Life in the Gray Zone

The debut novel by young doctor David Zupančič received the flattering title of BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 at the 38th Book Fair.David Zupančič (1991) is a young doctor who, at the beginning of the 2020 epidemic, confirmed the first case of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Slovenia in the emergency department of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Feverish Conditions in Ljubljana. He is also an online influencer and author of the popular podcast The Art of Laziness, a specialist in infectious diseases at the University Hospital in Ljubljana. He is known for presenting scientific information and events in a humorous way. During the outbreak of the virus, he was constantly involved in work in emergency rooms and intensive care units.

Thousands of stories from the time of the Covid-19 pandemic

Life in the Gray Zone was written during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, many people had a lot to say about many things. Some were very vocal, some were deeply shaken, others were confident and rebellious like never before. Meanwhile, in hospital rooms and operating rooms, difficult battles and personal dramas of patients were taking place.

The entire event in society has triggered the emergence of a state of emergency and tension of global proportions. David Zupančič tells about it humorously, knowledgeablely and accurately. Although infectology is a serious profession, David Zupančič writes about his experiences, fears, victories and defeats in such a way that medicine and healthcare become an endless source of situational comedy and entertaining scenes in his writings, as well as important ethical and life questions.

EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK:

… “With this book, I don't want to add fuel to the fire of passion ignited by the epidemic. I don't want to judge, theorize, and rage. In fact, I don't even want to write a book about Covid. I just want to tell stories. About my work as an infectious disease specialist during the pandemic. About my experiences, fears, victories, and defeats. About my patients, with whom we spent the hardest and longest nights at the clinical center. …”

A gentleman enters the small emergency trauma unit with a visibly bleeding thumb. He has wrapped a kitchen towel around it, which only partially stops the flow of blood. "Sir, what's wrong?" the surgeon asks.

"I was cutting salami." "And what happened then?"

The gentleman smiles despite the situation. "But then they ran out of salami."

MEDIA ABOUT THE BOOK:

• "The reflections in the book are cheerful, the observations are entertaining, the medical vocabulary is understandable to ordinary mortals, and one could even jokingly say that he is the first specialist, excuse me, resident, who can be understood quite well." - contribution by Saša Britovšek, Večer, 30. 10. 2022
• "David Zupančič writes about his experiences, fears, victories and defeats in such a way that medicine and healthcare become an endless source of situational comedy and entertaining scenes in his writings, as well as important ethical and life questions." - Reporter, 7. 11. 2022
• "He openly, with excellent humor, reveals what is happening both in him and in the other side of the waiting room." - Marija Šelek, Jana, 15. 11. 2022
• "Underneath all the compliments lies the simple fact that only a deeply conscious and genuine person could write such a book. Someone who deserves to be a doctor in every way." - article in Jana, 15. 11. 2022, words in the artistic newsletter of Maribor medical students
• "She excels in capturing the spirit of the times, decision-making, leadership and thinking." - interview by Miha Dajčman with Sabina Fras Popović, Večer, 16. 11. 2022
• "Honest, it reads like a suspenseful novel, it is tinged with humor, but at the same time it maintains all due dignity towards patients and the hospital." - Meta Černoga, Nedeljski dnevnik, 16. 11. 2022
• "He writes with ease and that's how his personal narrative is read." - Urša Izgoršek, Nedelo, 19. 11. 2022
• "Witty and poignant, a kind of work of art, but also a document of the times. And those times were not easy." - contribution by Urška Šestan, 24ur.com, 28. 10. 2022, words by Matjaž Zupančič
• "The book is a witty and honest confession of an infectious disease specialist during the Covid-19 epidemic, with descriptions of hospital operations, such as we are used to from popular television series, and a clear criticism of the healthcare system and society..." - contribution by Iva Lačan, N1 Slovenia, October 27, 2022
• "I'm really excited. It's as if a new, fresh style has been born, witty, seemingly light, but at the same time with weight, brutally honest, direct - with lucid insights into the world we live in. No wonder such a phenomenon has happened." - Vesna Milek
• "With his book, we gained a special insight into the life of a young doctor who confirmed the first case of infection with the sarscov2 virus in Slovenia; he describes serious topics brutally honestly, but at the same time with lightness and humor..." - Sobotna priloga, Vesna Milek, 3. 12. 2022
• "The author has won the affection of readers with his sincere modesty and at the same time the reality of a novice doctor, embedded in the traditional hierarchy, in the weeks and months when the rapid spread of fatal viral pneumonia for many did not allow for gradual adaptation. Nothing is foreign to him, he finds the right, if necessary, harsh word for everything." - Iztok Ilich, Program Ars, January 31, 2023
• "Life in the Gray Zone is essentially a diary. Not exactly chronological, but therefore all the more weighty, comprehensive, thoughtful, enlightening. Readable. Tense. Astonishing. His Life in the Gray Zone is all the more crazy, incredible reading because it is both scary and entertaining. With plenty of seriousness and weight, if you will, also tragedy and existential absurdity, such as only illness can invent as brilliantly morbid nonfiction. But on the other hand, with no less humor - with an emphasis on black humor -, anecdotal, witty and witty, and knowledge and good information." - V soboto, Večer, Marko Crnkovič, 10. 12. 2022