Imagine if Dr. Derek Shepherd and Dr. Gregory House had a baby. Dr. Teresella Gondolo would be the result. In her hallowed space, tales of perplexing symptoms and peculiar behaviors unfold like the pages of an intricate novel, chronicling days, months, and years of daunting medical mysteries. She welcomes the unusual like House and handles each case with the expertise of Shepherd.  In a mesmerizing dance between patients and their families, an unassuming office becomes a sanctuary for the extraordinary.

She narrates stories of patients who visit her office with worry lines etched on their faces and sadness in their eyes. A virtuoso of the medical realm, Dr. Gondolo is audience to a wide range of human conditions. She bravely encounters a number of neurological conditions and allows the reader into her office as she treats each one of them.

Dr. Gondolo tells her stories with the flair of a pen-driven Picasso. Her passion for her work is obvious in her writing. Bound within the pages of Fifty Shades of Gray Matter are segments each different from the other. These sections give voice to narratives that resonate with strength and simplicity, occasionally revealing the tender hues of her own life’s canvas. She is not afraid to let a little bit of herself peer through the lines.

This book is the perfect treat for lovers of medical shows. It is the literary equivalent of Grey’s Anatomy woven with House MD episodes. Like a medical MacGyver, she accurately highlights the urgency of her cases and the technical artistry it takes to diagnose and treat before the patient runs out of time or deteriorates beyond the point of no return. Fifty Shades of Gray Matter is much more than an interesting read–it is an experience. Dr. Gondolo’s grasp of imagery and the writing craft creates mental images that put the reader right in the room with her looking into the eyes of her patients or leafing through medical files.

Dr. Gondolo understands that the magic of clarity holds the key to reader engagement. Just as she peers into a patient’s eyes and deciphers their ailment, she gazes into her readers’ minds and tailors her prose with precision. My only wish is that the sketches at the end of the chapters would come at the beginning instead. Otherwise, she has written a wonderful collection of stories.

As readers take in her last commentary on mortality, there will be a resounding verdict: Fifty Shades of Gray Matter is an eloquent tapestry of wisdom and wonder, masterfully woven by an insightful physician who intertwines her patients’ chronicles with the threads of her own narrative. Dr. Teresella Gondolo has taken what could be a boring series of M&M conferences and bound them into playful yet serious bits of intriguing stories. She does not mean to entertain, but she will keep you glued to the pages to the very end.

Pages: 335 | ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C3WH6GJJ