Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon


Posted on Mar 11, 2008
By Julia Szabo

by Dr. Nick Trout

Broadway Books, 304 pages, $22.95

Ever since an English country vet named Alf Wight (pen name: James Herriot) mesmerized scores of readers, motivating large numbers of them to enter the veterinary profession, the publishing world has longed for his literary heir. At long last, that rightful heir has arrived: His name is Dr. Nick Trout, staff surgeon at Boston's prestigious Angell Animal Medical Center.

He's English by birth, but Trout is no country bloke. He's a city vet with a heart-stoppingly manic daily schedule: chapter one begins at 2:47 a.m. on a typically turbocharged composite day, as the doctor tumbles out of bed and into the operating room to help fix a bad case of bloat. His memoir reads like Herriot for hipsters, so instead of calves in the dairy barn, we get the cutting-edge technology of the state-of-the-art urban animal hospital. Have you been lucky enough never to see your dog in the critical care unit? After reading this book, you'll be prepared should you ever have to.  

The book is a roller-coaster ride that never flatlines - you may have trouble putting it down until you reach the final page. Recounting a variety of profiles in canine courage, all sutured together with a deft surgeon's skill, Trout can be hilarious at times and heart-wrenching at others. Yet admirably, he never resorts to cutesiness or schmaltz. What's more, he's man enough to admit when he was wrong and his clients were right!

In short, the guy's a medical mensch. James Herriot is dead; long live James Herriot. 
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