Tengo Sed: A Novel

Summary

The Trauma ICU of a Level 1 trauma center is the setting for this thought-provoking novel, which reveals the ruthlessness of medical education and practice. James Fleming recounts a day in the life of a resident in emergency medicine at an urban teaching hospital. The novel's title, which translates loosely as I thirst, echoes the Christ of St. John. Tengo Sed's protagonist, however, known only as Hovercraft because he is always around, always feeling on edge, is not a savior but a hapless resident with a tendency toward mysticism. Through Hovercraft's sleep-deprived eyes we see patients and their families, doctors, and nurses, and we share Hovercraft's increasingly nightmarish perceptions of a world in which things are not going right.