new century."
"Review" by , "This enormous book is as beautiful and chilling as the flood itself.... The reader does not sink into the depths but skips with surprising ease across the bright surface."
"Review" by , "[A] complex deluge myth for our own time.... The music of Adrian's prose holds all of the plot's oddities in perfect alignment.... cleverly conceived and executed brilliantly."
"Review" by , "The Children's Hospital is intelligent, seductive and beautifully realized."
"Synopsis" by ,
Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “one of the most revelatory novels in recent memory . . . Cleverly conceived and executed brilliantly,” The Childrens Hospital is the story of a hospital preserved, afloat, after the Earth is flooded beneath seven miles of water, and a young medical student who finds herself gifted with strange powers and a frightening destiny. Jemma Claflin is a third-year medical student at the unnamed hospital that is the only thing to survive after an apocalyptic storm. Inside the hospital, beds are filled with children with the most rare and complicated childhood diseases—a sort of new-age Noahs Ark, a hospital filled with two of each kind of sickness. As Jemma and her fellow doctors attempt to make sense of what has happened to the world, and try to find the meaning of their futures, Jemma becomes a Moses figure, empowered with the mysterious ability to heal the sick by way of a green fire that shoots from her belly. Simultaneously epic and intimate, wildly imaginative and unexpectedly relevant, The Childrens Hospital is a work of stunning scope, mesmerizing detail, and wrenching emotion.
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