SUGGESTED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

  1. You have a lot of fans of your memoir, Exhale. After reading All That Really Matters, how similar are you to Joe, the main character? 
  2. This is a fascinating look behind the curtain of the very demanding job of a transplant surgeon. Tell us about the process of creating Joe’s character and walking this path with him. 
  3. How did making Joe a fictional character allow you to address issues in the medical profession, such as profit vs. care and inequities in the transplant waiting list process, differently than you did in Exhale?
  4. How do novels help tell the truth about complicated issues, like relationships, healthcare, and outsized expectations? 
  5. Joe’s arrogance – or self-confidence – is on display through much of All That Really Matters. Is it possible to do that job without that arrogance?
  6. A major conflict in All That Really Matters is between Joe, who pursues a lucrative career as a transplant surgeon in a profitable urban hospital, and his fiancee, who puts her medical degree to use at a remote clinic in Uganda. Is one a higher calling than the other?
  7. Joe’s father is portrayed as a Holocaust survivor. How is that important to the story? 
  8. By the end of the book, do you think Joe figures out what really matters? Can different people (or different medical professionals) come to different conclusions about what matters?