Leeches Leave Behind a Scar Shaped Like the Mercedes Benz Symbol

I learned it from Tom Waits, so I assume it's true...

Dr. Vincent Lam gave a reading at the U of A a few months back, put on jointly by the Humanities and Medicine Faculties. I had expected the crowd to be separated by faculty allegiances, with an awkward silence between them, much like a junior high dance, so I was surprised that the med students/doctors and the art students/hobos moved among each other without incident.

There is a now-famous story about how Lam got his big break by meeting Margaret Atwood on an Alaskan cruise and showing her his manuscript, which led to Atwood's email reply: "Congratulations. You can write." As encouraging as that tale is (I advise all writers to keep that manuscript at the ready, in case you see Guy Vanderhaeghe in line at Tim Horton's or Michael Ondaatje riding the bus), I don't think it's the whole story.

Consider my made-up, yet more plausible version (given Atwood's reputation as being rather prickly when handed a manuscript from a stranger): Atwood, sea-sick on an endless cruise through the arctic wastelands, asks the ship's doctor (Lam) for a prescription for anti-nauseants. Lam, plucky young writer that he is, refuses to hand over the drugs until Atwood agrees to read his manuscript. Atwood's reply: "Congratulations. You can write. Now will you please give me some drugs?" Much more likely, you'll agree.

Oh, right...the book. Not bad. Lam's a good writer, and he tells interesting stories about medical students and young doctors. I think the best story in the collection is the one about a psychiatric patient who starts to make his doctor question his own sanity. However, I found that most of the stories didn't keep me thinking once I put the book down. My favourite short stories are those that demand to be read again and again and won't leave my brain alone. I'm not denying that Lam can write, but I don't feel the need to read his stories again.