A review by srfrq
Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang
3.0
cw: death
joan is an icu doctor and also a daughter of chinese immigrants. this book really gripped me, it might just be because i'm really emotional right now or because i saw parallels between me and joan's dad. joan's father passes away and she tries to process her grief throughout the book. that always irks me, the whole 'processing' grief as if it's some sort of product and you're a factory, like it's just supposed to go through you and not linger around you like a shadow or a ghost. i chuckled audibly at some points, snorted at others and had tears streaming down my face on the bus at one point. here are some quotes/times in the book that stuck with me:
"because how else could you be providing great service to strangers if you didn't take that time away from people who were not?" - she talks about the merit gained from neglecting your personal life to dedicate to patient care
"i said i only drank coffee from the atrium...it's where my father and i last spoke"
joan is an icu doctor and also a daughter of chinese immigrants. this book really gripped me, it might just be because i'm really emotional right now or because i saw parallels between me and joan's dad. joan's father passes away and she tries to process her grief throughout the book. that always irks me, the whole 'processing' grief as if it's some sort of product and you're a factory, like it's just supposed to go through you and not linger around you like a shadow or a ghost. i chuckled audibly at some points, snorted at others and had tears streaming down my face on the bus at one point. here are some quotes/times in the book that stuck with me:
"because how else could you be providing great service to strangers if you didn't take that time away from people who were not?" - she talks about the merit gained from neglecting your personal life to dedicate to patient care
"i said i only drank coffee from the atrium...it's where my father and i last spoke"