Date of Completion: 02/04/20
In this painfully funny book, Adam Kay shares tales from his experience training as a junior doctor for the NHS. I laughed, cringed and held back tears; but mainly I laughed.
I’m as big a fan of recycling as the next man, but if you turn a used condom inside out and put it back on for round two, it’s probably not going to be that effective.
Adam’s writing style is absolutely comical and witty. Even the constant commentaries and explanations in the footnotes were not annoying! Instead, they added an extra layer of amusement which I found myself looking forward to. His dry, dark humour had me laughing out loud so many times, I pretty sure I got abs every time I picked up this book.
However, with all the laughs came very heart-warming moments that left me shook.
Throughout the book Adam does not hesitate to give a realistic picture of what it is like to work for the NHS and the painful consequences the job can have on their social life and mental health. Despite this, I still unconsciously belittled and downplayed the cracks that I read and I did not fully realise this until the end. It is so easy to forget the huge toll each experience has on individuals.
So I told them the truth: the hours are terrible, the pay is terrible, the conditions are terrible; you’re underappreciated, unsupported, disrespected and frequently physically endangered. But there’s no better job in the world.
The only thing that prevents this book from being a 5 star read for me was that the diary entries did became slightly tedious. As the entries were not connected, I was not impatiently rushing to pick up the book and continue reading.
Having read this book, I definitely have a newfound respect for doctors that has grown even further during this coronavirus season. To all those on the front line (doctors, nurses, paramedics…) – thank you so much!
Remember they do an absolutely impossible job, to the very best of their abilities. Your time in hospital may well hurt them a lot more than it hurts you.
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