Review by BeccaMc -- McDowell by William H. Coles

[BeccaMc]

[Following is a volunteer review of "McDowell" by William H. Coles.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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This is my review of McDowell, by William H. Coles.

Hiram McDowell is a renowned, successful surgeon who loves to climb the mountains of Nepal. Despite his success in his professional life, he is in a failing third marriage and can’t seem to connect to his children. In this book, we follow his journey through his climbing adventures, pitfalls at home, and obstacles at work.

Even though the book is titled McDowell, after the main character, we learn of the vastly different lives the rest of his family lives. One daughter, Sophie, loves photography and after a tragedy occurs, she embarks on an adventure to photograph women’s lives of various cultures. McDowell’s son, Billie, is academically advanced but wants to focus on a more artistic lifestyle including music and art. Ann lives a fairly dysfunctional life, in Louisville, with her husband and children – one of whom she thinks murders animals.

Early on in the story, his climbing partner dies, his wife divorces him, and a colleague reports him for academic misconduct. McDowell has to face numerous other trials and tribulations, in addition to those previously mentioned. There is never a dull moment in McDowell. The novel also contains a celebrity reporter, named Paige, who has been given the task to do a feature piece on the well-known, popular surgeon.

The book is written where a different character is narrating each new chapter. The read was still easy to follow, despite the constant changing of point of view. I like that we get to see each character, and their thoughts, behind their own eyes. It allows the reader to rationalize, empathize, or relate to each person. The challenge is trying to relate and empathize with the story’s main character, McDowell. The author portrays him as the most arrogant, narcissistic, womanizing human being on the planet. It’s hard to care about what he thinks when he seems to only care about himself. He makes attempts to understand his children and family, but the lack of sincerity can be felt.

I rate the novel 4 out of 4 stars. This book is well-written and edited. It does have a good bit of profanity and contains sexism, degradation of women, and mentions abortion, so anyone sensitive to those subjects should avoid this book. Despite those subjects being present, it was still a very enjoyable read. I look forward to any other novels by William H. Coles.

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McDowell
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