REVIEW: This Is Going To Hurt By Adam Kay
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these; book reviews, I mean. After my attempt to become more loyal to paperbacks and hardcovers, I admittedly let go of that ambition not long after. Everything I Know About Love was the book that ignited my desire to read again, but it all came crumbling down when the book I picked up before my trip to NYC bored me to death. It was never-ending (although it really wasn’t that long), repetitive and I lowkey hated the idea of picking it up ever again. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but let’s just say it’s been sat on a bookshelf in my bedroom, and only sees the light of day when I’m dusting off.
As someone who’s not the most avid of readers, I rely an awful lot on fellow bloggers like Chloe Plumstead and Michelle Chai for book recommendations and reviews. I don’t really scheme through too many details of books I intend to read because I enjoy not knowing too much about the tales in them; I find that there’s a thrill in flipping through the pages blindly.
Other times, I embrace my Amazon suggestions and pretend the book chose me, but perhaps my subconscious is just judging the books by their cover. With most things you judge by instinct or visual, you’re bound to end up with a hit or miss, but let me just tell you the next book I added to my collection, was definitely the right one.
Once I finished taking in its last words, I felt hungry to have another book in my hand because I knew I’d miss the feeling. With all that’s been going on in the past few crazy weeks, I find that this is the perfect time to find solace in a couple hundred pages, if not for the welcome distraction, then to explore a new world and possibly learn new things. It’s the perfect time to pick up a book, and I’ve already clocked my next pick.
I’m not too sure whether I saw it in a blog post similar to this one, if it was one of the few in my Amazon recommendations, or if it was mentioned somewhere in an Instagram post (probably all of the above), but it made its way to my bedroom less than 48 hours after I clicked the ‘buy now’ button.
The book: This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay.
★★★★
It’s no wonder this book is a bestseller as I feel like I just know a lot more than I did before I first held it in my hands. Adam Kay recounts his days as a junior doctor and releases his diaries from the years he started working for the NHS until the day he put down his stethoscope for good.
As someone who has been to the hospital more times than I can count or even remember, it wasn’t difficult for me to walk through those walls in my mind and create a vivid world filled with scrubs and medical equipment. However, my perspective was always that of a patient and never could I have imagined all the sacrifice and adversity doctors and medical professionals have to put up with for us to stay alive.
From the first chapter, I instantly knew I was in for a hell of a ride as it’s his wit and realness that kept me hooked from start to finish. The book is refreshingly candid, extremely hilarious and sometimes the rawness of the writer hits super painfully in the worst spot.
With all that is going on (we all know what), This Is Going To Hurt certainly throws an excruciating punch as doctors, nurses and other medical professionals are holding down the fort during this time whilst we hide away indoors. Although it paints the dark sides of such a job boldly, it also draws up colourful images of the triumphant moments, the highs of highs, and the instances of immense gratitude.
3 Things I Loved.
★ The writing style of the book was absolutely brilliant. I felt like whilst I was reading Kay’s words in my head, I could hear his active voice between the lines, even though I had no clue what his voice sounds like. The way he put phrases together was not only clever but also interesting at the same time. I know there’s a long process of polishing and editing before a book goes to printers, but one of the best things about this book to me is how the writing flows so naturally it doesn’t feel super edited when being read. I genuinely felt like he was telling me about his experiences candidly and that made me keener to flip each page excitedly.
Oh, and also, this is not one of those ‘doctor’ books that will bore you with medical jargon you won’t know how to read, spell or write, and you won’t have to remember a million names either.
★ The evolution is very noticeable throughout the book and whilst I’m trying not to give away too much, it’s not difficult to realize that with each chapter I turned, all the people in the book came into their own more and more, especially Adam. But hey, I guess that’s life, right?
★ The curtains were really pulled wide open in each corner of this book. I’ve said it before, but the realness was to a level I was not expecting. I hope things changed for the better since the book was published, but the pages will have you thanking your doctors for their time and services.
More than ever right now we are noticing how lucky we once were and all the things we took for granted over the years. The book is a reminder that doctors are after all human beings doing heroic things every single day.
Your restless romantic roamer
