Juxtaposition is a literary technique whereby two things are placed together in order to highlight their differences, and it may well be the best descriptor of this wonderfully original take on the human body. Weston was part of an experimental intake of med students with a humanities background. That mix of art and science defines both her career as a surgeon, and as a writer and broadcaster: ‘… however devoted I am to science, the only way I can breathe life into it is to make it personal’. In this unique breakdown of body parts, Weston inserts the living human into what has traditionally been a study of static cadaveric flesh.
There are 13 chapters, each covering a certain area – bone, skin, genitals, kidney, etc. There are difficult scientific names included but these are placed within her vernacular speech, demystifying the multisyllabic mouthfuls with deliberate irreverence.
Again, in contrast, there are darker, very personal elements within the narrative. Despite the title, the first chapter is ‘Death’. It primarily deals with the limitations of cadaveric dissection but, together with her ECG which begins the book, hints at Weston’s own mortality. The section on the heart is personal. More urgent and bewildering for Weston is the chapter, ‘Brain’. Her son is ill, and what began as a headache descends into a family’s hell. Anatomy is very real for those whose bodies have betrayed them. The titular chapter thankfully opposes the initial one and concludes the book on an uplift.
Alive is intensely personal and much richer for it.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gabriel Weston was born in 1970. She went to Edinburgh University to read English and from there to medical school in London. She graduated as a doctor in 2000 and became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 2003. She now works as a part-time ENT surgeon.
She lives in London with her husband and two children. Her debut, Direct Red, was a Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller.
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