Life on the Ground Floor

Life on the Ground Floor

By Dr. James Maskalyk
Unabridged
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The problem with memoirs, especially when they are written by Western doctors heading off to Africa for work, is they can be self-indulgent and messianic in tone. Dr. James Maskalyk deftly avoids that trap in his highly acclaimed first book, Six Months in Sudan . . . [and] he's done so again in his new memoir, Life on the Ground Floor. . . . [His] idealism and passion are obvious .  . . but the strength of the book is that it captures the viscera, real and symbolic, of the ER—its sights, sounds, smells, pulse—without romanticizing the work. . . . Ultimately, that's what the book is about—making connections, across continents, culture and social classes, and clinging to the joyful moments that can be found amid the horror.
The Globe and Mail

Among longlisted titles for British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, 2017

Among shortlisted titles for Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction, 2018

Winner of Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize, 2017

Among shortlisted titles for RBC Taylor Prize, 2018

Among shortlisted titles for Toronto Book Award, 2017

National Bestseller
Winner of the 2017 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction
Shortlisted for the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize
Shortlisted for the 2018 Trillium Book Award
Shortlisted for the 2018 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction
Longlisted for the 2018 B.C. National Award for Canadian Nonfiction
Finalist for the 2017 Toronto Book Awards
Canada Reads 2019 Longlist
Named a Best Book of the Year by Globe and Mail, National Post, CBC, Chatelaine

Masterfully written and artfully structured, Life on the Ground Floor is a celebrated humanitarian doctor's unique perspective on sickness, health and what it is to be alive.

Deeply personal in its scope, doctor and activist James Maskalyk-author of the highly acclaimed Six Months in Sudan-draws upon his experience treating patients in the world's emergency rooms. From Toronto to Addis Ababa, Cambodia to Bolivia, he discovers that although the cultures, resources and medical challenges of each hospital may differ, they are linked indelibly by the ground floor: the location of their emergency rooms. Here, on the ground floor, is where Dr. Maskalyk witnesses the story of "human aliveness"-our mourning and laughter, tragedies and hopes, the frailty of being and the resilience of the human spirit. And it's here too that he is swept into the story, confronting his fears and doubts and questioning what it is to be a doctor.