Rating
The Pequod Review:
Maylis De Kerangal's The Heart is an intense fictionalized account of a medical transplant procedure. The story begins with the unfortunate death of a young man in an automobile accident, followed by the professionals who spring into action to quickly retrieve his organs, all the way through to the heart transplant recipient. We see the entire system of participants mobilize during a frantic 24-hour period: the staffer charged with obtaining the parents’ consent, the parents who try to decide what their son would have wanted, the donor advisors who locate and contact a potential recipient, the surgeons preparing for the procedure, and so many more. It’s all a minor miracle, not just the science but the coordination, as bureaucratic efficiency competes with human emotions. Highly recommended.