Audiobook Sample
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- Title: Turning Point
- Author: Danielle Steel
- Narrator: Todd Mclaren
- Length: 09:05:00
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 08/01/2019
- Publisher: Recorded Books
- Genre: Fiction & Literature, Contemporary Women
- ISBN13: 9.78E+12
As I settled into my favorite listening chair – the one that still carries the faint scent of jasmine from my Tokyo apartment – Todd McLaren’s rich baritone voice began weaving Danielle Steel’s latest medical drama into my consciousness. ‘Turning Point’ presents itself as conventional women’s fiction, but through a cultural lens, it reveals fascinating layers about how trauma manifests differently across professional and personal spheres.
What fascines me most is Steel’s choice to place four American trauma specialists in Paris for this character study. The cultural displacement reminds me of my own experiences teaching comparative literature abroad, when simple acts like ordering coffee became profound exercises in cultural negotiation. Steel uses this transatlantic framework to examine how even highly skilled professionals must confront their emotional limitations when removed from familiar contexts.
McLaren’s narration deserves particular praise for its nuanced handling of medical terminology and emotional cadences. His delivery of the mass casualty training scenes had me recalling my semester analyzing ‘The Plague’ with pre-med students – that same tension between clinical detachment and human vulnerability. The French phrases roll effortlessly off his tongue, though I noticed his Parisian taxi driver could benefit from more guttural authenticity.
The novel’s greatest strength lies in its psychological realism. Steel has clearly done her medical research, but more impressively captures how trauma specialists compartmentalize. This reminds me of observing surgeons during my hospital ethnography project at UCSF – their ability to toggle between gallows humor and profound empathy. Wendy Jones’ storyline particularly resonates, as her entanglement with a married colleague echoes many cases I’ve encountered in my gender studies research.
However, the narrative occasionally stumbles into melodrama, especially in the romantic subplots. The Parisian setting sometimes feels like a glossy postcard rather than the lived-in city I remember from my sabbatical. Steel’s doctors debate ethical dilemmas with surprising simplicity compared to the complex medical humanities discussions in works like Abraham Verghese’s ‘Cutting for Stone.’
For audiobook enthusiasts, the production quality meets Recorded Books’ usual high standards. McLaren’s pacing (at 1.2x speed, in my preference) maintains tension through lengthy medical scenes. The chapter transitions could be more distinct – I often found myself rewinding after becoming engrossed in case notes that reminded me of my physician husband’s dinner table stories.
Compared to similar medical fiction audiobooks, ‘Turning Point’ offers less technical depth than a Robin Cook thriller but more emotional insight than most hospital romances. It occupies an interesting middle ground between commercial fiction and medical drama, similar to Jodi Picoult’s ‘Handle With Care’ but with more focus on professional than parental ethics.
Steel’s examination of how crisis reveals character reminded me powerfully of teaching Camus during the pandemic. My students – many of them healthcare majors – saw new dimensions in ‘The Plague’ when their clinical rotations became COVID wards. Like Camus’ characters, Steel’s doctors discover their turning points emerge not from grand philosophical choices, but from accumulated moments of quiet courage between emergencies.
For listeners seeking pure medical accuracy, this may not satisfy. But for those interested in the emotional landscapes of healers – especially women navigating the ‘double shift’ of medicine and motherhood – it offers poignant insights. The audiobook format particularly enhances the novel’s strengths, with McLaren’s voice becoming a kind of narrative anesthesia, making even the most painful revelations bearable.
In scholarly solidarity and shared appreciation for stories that heal,
Prof. Emily Chen
