Book Review

Six Months in Sudan

By James Maskalyk

Published by Canongate

What started as a blog about young doctor James Maskalyk's six months in Sudan as a Médecins Sans Frontières doctor is now a brutal and yet ultimately hopeful book about the triumph of the human spirit in a warzone. Along with Dave Eggers' superlative What is the What this helps to put a human face on a Hollywood celebrity cause with tenderness and honesty.

Interspersed with snippets from the original blog (still available here) the book veers well from Maskalyk's wide-eyed frustrations at being a doctor in a warzone with no equipment to the tense moments of medical emergency, sometimes involving measles pandemics others involving soldiers requesting special treatment, are beautifull juxtaposed by good humour and a detailed account of the local villagers and customs, and the other doctors on the project who assist him.

Worn raw in the struggle to meet overwhelming needs with inadequate resources, he returns home six months later more affected by the experience, the people, and the place, than he had anticipated. But in the journey, he views the beauty of humanity and its endurance in the struggle; the doctors, nurses, and countless volunteers who leave their homes with the tools to make another’s easier to endure, but above all, the people of Sudan.

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