cover image In Stitches: A Memoir

In Stitches: A Memoir

Anthony Youn, M.D., with Alan Eisenstock. S&S/Gallery, $25 (288p) ISBN 978-1-4516-0844-1

In his first book Youn looks back from the cushy perspective of the plastic surgeon at his transformation, letting readers in on a secret: it wasn't easy. Young Youn was an outcast, an "Asian American...in near wall-to-wall whiteness"; his adolescence was an accumulation of sour moments eventually leading to medicine. But the journey, as Youn describes it, is hilarious. A dedicated student, he spends much of his time with his roommates in the "nerd room." He practices sutures on pig's feet and chicken breasts. His roommates tutor him in matters of love and lust. Only two hours into his very first rotation, Youn loses his first patient; "Patients die. Get used to it. This is a hospital," the attending barks at him. As Youn moves through specialty rotations, agonizing over what to select, his father urges him to make the right choice: pediatrics, for instance, means a life of "tiny people, tiny dollah!" Ironically, it's a night during Youn's Peds rotation that changed the course of his life. Youn's description of his journey from high-school outcast to rock star plastic surgeon is full of fascinating stories and laced with self-deprecating humor in the midst of dark desperation, providing a refreshing insight into medicine. (May)