The Healer's War
Language: English
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: Nov 1, 1988
Awards:
Nebula.Best Novel.Winner.1990
List Of Awards:
Nebula
Date Read:
Jan 18, 2014
Form:
Novel
Pages:
454
Read Status:
read
Shelves:
read
Word Count:
118604
Book Details
...
Description:
McCulley, a young and inexperienced nurse tossed into a stressful and chaotic situation, is having a difficult time reconciling her duty to help and heal with the indifference and overt racism of some of her colleagues and with the horrendously damaged soldiers and Vietnamese civilians whom she encounters during her service at the China Beach medical facilities.
She is unexpectedly helped by the mysterious and inexplicable properties of an amulet, given to her by one of her patients, an elderly, dying Vietnamese holy man, which allows her to see other people's "auras" and to understand more about them as a result. This eventually leads to a strange, almost surrealistic journey through the jungle, accompanied by a one-legged boy and a battle-seasoned but crazed soldier and, by the end of the journey, McCulley has found herself and a way to live and survive through the madness and destruction.