Reviews with content warning for Abortion - This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Medical Resident

As close to five stars as it could get without hitting the mark. This was an exceptional read! Kay’s ability to write about such stressful, life-altering experiences with lightheartedness and wit is unbelievable. Following his journey through medicine and the increasing pressures of the responsibility of his job, I found myself very endeared to him.

He is fundamentally very honest about his thoughts and actions, even when they don’t paint him in the best light, so by the end, when you are reading a recollection of probably the greatest trauma of his life, it is devastating to say the least. The section ‘Aftermath’ had me in fits of tears, and for hours after finishing the book I was still reflecting on what I had read, and how it made me feel, and how special this was as an experience. The only reason I haven’t rated it five stars is that, despite how much I loved the way this was structured and paced, I felt that the ‘bonus entries’ at the end of the book softened the emotional impact of the climax, and took away the harshness of the blow it had dealt. Which sounds like an odd thing to complain about, but up until the final diary entry, despite being able to see the cracks forming in his mental health and his ability to cope with the stress of the job, you can see he still loves being in obs and gynae and he finds value and humour in the job regardless of the monumental toll it takes on his personal life and health. So when he is suddenly thrown into a situation so stressful and so traumatic that it eventually leads to his leaving medicine altogether, this is a huge shock and, naturally, I wanted to sit with the feelings it brought up for a while and really reflect on what I had read. It was clearly a huge deal for him to share this experience, and it was a shame that the extra bits at the end took away from its impact.

Content Warnings