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Gemini: A Novel

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Literature
Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Gemini: A Novel

Author: Visit Amazon's Carol Cassella Page | Language: English | ISBN: 1451627939 | Format: EPUB

Gemini: A Novel Description

From Booklist

The third outing by the author of Oxygen (2008) and Healer (2010) is a compelling look at the collision of a physician’s professional and personal lives. Charlotte Reese takes an immediate interest in a seriously injured Jane Doe who shows up one night in the Seattle ICU where she works. The victim of an apparent hit-and-run, Jane Doe is in critical condition, and Charlotte must work hard to keep her alive even as she wonders if the damage to Jane’s brain will make her efforts futile. Cassella alternates between Charlotte’s story and that of Raney, whose childhood in the small Washington town of Quentin was shaped by her friendship with Bo, a thoughtful boy who worked his way into Raney’s life and eventually her heart despite the vast differences in their families’ social standings. A devastating medical condition ripped Bo from Raney’s arms. Readers will quickly perceive the connection between Raney and the Jane Doe in Charlotte’s ICU, but they’ll be surprised to discover that the women share another link. A uniquely involving read. --Kristine Huntley

Review

“Once again, Carol Cassella has written a novel full of gorgeously rendered characters, fascinating medical detail and tour de force plot twists. From its gripping first pages straight through to its stunning conclusion, Gemini is an unforgettable novel—a morality tale, a mystery, and a love story that will leave readers breathless.” (Maria Semple, New York Times bestselling author of Where'd You Go Bernadette?)

“With big themes, an unforgettable setting, high stakes, mystery, suspense, heartbreak, human triumph, and rare insight, Gemini surprises and fascinates at every turn. Nobody writes about the miracle of the human organism like Carol Cassella. Gemini is a novel sure to keep readers flipping pages deep into the night.” (Jonathan Evison, New York Times bestselling author of West of Here)

"Carol Cassella has written a wonderful novel. A deeply moving story about the heartbreaking pursuit of happiness by a courageous woman without means. Gemini is a page turner, I had a hard time putting down." (Jan-Philipp Sendker, international bestselling author of The Art of Hearing Heartbeats)

"GEMINI is an engrossing, compelling page-turner of a novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. Carol Cassella's expertly crafted story about love, genetics, loss, and the search for identity will resonate deeply with readers." (Kristin Hannah, # 1 New York Times bestselling author of Fly Away and Home Front)

"Carol Cassella's novel taps into the very core of every person's hopes and dreams...and their fears. Her beautifully crafted story explores the unbearable fragility of the human body, and ultimately celebrates the sturdiness of the human spirit. This book is a triumph of literary mastery and emotional resonance." (Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Apple Orchard)

"A natural born story-teller, Cassella's vivid novel, beautifully set in the Pacific Northwest, creates a haunting backdrop for this spellbinding examination of how family, loss, genetics and ultimately the triumph of love can connect and confound us all." (Lee Woodruff, # 1 New York Times bestselling author of In an Instant and Those We Love Most)

"A book at turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, it invites us to accept, if nothing else, that the only way to live is to 'cling to every moment even as you [leap] into the next.'" (Publishers Weekly (starred review))

“A compelling look at the collision of a physician’s professional and personal lives…A uniquely involving read.” (Booklist)

“[GEMINI] poses interesting medical questions and offers deepening mysteries to keep the reader turning the pages.” (Library Journal, Starred Review)

“Whatever genre you want to assign it, the suspense works, the setting is starkly beautiful, and the characters give the reader a lot to think about.” (Word Joy)

“Cleverly but incrementally, Cassella—a practicing physician as well as an author—puts together the pieces of Jane Doe’s mystery even as she ponders, through Charlotte, the Big Questions.” (BookPage.com)

“Cassella delivers a mind-bending, emotionally charged story featuring tough medical and end-of-life issues. The plot slowly builds as we learn the backstory of a critically injured patient and the dilemmas facing her doctor. Not your ordinary mystery, this is an unusual plot and a great, thought-provoking read.” (RTBookReviews.com)

“It is a gripping fictional narrative that will spark conversations about the very real moral dilemmas we face in this age of medical miracles.” (Bainbridge Review)

“This is a riveting, suspenseful story, full of vivid characters and stirring reflections on medical and genetic issues…Cassella is a gifted writer, gorgeously animating her landscapes and the forces of nature, underlining her theme that even medicine cannot save her characters from mortality.” (Seattle Times)
See all Editorial Reviews
  • Product Details
  • Table of Contents
  • Reviews
  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 4, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1451627939
  • ISBN-13: 978-1451627930
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Carol Cassella's "Gemini" explores how our health, biological and genetic history, personalities, prosperity, and social standing all may contribute to our happiness or misery. Are we destined to be contented and well-adjusted or unhappy and dysfunctional? Most of us are somewhere in between, experiencing highs and lows at different stages of our lives. Dr. Charlotte Reese frequently ponders mortality and other weighty issues, since she deals with gravely ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit of Beacon Hospital. She sometimes wonders "if her entire medical career was an interminable battle against the will of the universe." Yet, she is an excellent doctor who fights for her patients, even when it appears unlikely that they will survive.

A case in point is Jane Doe, an unidentified female in her late thirties who is transported by helicopter to Charlotte's hospital from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Jane, the victim of a hit-and-run driver, has multiple injuries. Her blood pressure is plummeting, her lungs are filling with fluid, and her kidneys are about to shut down. As time passes and Jane remains in a coma, no one comes forward to claim her as either as a relative or friend. Dr. Reese grows attached to this solitary patient with whom she has never exchanged a single word.

In addition to its fascinating depiction of the work of intensive care physicians, "Gemini" is a coming of age story about a young girl, Raney, who is being raised on a farm by her doting but no-nonsense grandfather. Grandpa Remington is a widower and survivalist who has built a well-equipped underground bunker, preparing for "the end of the world as we know it." Meanwhile, Raney strikes up a friendship with a visiting city boy, Bo, whose wealthy parents are divorcing.
I really liked Cassella's first novel, introducing a heroine who was an anesthesiologist. She took readers behind the scenes of the operating room and added a solid mystery.

Cassella seems to challenge herself more with Gemini. In today's literary world multiple viewpoints are considered advanced, modern and representative of an author's skill. I actually like the contrasting stories. Raney is an unpolished, rural girl, growing up isolated even from her own community, brought up by a gruff but ultimately compassionate grandfather. With limited horizons, she doesn't dare to dream or even bring her dreams to fruition when she gets the chance.

In the early scenes Raney meets a boy who comes to visit the island. She resents his apparent wealth and his privileged life in Queen Anne (actually, it's Lower Queen Anne and not Queen Anne Hill that are near the Space Needle, but Raney wouldn't know). Yet as she challenges this boy "Rob" he toughens up and they develop a sort of friendship.

At the same time Charlotte works in intensive care in Becaon hospital that might be Harborview in real life. She's competent and dedicated - almost too dedicated - and she finds herself caught up in a Jane Doe patient - severely injured, unidentified, a challenge both medically and socially. Charlotte doesn't want the hospital to give up on Jane too quickly. Charlotte's life in Seattle, with her career and her current boyfriend, contrast with the limits of Raney's world.

As readers with access to both stories, we know they'll come together. As the story moves along, the ending becomes more and more obvious. There's not so much a mystery as an unveiling.

As some reviewers suggest, the end is more of a whimper than a bang. It's not especially surprising.

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