Alexander has crafted a masterful tale of family life in post-war Romania. Through effortless prose and richly drawn characters, we are immersed in a world of personal struggles and political intrigues that spans decades and continents. The last part of the book is a deeply moving portrait of aging and death. This is a beautifully written story, one that will stay with you long after you read the last page. Highly recommended.

Through masterfully crafted dialogues and salient descriptions, this candid recount of a family's history draws the reader to partake in its complicated dynamics where the main character, the undisputed patriarch looms large despite his flaws. The decades of post WWII communist Romania are depicted in evocative stories of food and housing shortages, the subeconomy of influential people, and the ubiquitous anxiety of an oppressive regime. With compassion and humor, the author relates the story of emigrants who struggle through the loss of identity in the effort to build a new life. However, the family’s dramas transcend to a universal experience of love, friendship, trust, betrayal, pride, and resilience.

The Last Patient is a story of the triumph of love over loss and pain during some of the most challenging times of mid 20th century Romania. With words like, “It is wrong to grade pain, it is wrong to grade love…”, the author invites the reader to a gently guided journey in the times when “everyone wore invisible shackles”, “life was hard but never hopeless”, and people’s aspirations were as alive as always. The journey proposed by Tudor Alexander is endearing. There are no “good” and “bad” characters in the book; there are only complex characters, each with their own story, ethos, motivation, aspirations, and dignity. The Last Patient provides for truly immersive reading, in which the readers—equally those who had lived in those times and places, and those who have not— become part of the story. With the author’s creative maturity on display, The Last Patient claims its place on the map of accomplished contemporary novels.

The Last Patient is one of the most heartfelt, personal novels I've read in a very long time. Just like the people in my own family, the characters are alternately endearing and aggravating, loveable and detestable. Alexander brings them to life in every exchange and I came to understand all their strengths, weaknesses, loves, and hates as well as what things tenaciously hold them together as a family and a community.

Alexander's prose is extraordinarily well crafted without feeling the least bit pretentious. You hear his characters' varied voices in the dialog and you are allowed to discover their inner lives without the author trying to describe them.

This is a book I am going to recommend to all my friends who love a good, solid read by The Last Patient talented story teller.

The Last Patient is an evocative, realistic portrayal of personal and family relationships and daily life in the eastern bloc over the span of many decades. Touching but never sentimental, hard-edged but not deadening, it's a well-told story that moves briskly. While life under communist rule in the post-WWII period might seem distant from our vantage point in the 2020s, the parallels with today are all too real.

This is an epic historical novel that begins in Romania and spans over half a century. Kostea and Clara, both doctors, start their adult lives as WWII explodes around them. The shifting political status of the country is challenging and yet along with family and friends they live full lives, have a son, raise him with love and later face a hard separation as he moves to America. Reunited when they immigrate to the US, the final chapters are bittersweet with the happiness of living close to their son and grandchildren yet, missing their homeland, struggling with English and having to cope with unexpected illness. Absorbing read and well worth buying!

The Last Patient is a story of the triumph of love over loss and pain during some of the most challenging times of mid 20th century Romania. With words like, “It is wrong to grade pain, it is wrong to grade love…”, the author invites the reader to a gently guided journey in the times when “everyone wore invisible shackles”, “life was hard but never hopeless”, and people’s aspirations were as alive as always. The journey proposed by Tudor Alexander is endearing. There are no “good” and “bad” characters in the book; there are only complex characters, each with their own story, ethos, motivation, aspirations, and dignity. The Last Patient provides for truly immersive reading, in which the readers—equally those who had lived in those times and places, and those who have not— become part of the story. With the author’s creative maturity on display, The Last Patient claims its place on the map of accomplished contemporary novels.

The Last Patient is the story of a charismatic, flawed but fascinating character navigating life in mid-to-late 20th century Romania. Buffeted by the winds of political upheavals over which he has no control, Kostea, a surgeon, strives to advance his career, build a good life for his family and remain loyal to his friends, while staying on the good side of the authorities that can take it all away in an instant. Can a love affair derail his best-laid plans? Does lust trump duty, or is it the other way around? Can you have it all - professionally, romantically, materially - or does something have to give? The author skillfully weaves these narrative strands into a touching, heartfelt and exciting read. Highly recommended!

I particularly loved the honest humanity of the characters in this novel…how they wove so believably through their gripping, fascinating, and sometimes heartbreaking world. The read was a truly immersive experience.

A beautiful, raw, gritty, epic journey through life straddling two different worlds. A story of real love, warts and all at times, and family, with a backdrop of the Cold War and a window into a generation that left a rich life in Eastern Europe to move to the new world. This beautifully written book is an important tribute to the millions who left on this bittersweet journey, those who stayed and anyone else who wants an insight through this authentic voice. And a great story.

The Last Patient isn’t just a historical novel—it’s a deeply personal, emotional journey through one family’s life under Communism in Romania. I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but wow, this book pulled me in fast. The writing is eloquent and honest, and the characters ring true, especially Kostea, who is flawed and frustrating in the way anyone with a complicated male figure in their life will understand.

The book spans decades, and you really feel the weight of time—how the big political shifts affect the small, everyday moments of regular people living through extraordinary times. It’s heartbreaking at times, but also filled with moments of resilience and hope.

If you like historical fiction that focuses more on people than just events, and stories that make you feel something, definitely give this one a shot. It’s the kind of book that lingers after the last page. Oh, and the cover design is complex and absolutely gorgeous.

The Last Patient is a vivid, absorbing account of life in Communist Romania, and the challenges faced by a family of medical doctors navigating social and personal complexities. The characters are exceptionally well developed, within a moving story of particular interest to those of us who have not known Romania during post WWII years. The reader learns about experiences/challenges faced by highly skilled professionals immigrating to the US. This book is an excellent and gripping read.