Es un libro que me ha entretenido, fácil de leer, y ha conseguido que me ponga en el papel de la doctora Roberta Cole.

"La doctora Cole" de Noah Gordon

So many trilogies run out of steam. True here, alas. I liked the movie of the first volume, The Physician, better than any of the books. And this last story had real problems. Is there a doctor in the world who would collude with a 17 year old to get her an abortion, not telling the girl's father, who happens to be her boyfriend? Major breach of trust and ethics. Again, what woman with a successful medical practice is going to be thrilled to find herself pregnant and alone at age 45?

I was going for the 1st book in this trilogy, The Physician, but seeing as it wasn't available I chose Matters of Choice. My preference genre is historical fiction so this book didn't satisfy the retelling of an historical event via fiction but I tried to keep an open mind. I thought it was so-so, not something I would advise lots of friends to read. It felt like a book with an agenda, somewhat preachy. I did enjoy all of the different characters and their diversity although I thought the writing quality wasn't that high. And I had the most trouble with the ending...don't want to spoil it for other readers but what about the child's father?

The least enjoyable of the Cole family trilogy, Matters of Choice doesn't have the power to absorb and educate the reader as the other two books so deftly did. Yet, there are many good things about the book, not the least of which is Noah Gordon's well reasoned apologia, through his protagonist, for first trimester abortion. Never an easy subject, abortion is given two sides: the first an old fashioned restatement of the woman's right to control her own body, the second a heart-rending scene where Roberta Cole's lover loses his teenaged daughter to a botched abortion. Nevertheless, it is clear that Dr. Cole defends, through gritted teeth, a procedure that brings hope and relief to the women who choose it despite the howling hatred of the anti-abortion movement. The book is not entirely about the abortion issue, however. It is primarily about one woman's struggle to live as richly and purposefully as she can. Mr. Gordon seems able to inhabit this woman pretty well. If I don't enjoy this book as much as I did Physician and Shaman it may have more to do with my failings as a reader than with the book's true merit. I just love a good story set in the past than one set in the present. I'm a sucker for a well written medieval or Civil War era tale.

I enjoyed the book, and it was a very fast read. He first two in the trilogy appealled to me a bit more because they transported me to a different time, and therefore, to a world full of surprising facts and interesting twists and turns. This book, being set in modern times, was less surprising and more predictable. I still enjoyed it very much.

DNF
I loved the first two books in this series. Unfortunately, I couldn’t become invested in this main character and felt it veered off path from the other books.

Este libro está lleno de superación y de humanidad.
Me cautivó desde el primer momento al tener una protagonista femenina fuerte y decidida a luchar por sus ideales.
Además el escenario de la novela es maravilloso como el resto de los personajes secundarios.
Para mi ha sido un libro que al terminar te abre un poquito mas los ojos, dejándote pensar.

I dok su mi prvi i drugi dio dio bili veličanstveni, ovaj me razočarao.
Odustala od čitanja.

Nebolo to az take zazivne ako predosle dva diely, ale snaha sa ceni.

I agree with others that Matters of Choice isn't as magical as the other two in the Cole Family series, but I think that is largely because it is written about contemporary issues. I know about these issues, I've thought about them, and I know what I believe about them. That said, I enjoyed the book and would not discourage others from reading it.

Iako nema istorijskih činjenica kao prvi i drugi dio, ovaj mi je najzanimljiviji. Možda zato što je napisan u realnom vremenu, a možda i zbog životne borbe i pitanja sa kojima se svi susrećemo.
Bilo mi je žao gasiti čitač i prekidati sa čitanjem.

Matters of Choice (Cole Family Trilogy #3), Noah Gordon

This part takes a jump of several centuries, focusing on the life of one of the descendants of the protagonist of the first novel, but this time, the main character is a female, a portrait of a talented and courageous woman physician who stares at her reflection in the glass ceiling, and decides to seek and find a more meaningful life. Roberta Jeanne d'Arc Cole is favored to be named associate chief of medicine at a Boston hospital. She is married to a surgeon. They own a trophy residence on historic Brattle Street in Cambridge and a summer house in the Berkshire Hills. Now she faces her hardest test as a doctor and a woman: whether to keep the medical secret of a girl who has desperately turned to her for help, or to betray that trust to keep the love of the man who has filled her life with unexpected joy....

Cole Family trilogy:
The Physician (1986),
Shaman (1992),
and Matters of Choice (1995).

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سوم ماه اکتبر سال2000میلادی

عنوان: سه گانه خانواده کول کتاب سوم: اهمیت انتخاب؛ نویسنده: نوآ گوردون؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده20م

پرتره ای از یک پزشک زن پرتوان و شجاع، که به پرتو خویش در سقف شیشه ای خیره میشود، و دلش میخواهد زندگی معنادارتری را جستجو کند و بیابد؛ «روبرتا جین دارک کول» به سمت معاون رئیس پزشکی در بیمارستانی در «بوستون» برگزین میشود؛ او با یک جراح ازدواج کرده؛ آنها دارای یک اقامتگاه در خیابان تاریخی «براتل» در «کیمبریج»، و یک خانه ی تابستانی در «برکشایر هیلز» هستند؛ اکنون او با دشوارترین آزمایش یک پزشک و یک زن روبروست: آیا بایستی راز پزشکی دختری را که ناامیدانه او مراجعه کرده نگهدارد، یا به آن اعتماد خیانت ورزد تا عشق مردی را که زندگی او را با چیزهای ناباورانه ای پر کرده، نگاهبان باشد

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 15/02/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 27/01/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی