The Other Dr. Gilmer

A popular fiction book club at my local library chose this book for the March 2025 meeting. After reading the synopsis, it put me in mind of another book, “The Other Wes Moore.” While this book does follow a different path, there is the commonality of considering how different life is for someone who also shares some of your name.

I had not heard about this book before, which is sort of surprising because I would've thought I'd heard the related “This American Life” podcast (https://www.thisamericanlife.org/492/transcript). I certainly intend to listen to it now that I finished the book.

The first 40% or so of the book moved along a clip and was full of suspense. In fact, this book reads more like a suspense book then what one usually expects from nonfiction books. And it was relatively easy to read.

Once we learn that the other Dr. Gilmer (Vince) had Huntington's disease, the book ratcheted down to a much slower pace. To be fair, that could be because it took years and years for the author and a team of lawyers and medical experts to work on a clemency application to Virginia's governor for Dr. Vince Gilmore.

Huntington's disease is truly horrible. My Aunt's second husband's family has it: my uncle‘s first wife, one of his daughters, and one of his grandsons have/had Huntington's and it is a horrible thing to watch happen to somebody. At one point, Dr. Benjamin Gilmore describes Huntington‘s as Lou Gehrig's plus Parkinson's plus Alzheimer's. And that's a pretty accurate summation from my experience (my Gran had Lou Gehrig's).

It is the last third of the book that also includes more of Dr. Benjamin Gilmer's crises of conscience and disappointed expectations. Again, when you work and work then wait and wait and wait, your mind has nothing to do but spin. From a purely critical perspective, this section could have been tightened up a little. But, this Dr. Gilmer does seem to truly care about his patients, family, and particularly the other Dr. Gilmer who had an unfair trial.

Personal aside: It was l fun to hear Dr. Benjamin Gilmer mention wonderful Asheville gems I'd been to (before the horrific 2024 flood).