anastasiyasa's review against another edition
1.0
The author of the book is clearly an egomaniac. God complex aside, throughout the book, he uses female nurses and female doctors as audiences for his egotistic monologues. All conversations he seems to have in this book go something like this: ‘Erin (not Dr. Erin ) what do you think about this complex issue. ‘ ‘I don’t know, Dr. Ruggieri’. ‘well, Erin, let me go on an entire diatribe about this topic while we do this surgery’. ‘Wow, Dr. Ruggieri! You’re so smart. What will we do when you retire?’ ‘ I don’t know, Erin, but my generation is so much better trained than the next generation. And to think the graduating medical students are mostly women nowadays! They won’t want to go into surgery, because women want families’. Nauseating.
wmatamoros's review against another edition
4.0
Factual info and stats with enough stories to keep you turning pages and keep it from drying up. The book ended with a kind of devastating truth of what’s to come thanks to increasing regulations and the slow decrease of physician autonomy
celinbean's review
3.0
This was interesting for me since i work as a surgical nurse in a different country and im still hoping to become a surgeon.
The narrator of this audiobook was the saving grace for this book though if im being honest. The structure of this book was a mess. There were so many repetitions of themes and stories that i was momentarily confused at times when i picked the audiobook up again. Did my phone fuck up and set me back? But no. The author just repeated something from the previous chapter. It was annoying as hell. But again. The narrator has a nice voice and kept me going despite this.
The ending wasn’t a very hopeful one for the american health system but im not that surprised tbh
The narrator of this audiobook was the saving grace for this book though if im being honest. The structure of this book was a mess. There were so many repetitions of themes and stories that i was momentarily confused at times when i picked the audiobook up again. Did my phone fuck up and set me back? But no. The author just repeated something from the previous chapter. It was annoying as hell. But again. The narrator has a nice voice and kept me going despite this.
The ending wasn’t a very hopeful one for the american health system but im not that surprised tbh
mactammonty's review against another edition
2.0
Repetitive an Insightful
There is some good information in this book. For that information it was a good read. He was very repetitive though. He had one or two sentences that he loved to repeat. You could think of it as a mantra for the book.
Because of this repetitiveness I dropped the star rating. Some of the information is only really relevant to the US audience as well. This does not detract from the story he is telling, it just limits its usefulness to me specifically.
There is some good information in this book. For that information it was a good read. He was very repetitive though. He had one or two sentences that he loved to repeat. You could think of it as a mantra for the book.
Because of this repetitiveness I dropped the star rating. Some of the information is only really relevant to the US audience as well. This does not detract from the story he is telling, it just limits its usefulness to me specifically.
jenlisy's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating book, showing the human behind the scalpel and the challenges we are going to face with an aging population and too many doctors going into better paying specialities!
clarinethero's review against another edition
3.0
Really could have done without the anti-government rant at the end.
white306's review against another edition
3.0
I was in a Grey's Anatomy mood so I decided to go with some non-fiction. It didn't disappoint.
asaneda's review against another edition
3.0
https://readsandrose.wordpress.com/2020/04/19/review-confessions-of-a-surgeon-the-good-the-bad-and-the-complicated-life-behind-the-o-r-doors/
I was excited to listen to this book. I find any medical memoirs interesting and was intrigued by this title. I was even more excited because at the time I was getting ready to listen to this book I was on a physical therapy internship working in a NICU of a hospital so was therefore seeing the hustle and bustle daily.
However, I didn’t really enjoy the book. Sure, it went through the experience of one surgeon and revealed many secrets you wouldn’t think of, but the tone just didn’t sit well with me. He made surgeons seem like terrible people; made it seem that what happens behind the O.R. doors is terrifying. Sure he discusses the occasional life saved, or the occasional saved surgery that another surgeon had difficulty with… but it still seemed wrong.
The book seemed to point out that most surgeons seem to only be in it for the money, not the life saving acts they have the ability to do. And while I certainly know this is not true for the majority of surgeons in the world, this book seemed to portray it that way.
He talks about the long hours, the lawsuits, and the true cost of private practice. It just all seems like a bunch of fluff to me, at least by how he portrays it.
I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. It was slightly eye opening to the behind the scenes of the lives of surgeons, but I felt it really only depicted the bad even though “the good” is also listed in the title. I didn’t feel like the author enjoyed being a surgeon or did it for the right reasons.
Genre is non-fiction, medical memoir for those who are interested.
*I got this book from the library through the OverDrive App*
I was excited to listen to this book. I find any medical memoirs interesting and was intrigued by this title. I was even more excited because at the time I was getting ready to listen to this book I was on a physical therapy internship working in a NICU of a hospital so was therefore seeing the hustle and bustle daily.
However, I didn’t really enjoy the book. Sure, it went through the experience of one surgeon and revealed many secrets you wouldn’t think of, but the tone just didn’t sit well with me. He made surgeons seem like terrible people; made it seem that what happens behind the O.R. doors is terrifying. Sure he discusses the occasional life saved, or the occasional saved surgery that another surgeon had difficulty with… but it still seemed wrong.
The book seemed to point out that most surgeons seem to only be in it for the money, not the life saving acts they have the ability to do. And while I certainly know this is not true for the majority of surgeons in the world, this book seemed to portray it that way.
He talks about the long hours, the lawsuits, and the true cost of private practice. It just all seems like a bunch of fluff to me, at least by how he portrays it.
I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. It was slightly eye opening to the behind the scenes of the lives of surgeons, but I felt it really only depicted the bad even though “the good” is also listed in the title. I didn’t feel like the author enjoyed being a surgeon or did it for the right reasons.
Genre is non-fiction, medical memoir for those who are interested.
*I got this book from the library through the OverDrive App*
jordantaylor's review against another edition
2.0
I have been hunting down and devouring every medical memoir I can find for the past few weeks, and so far, I have loved every one that I've come across. This one, being the memoir of a surgeon, promised to be a favorite. (I am working toward, someday, becoming a surgeon myself).
However, I was let down, and didn't find myself enjoying this one all that much.
There were some fascinating descriptions of procedures and operations, most notably a few pages describing a Thyroid surgery, but they were few and far between, not to mention the author's mediocre writing skills.
In my reading of medical blogs and posts online, I have gotten the impression that surgeons are generally regarded as assholes with control issues and God complexes. This book could be used as evidence for this stereotype.
I found the narrator, Dr. Ruggieri, to be absolutely insufferable. His candor and apparent willingness to share both good and bad sides of himself (though I cannot recall any of the good) would have better remained hidden by more description of hospital life and operations.
Ruggieri tells us that he loves being in the O.R. so much because he is "God" in there, and yes, he really does use that word - more than once, also calling himself "King of the O.R." He gives little evidence of concern for any of the patients mentioned, but shows much concern over legal trouble, his good name, and having the job require as little work as possible while adding up to the highest paycheck. He never mentions any of the nurse's names, and writes of O.R. scenes as if they are slaves in awe of his every movement.
There is nothing necessarily wrong with wanting to get home on time, cursing when a patient unexpectedly crashes, or bragging about your new Porsche. But the way that Ruggieri comes across to the reader is as a disenchanted, crass individual.
Besides being an asshole, he is also frequently annoying, using the word "fondle" when talking about human organs numerous times, and having ridiculous conversations with them as well.
A partially likable memoir (at times) about an entirely unlikable narrator.
However, I was let down, and didn't find myself enjoying this one all that much.
There were some fascinating descriptions of procedures and operations, most notably a few pages describing a Thyroid surgery, but they were few and far between, not to mention the author's mediocre writing skills.
In my reading of medical blogs and posts online, I have gotten the impression that surgeons are generally regarded as assholes with control issues and God complexes. This book could be used as evidence for this stereotype.
I found the narrator, Dr. Ruggieri, to be absolutely insufferable. His candor and apparent willingness to share both good and bad sides of himself (though I cannot recall any of the good) would have better remained hidden by more description of hospital life and operations.
Ruggieri tells us that he loves being in the O.R. so much because he is "God" in there, and yes, he really does use that word - more than once, also calling himself "King of the O.R." He gives little evidence of concern for any of the patients mentioned, but shows much concern over legal trouble, his good name, and having the job require as little work as possible while adding up to the highest paycheck. He never mentions any of the nurse's names, and writes of O.R. scenes as if they are slaves in awe of his every movement.
There is nothing necessarily wrong with wanting to get home on time, cursing when a patient unexpectedly crashes, or bragging about your new Porsche. But the way that Ruggieri comes across to the reader is as a disenchanted, crass individual.
Besides being an asshole, he is also frequently annoying, using the word "fondle" when talking about human organs numerous times, and having ridiculous conversations with them as well.
A partially likable memoir (at times) about an entirely unlikable narrator.