Not Entirely Benign

As a Harvard medical student in 1982, Klass became a contributor to the New York Times ""Hers'' column; this is a collection of the author's diary-like essays describing her medical training, her life as a lover, a woman and a mother. The accounts are informed by the artistry Klass displays in her fiction, Recombinations and I Am Having an Adventure. Writing personally and candidly, she brings the reader into her orbit, into the experiences of a thoughtful person, in situations that are comic, difficult, puzzling and often tragic. There are moving instances of a doctor's mandated objectivity while involved with the dying and with the bereaved. In lighter moments, Klass twits pompous members of the healing profession and offers insights on the status of women doctors; they are frequently mistaken for nursesmen never are. (April)