Nest Book Club
SusieBW
member
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WIJFR: Five Days at Memorial (possible spoilers, I guess?)
I never know what to say about spoilers in non-fiction . . .
I can't say I really enjoyed this book, but I couldn't put it down. This was about the events that took place at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans during and in the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina, and then continued with the law enforcement investigation that followed over the next couple of years. Overall, I'm glad I read it, and I would recommend it if you are interested in learning about the subject, but I think it had some flaws. The writing was kind of exhausting, for one thing - like she was trying too hard to make a tragic story sound artsy or something - at one point I was showing lines to my DH and asking him how this book could've possibly won a Pulitzer with crap like this.
I really liked the first part, the story of the actual "five days" referenced in the title. It was fascinating and appalling all at the same time. The level of unpreparedness and disorganization was horrifying. The people in charge were not competent to be in the roles they were in, and the pre-disaster planning (or lack thereof) was laughable. Officials at all levels, from the hospital all the way up through FEMA failed to do their jobs in the years before the storm, and those failures seemed to lead to tragedy on top of tragedy on top of tragedy. What an awful, preventable situation. Sadly, it seems like while lessons have been learned in the intervening 9 years, a similar situation was only narrowly avoided in an NYC hospital during Hurricane Sandy. Luckily, the folks in charge there were better prepared and had better tools and assistance at their disposal. Emergency response and preparedness is a fascinating field to me, though.
The second part, the law enforcement investigations, is where the book lost it for me. It was SO biased, and twisted so many things a certain way, and presented so many people and facts in a certain light . . . I agree with the author that everything became really politically motivated, and inappropriately so, but the book's attitude toward certain doctors and nurses and some of the attorneys and government officials seemed inappropriate to me. Do I think that those doctors and nurses did something wrong in the face of situation they were in? Absolutely. I think what they did was unconscionable, and I don't know how they can sleep at night, but I didn't like the way that the story was told here. There were so many levels of tragedy here, it's unbelievable, but still, the book felt really sensationalized, like reading Fox News. But again, the story itself is really interesting, so I'm still glad to have read the book, if that makes sense.
I can't say I really enjoyed this book, but I couldn't put it down. This was about the events that took place at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans during and in the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina, and then continued with the law enforcement investigation that followed over the next couple of years. Overall, I'm glad I read it, and I would recommend it if you are interested in learning about the subject, but I think it had some flaws. The writing was kind of exhausting, for one thing - like she was trying too hard to make a tragic story sound artsy or something - at one point I was showing lines to my DH and asking him how this book could've possibly won a Pulitzer with crap like this.
I really liked the first part, the story of the actual "five days" referenced in the title. It was fascinating and appalling all at the same time. The level of unpreparedness and disorganization was horrifying. The people in charge were not competent to be in the roles they were in, and the pre-disaster planning (or lack thereof) was laughable. Officials at all levels, from the hospital all the way up through FEMA failed to do their jobs in the years before the storm, and those failures seemed to lead to tragedy on top of tragedy on top of tragedy. What an awful, preventable situation. Sadly, it seems like while lessons have been learned in the intervening 9 years, a similar situation was only narrowly avoided in an NYC hospital during Hurricane Sandy. Luckily, the folks in charge there were better prepared and had better tools and assistance at their disposal. Emergency response and preparedness is a fascinating field to me, though.
The second part, the law enforcement investigations, is where the book lost it for me. It was SO biased, and twisted so many things a certain way, and presented so many people and facts in a certain light . . . I agree with the author that everything became really politically motivated, and inappropriately so, but the book's attitude toward certain doctors and nurses and some of the attorneys and government officials seemed inappropriate to me. Do I think that those doctors and nurses did something wrong in the face of situation they were in? Absolutely. I think what they did was unconscionable, and I don't know how they can sleep at night, but I didn't like the way that the story was told here. There were so many levels of tragedy here, it's unbelievable, but still, the book felt really sensationalized, like reading Fox News. But again, the story itself is really interesting, so I'm still glad to have read the book, if that makes sense.
Re: WIJFR: Five Days at Memorial (possible spoilers, I guess?)
I just read this too and I agree with you. It actually took me longer to read the first part of the book because I found it more emotionally exhasting - the investigations were easier for me because I wasn't as comfortable with how things were presented so I could distance myself more.
I really thought I was going to have to ditch the book when they started talking about the NICU babies. I was so glad that they got them out earlier on in the ordeal and they all survived - because, ugh, I don't think I could have handled if that hadn't worked out.
Kate's Recipe Box || Relatively Bookish
I gave this 3 stars because I am glad I read it and it was really fascinating, but what interested me was the actual story, and I didn't care for the way it was told.
Sugar & Spice
Kate's Recipe Box || Relatively Bookish
I'm reading The Good Nurse which is about a nurse who killed possibly hundreds of patients. It is kind of incredible what hospitals do to protect themselves from lawsuits which seemed to fit in with Five Days at Memorial.