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A review by jyb
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by T.J. Mitchell, Judy Melinek
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
2.0
The cases and medical aspects of this book were interesting enough that this book could’ve been a 4 or 5 star read, but the author’s comments about suicide immediately dropped this to a two star rating.
I am genuinely insulted and disgusted with the author’s opinion on suicide: calling it a “selfish act” without any thought to the intricacies of mental health and the causes of suicide. She calls suicide “selfish” multiple times throughout this book (FYI, this is the second quote where it happens!): “It’s a goddamned self act, suicide, if you ask me.” Yeah? NOBODY ASKED YOU.
She clearly has personal issues with suicide due to her father, but that’s no excuse to make assumptions and project it onto others. Moreover, the way she thinks about her father’s suicide, specifically, unnerves and saddens me: “He was sober. I couldn’t blame drugs. I could only and still blame [my father].” Personally, I think saying it’s someone’s own fault for committing suicide is a rather awful thing to say about someone. Perhaps it’s wanting to have an “external force” to “explain it away,” which I understand, but she clearly is “still blaming” her father for his suicide. Paired with her claims of selfishness, I am not inclined to think well of her opinions. These mental asides regarding suicide ruin the medically oriented experience of the book and immediately made me think far less of the author. (She was also rather judgemental about people dealing with addiction, which was also not something I enjoyed seeing.)
And, regardless of these comments, the structure of the book itself is also extremely confusing. She jumps all over the place timeline-wise, and it is extremely hard to follow in what order what happened. Perhaps that is on purpose, but it just made the book feel very disorganized and lacking in structure, and ruined part of the experience.
Overall, the medical stuff was extremely interesting and engaging (especially the 9/11 chapter), but I am thoroughly insulted by her opinions on suicide. I cannot give this anything more than 2 stars.
I am genuinely insulted and disgusted with the author’s opinion on suicide: calling it a “selfish act” without any thought to the intricacies of mental health and the causes of suicide. She calls suicide “selfish” multiple times throughout this book (FYI, this is the second quote where it happens!): “It’s a goddamned self act, suicide, if you ask me.” Yeah? NOBODY ASKED YOU.
She clearly has personal issues with suicide due to her father, but that’s no excuse to make assumptions and project it onto others. Moreover, the way she thinks about her father’s suicide, specifically, unnerves and saddens me: “He was sober. I couldn’t blame drugs. I could only and still blame [my father].” Personally, I think saying it’s someone’s own fault for committing suicide is a rather awful thing to say about someone. Perhaps it’s wanting to have an “external force” to “explain it away,” which I understand, but she clearly is “still blaming” her father for his suicide. Paired with her claims of selfishness, I am not inclined to think well of her opinions. These mental asides regarding suicide ruin the medically oriented experience of the book and immediately made me think far less of the author. (She was also rather judgemental about people dealing with addiction, which was also not something I enjoyed seeing.)
And, regardless of these comments, the structure of the book itself is also extremely confusing. She jumps all over the place timeline-wise, and it is extremely hard to follow in what order what happened. Perhaps that is on purpose, but it just made the book feel very disorganized and lacking in structure, and ruined part of the experience.
Overall, the medical stuff was extremely interesting and engaging (especially the 9/11 chapter), but I am thoroughly insulted by her opinions on suicide. I cannot give this anything more than 2 stars.