Bellevue

Aspiring to but never attaining the sting of sharp satire, this first novel from a young doctor plunges into the chaotic world of New York City's famous public hospital. David Levy's first day as an intern gives him a picture of what his life is going to be like for the next year: always one inadvertent needle-prick away from AIDS, he'll be hounded by manipulative supervisors as he makes his rounds of the terminally ill and the socially victimized on a schedule that would make a Victorian factory owner blanch. Unfortunately, Siegel saddles David with an obsessive interest in Sal Vertino, a fellow intern who spends his time chasing Delia Meducci, a sexy and mysterious medical student. Also prowling the floors are the obnoxious Fat Goldman, a chain-smoking chief resident who'd rather be publishing his research on the erections of chimpanzees than baby-sitting interns, and the sinister attending physician Dr. Kell. David tags along behind Sal, to the detriment of his own work, until Sal meets an untimely demise, which prods David to get to the bottom of Kell's relationship to Sal and Delia. Delia counters, predictably, by taking aim at David's libido. Siegel's forays into absurdist comedy include a wheelchair-bound street person with oracular powers and an insensate patient who nevertheless manages to climb down a rope ladder from his window. The pace is blinding, but speed alone does not entirely compensate for a paucity of real humor and insight. In the end, Siegel's venture into the sick world of medicine, while entertaining, pales compared to Samuel Shem's classic The House of God. (Apr.)