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I Can't Save You: A Memoir

I Can't Save You: A Memoir

by Anthony Chin-Quee

Riverhead Books ·2023 ·368 pages
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Bottom of the Pile
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22/99
Bottom of the Pile

22/99

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22/99

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About This Book

The raw and gripping memoir of a Black physician who confronts his past mistakes and relationships as he learns to find his own path forward At first glance, Anthony Chin-Quee looks like a traditional success: a smart, ambitious kid who grew up to become a board-certified otolaryngologist—an ear, nose, and throat surgeon. Yet the truth is more complicated. As a self-described "not white, mostly Black, and questionably Asian man," Chin-Quee knows that he doesn't fit easily into any category. Growing up in a family with a background of depression, he struggled with relationships, feelings of inadequacy, and a fear of failure that made it difficult for him to forge lasting bonds with others. To repair that, he began his own unflinching examination of what it means to be both a physician and a Black man today. What saved him and his sanity was not medicine. By sharing stories from his life and career, Chin-Quee learned how powerful the truth can be in helping to forgive yourself and others as you chart a new way forward. By turns harrowing and hilarious, honest and human, I Can't Save You is the fascinating true story of how looking within can change you and your life for the better. Contents Prologue 1 Chin-Quee, M.D. 3 A-Side—Success* 42 B-Side—The Fall 80 You 160 Fear of Flying 176 Rainbow Connection 212 Y'ain't (k)no(w) 222 Fatherhood 285 Eulogy 334 Acknowledgments 353


Reviews

"A candid, stirring chronicle of struggle and success."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"I Can't Save You, with its deliberately messy assemblage of shifting narrative perspectives, poetry, anecdotes, and hallucinatory performance, represents the structural equivalent of a mixtape or shadow box where the author's phobias, formative memories, and Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man intersect ..."

Thúy Đinh· NPR Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Some late passages about Chin-Quee's father are moving and illuminating, however."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"His story will resonate, particularly with readers who feel as though they don't quite fit in and those dealing with a family history of mental illness."

Karen Springen· Booklist Read review ↗ Near the Top

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