The Beauty in Breaking is a memoir by Michele Harper, an African American emergency physician. It’s about her experiences as a woman and a minority in the medical profession, and it’s about her journey in life, from being a child in a family torn by violence, through her education, her past romantic relationships, and her career–what she’s been able to do for her patients and what she has learned from them.

Dr. Harper is a gifted writer, and her strong compassion for others comes through in this book. She addresses everything from hospital politics to systemic racism, domestic violence, the realities of neighborhoods plagued by violence, dysfunctional family patterns, patients suffering from acute episodes of psychosis, patients who have committed crimes, patients who are victims of crimes–all with kindness, empathy, a hard-won wisdom, truthfulness, and an awareness of human dignity and our profound connections to each other.

Her stories are sometimes very painful, but often quite hopeful, and always thoughtful. A quote from the epilogue makes for a good summary: “Medicine, like yoga, like the entirety of this existence on earth, is a daily practice. It is the opportunity, should we choose it, to heal the human body and spirit. By healing ourselves, we heal each other. By healing each other, we heal ourselves.”

I look forward to more writing by Dr. Harper, and hope that she can continue both to care for her patients and to help enlighten the rest of us.

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BOOK: The Beauty in Breaking

AUTHOR: MIchele Harper

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2020

LEAD-IN IMAGE

Book cover, Penguin Random House