Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

From the frontlines of modern medicine, Tell Me Where It Hurts is a fascinating insider portrait of a veterinarian, his furry patients, and the blend of oldfashioned instincts and cutting-edge technology that defines pet care in the twenty-first century. Dr. Trout takes the reader on a vicarious journey through twenty-four intimate, heartrending hours in his life; his wry, companionable voice offers enlightening and engaging anecdotes about cuddly (or not-socuddly) pets and their variously zany, desperate, and demanding owners. If you've ever had a pet or special place in your heart for furry friends, Dr. Trout's inspiring account of loving and healing animals is for you.

Presented unabridged on 8 CDs.

Average Customer Rating:

Loving Surgery, empathizing with animals, laughing at owners

Customer Rating:

A delightful book showing Dr. Trout's skill with narrative. The ongoing stories, of Sage the dog with the stomach that was literally turned, and Barron, the dog with the difficult and sad diagnosis, gave the book shape and narrative curve. I loved the cautionary story about the cat who had swallowed something stringy. The tangential material, both about Trout's own life (a young man massaging a puppy to life) and weird animal lore (ferrets in one's pants), provided rich and rewarding reading. I do wish he'd had more cat anecdotes, of course, since I am a cataholic. One tiny criticism: an ongoing villain in the story is Sage's owner's daughter, who is an engineer and holds a doctorate. If she was truly as unfeeling toward animals as Trout paints her, she no doubt deserves the disdain with which he paints her. (And I wonder if she ever picked up his book and recognized herself). BUT: doctors of engineering with Ph.D.'s are just as much doctors as veterinarians or MDs. They hold lives in their hands as much as do doctors of medicine or veterinary science. Doctors of Engineering keep airplanes in the air and bridges from collapsing. The degree of doctor was invented before it was assigned by public opinion to medical doctors. So I wish Trout hadn't ended his book with the snarky comment, "Perhaps she {Dr. Hartmann} uses the title . . . to get bumped from coach to business." I have a Ph.D., but it sure never helped me get a better seat on an airplane! As to his supposition that she used the doctorate "to bully her way into our phone system," I have to ask if Angell Animal Medical Center is so elitist that the owners of poor dying animals have to bully receptionists to get information or help. The length to which I've gone in this screed might suggest I don't like the book, but I did like it, He does anecdote very well, and it's clear he loves both animals and the art and technology of surgery, maybe the latter a bit more than the former. He conveys both loves beautifully.

Pet Lovers Should Feel Right At Home Here

Customer Rating:

Nick Trout has written a charming "day in the life" account of being a surgeon in Boston's Angell veterinarian hospital. When I started I wondered if this was going to be nothing more than a serialized piece from Dog or Cat Fancy that had been expanded into book form, but my skepticism was quickly dispelled and I found myself charmed by both his sensitive and funny approach to both the pets and their owners. Anyone who owns and cherishes their pet would probably find alot to appreciate and identify with here.

Light-hearted Veterinary Memoir

Customer Rating:

This light-hearted memoir recounts a day in the life of a veterinary surgeon via a series of surgical vignettes intermingled with remembrances and reflections. The structure of the book is somewhat choppy, and there's very little momentum moving the story along. Nevertheless, this book is likely to entertain animal lovers or people curious about veterinarians, and it won't demand much of your brain power.

enjoyable but full of errors

Customer Rating:

This was an enjoyable story, but the errors were like fingernails across a blackboard. The book does not appear to have been copyedited or proofread. One blooper reads: "When I first met Ms. Wicks, I was physically bowled over by her...tricolored silky fur and energy." I think maybe that should read "her dog's." A couple is described as "balling" their eyes out in the waiting room - what a picture that brings to mind! Punctuation is bizarre, and if one word can be confused with another, it is: reign for rein, peak for peek, etc. Of course, these are not the author's fault, but they did detract from the reading experience for me.

Animal Lovers Will Love this Book

Customer Rating:

At first I found the jump-around style of storytelling distracting. I kept wanting it to read like the James Herriot books -- a chapter for this case, a new chapter for that case. Once I understood that the whole book was going to be back and forth, I was good with it and enjoyed the reading immensely. Of course, the back and forth style fits this book since it is one day of following Trout in the hospital. There isn't a definitive chapter between all patients, especially in surgery, what with post-op check-ups and all. And so the narrative is juggled in the same manner that Trout juggles between multiple cases at once. This was a delightful read. I loved to learn some of the updated methods and options for treatments in the animal world. Medicine is worlds beyond what Herriot practiced in his day! Trout has wonderful insight into the ways of both animals and their humans. Anyone who understands the bond between a person and his pet will enjoy this book.