Five Days At Memorial: Life And Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
shanighia says:
The short- a good piece of non-fiction, but not quite the opus I expected. Gripping, emotional, but uneven, and far from objective. The long- Several times during my reading of this book (and after actually finishing it), I had to go back and reread sections to be sure I understood them. I can't tell if this is simply because Fink had to synthesize well over 15 accounts of the events, or if it was a flaw in her writing style. I'm thinking both. The first part is everything I want ...in non-fiction: a fast pace that inserts you directly into the action. I was moved to tears several times by the human misery that transpired, and was bothered for days thinking about it. Sure, I often felt like I must have missed something, but I figured that was because no one can definitively say what happened there.Except that apparently, Fink can, and I'm not sure how. The second half of the book makes Fink's stance clear, and I'm still confused about how she arrived at her conclusion. I went back and reread the climax, and I'm still unclear about the moment the decision to euthanize was made, and whether it was necessary or not. And I think that's ok- the people who lived it probably were, too. Except that Fink proceeds as if all of the evidence is clear as a bell. There's a sharp shift that knocks this from a 4.5 star to a 3. Still worth reading, but probably with supplemental information to help you understand what we KNOW happened.
Mel says:
I liked the first part of the book - the actual descriptions of what happened at the hospital. I found the middle portion dragged a bit, once everyone was out of the hospital. I didn't read the parts about the long media/legal battles of the people involved. Toward the end it got good again - describing what happened at other area hospitals going through the same thing. I found it interesting to think about how different medical professionals approach the idea of euthanasia differently. It makes sense that there would be a variety of views on this.MoreLess
The short- a good piece of non-fiction, but not quite the opus I expected. Gripping, emotional, but uneven, and far from objective. The long- Several times during my reading of this book (and after actually finishing it), I had to go back and reread sections to be sure I understood them. I can't tell if this is simply because Fink had to synthesize well over 15 accounts of the events, or if it was a flaw in her writing style. I'm thinking both. The first part is everything I want ...in non-fiction: a fast pace that inserts you directly into the action. I was moved to tears several times by the human misery that transpired, and was bothered for days thinking about it. Sure, I often felt like I must have missed something, but I figured that was because no one can definitively say what happened there.Except that apparently, Fink can, and I'm not sure how. The second half of the book makes Fink's stance clear, and I'm still confused about how she arrived at her conclusion. I went back and reread the climax, and I'm still unclear about the moment the decision to euthanize was made, and whether it was necessary or not. And I think that's ok- the people who lived it probably were, too. Except that Fink proceeds as if all of the evidence is clear as a bell. There's a sharp shift that knocks this from a 4.5 star to a 3. Still worth reading, but probably with supplemental information to help you understand what we KNOW happened.
Mel says:
I liked the first part of the book - the actual descriptions of what happened at the hospital. I found the middle portion dragged a bit, once everyone was out of the hospital. I didn't read the parts about the long media/legal battles of the people involved. Toward the end it got good again - describing what happened at other area hospitals going through the same thing. I found it interesting to think about how different medical professionals approach the idea of euthanasia differently. It makes sense that there would be a variety of views on this.MoreLess
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