The Stethoscope Cure
The Stethoscope Cure is the story of a young psychiatrist just holding on by a thread as he tries to deal with the flood of vets coming into a VA hospital during the Vietnam War. That was a time when I, too, came of age professionally, doing my internship in the Boston VA hospital in the late Sixties, so the story draws on what I observed at the time and helped me sort out more about what those turbulent years meant in my own development. I am fascinated by the inner life of therapists, particularly the wonderful irony that we are often able to help other people when we are so dearly in need of help ourselves.
Already reeling from his tragic mishandling of a patient under his care, Dr. Paul Gilverstein—a first year psychiatric resident at the New York VA—finds out that his young wife is pregnant. Caught off-guard, Paul begins to question his marriage, career choice, and very sense of self. As Paul drifts closer and closer to the edge, the Chief of Psychiatry dumps on him one of the Department’s toughest outpatient cases: Sgt. Lionel Tool, an angry vet just back from Vietnam. The explosive results test all of Paul’s resources as a man and a therapist.
Can a psychiatrist who has never been to war heal veterans who have? How do you help someone who really needs you when you need help yourself? The Stethoscope Cure offers an exploration of what it means to really listen to someone else, to truly hear and respond to those we are involved with.
Reviews for The Stethoscope Cure
Sam Osherson explores what it means to fall apart and become whole with rare precision and grace. Wrenching, honest, and shot through with moments of great humor, The Stethoscope Cure deepens and enlarges our understanding of what it means to be alive. Osherson's love for his characters is contagious, and the generosity and wisdom of his vision are a gift. This is a beautiful, riveting novel.
- Abigail DeWitt, author, Lili and Dogs
“I literally couldn't put this novel down and zoomed through the last 60 pages. A powerful, moving and thoroughly absorbing recreation of the turbulent times that were the late '60's. Osherson vividly captures the Vietnam War's effects on soldiers as well as on those attempting to treat them. I was reminded often of the men I interviewed for my book, their suffering, their painful memories . A potent mix about times we need to remember, being played out again now with this generation.”
- Tom Weiner, Author, Called to Serve: The Stories of Men and Women Affected By The Vietnam Draft
Sam Reads from The Stethoscope Cure
Part One
Author Sam Osherson reads from his novel, The Stethoscope Cure. This first excerpt introduces the main character, Dr Paul Gilverstein, a young psychiatrist in the New York VA hospital during the Vietnam War. This excerpt begins the novel and also introduces us to the Psychiatry ward at the hospital.
Part Two
This second excerpt introduces the second major character, Judy Gilverstein, Paul's wife, who is a student at the Hunter College School of Social Work in Manhattan. This excerpt takes place after Paul leaves the hospital and arrives back at the apartment that the two of them share on the West Side. As the excerpt proceeds, we find that there are very different experiences of the war that are simmering in the background of Judy and Paul's very loving, rather new marriage.
Part Three
This third excerpt introduces the third major character in the novel, Sgt Lionel Tool, an angry veteran just back from Vietnam, saying that he has done "bad things" that he doesn't want to talk about. We see in this excerpt the struggle Dr. Gilverstein has to form an alliance with and listen to Sgt Tool.
Books by Sam
