Reviews

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, by Adam Kay

shelleym's review against another edition

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funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Very funny, written in a diary format. 

verlkonig's review against another edition

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4.0

This book gave me whiplash from laughing my head off one second to being utterly stony faced the next.

Kay describes his life in the NHS as a doctor through short diary entries. Each entry is so telling, describing the sad state of affairs that our NHS is in, expressing the lifestyle of NHS workers, and delving into the gritty realities of our health system and how we treat it. It is all wittily told and extremely accessible - there's no need to have any prior knowledge about the NHS or medicine. I laughed through most of it, from the hilarious description of a man mistakenly believing his new baby had no face, to a short anecdote about a nurse who always mixed up the words 'cocoon' and 'coma'. Other entries are still funny, but also truly, horrifically, disgusting. I will never look at a KFC bucket or a fireman sam bath sponge the same way again.

The laughs are balanced with some truly heartbreaking moments. This is a book set in a hospital, after all, and realistically, not everyone gets to be discharged. Plus, some of the insight into our NHS and how it operates will both anger and sadden you with how outrageously unkind it is to its employees.

hichristabel's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

saltybrieeze's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

its_charlielewis's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny informative medium-paced

4.5

lauratoria's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

3.0

caitlin689's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5
This book was incredible, its about a doctor’s journal notes over the years of him being a doctor and at the different stages throughout his career, these journal entries were part hilarious, interesting, amazing and heartbreaking. Which I think sums up the medical profession pretty well. As someone who is going into the medical profession( RN) I really liked this book and it showed some aspect of medicine that I hadn’t considered before.

This book was a great insight into the hardships a doctor has to face early on in their career and has made my respect for doctors go through the roof.

If you want to read a hilarious book that will also teach you something I highly recommend this book.

julciasereda's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

swagkermit's review against another edition

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emotional funny

5.0

_leigh_r's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.0