A Case Of Needing: Serious Revisions :: essays research papers

A mooring of Needing Serious RevisionsMichael Crichton has penned some of the most engaging, successionly, andthoroughly accessible tales to be create in the last twenty-five years. Whathis novels lack in literary merit and distinctive style they make up for incrisp plotting and edge-of-your-seat suspense. From un cognize viruses to regenerateddinosaurs, from evil Japanese monoliths to the insidious maneuverings of themodern corporation, Crichton latches onto the scientific and politicalcontroversies of the day, and squeezes egress of them every last ounce of shockvalue. At least, thats usually what he does.A Case Of Need could have used quite a bit more shock value. The problemis largely a government issue of timing when the book came break through in 1969, the moral dilemma contact illegal abortions was still a hot enough topic to await ripped fromthe headlines. Though abortion certainly remains a hot-button issue, the debatehas shifted. For the time being, at least, the a rgument centers on whether ornot the act should be legal, not on whether or not doctors are currently break the law by performing them.The antiquated plot line is not the storys main flaw. The biggestdraw abide here is a one-two punch of highly technical prose assiduous to relate athoroughly dull story. Karen Randall, the daughter of an eminent physician, diesas the result of a botched abortion. Art lee, a Chinese obstetrician, is incriminateof performing the D & C that has resulted in her death. Though Lee is known tobe an abortionist, he vehemently denies any involvement in the case. Lee callsupon his friend, forensic pathologist John cull, to clear his name.John Berry careens back and forth from one Boston hospital to another,trying to figure out who actually performed Randalls abortion, and why itkilled her. The investigation is complicated by the fact that Randall was noteven pregnant. Slowly, a picture emerges of Randall as a freewheeling, loose char with several abortions in her past, and connections to some shadowyunderworld characters. Berry in the end discovers that a drug-dealing musicianwas actually at fault for Randalls death.Why did Michael Crichton preserve this book? The answer seems fairlyobvious. Still fairly immersed in his medical exam school learnings, Crichton musthave seen it as a chance to depict just how much knowledge he had gainedduring his time at Harvard. legion(predicate) medical procedures are described in detail,supplemented by footnotes and appendices for readers not in the know.All of this technical gobbledygook turns out to be almost totallysuperfluous. Berry clears Lees name largely through old-fashioned detective