Welcome to Litsy!

Any memoir of life in the ER is always going to be a humbling, enlightening, enriching experience. Here, Dr. Harper shares the story of her troubled childhood, how she became a doctor, with stories of her patients and how they each brought something memorable to her life. It‘s not always obvious or easy, but sometimes beauty can be found in the hard things.

I claim no special powers; nor do I know how to handle death any better than you. What I know is that for thirty-six hours a week, I reside in the melee that is a hospital emergency room, where I am called to be salve, antidote, and sometimes Charon.

I don‘t often read memoirs. I don‘t find them as interesting as other books. This book confirmed my belief. It wasn‘t bad, I just didn‘t find it very interesting. I felt like I was being preached to at times. I found myself speed reading through it so I could get to my next book. There were some good parts. I liked the sections where the author described her experiences with patients in the ER. I‘ll probably stay away from memoirs for a while.

“Brokenness can be a remarkable gift, if we allow it. Through illness, a death, a breakup, a breakdown of any kind, we get the chance to look beyond the rubble to see a whole new way of life.”

#Memoir

#AboutABook

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

“Speak these truths aloud, for it is only in silence that horror can persist. The courage to call a thing by its true name galvanizes the human spirit to address it.”

#BreakInTitle

#SpringSkies

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

“There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen

Harper‘s memoir combines philosophy, personal experiences in urgent care, humanism, forgiveness, awareness and existentialism - to illustrate humans‘ similarities and differences. And to inspire us to follow a path to #peace and ethical decisions within our lives. Everyone is broken in some way…

#DecemberDreams
#Rushathon Day 10

I took a break from the mysteries I‘m reading in order to finish this month‘s book club selection before Libby snatches it back. Sometimes it‘s a little woo woo, but the stories are moving and insightful.

I really enjoyed this. Hard stories at times, but hopeful as well. #bookspin for April @TheAromaofBooks

My #bookspinbingo picks for April! @TheAromaofBooks

This was just so-so to me.🤷🏽‍♀️

One clinical episode in this book I found upsetting was about a young infant being brought to the emergency room as a code (i.e. the baby‘s heart and breathing had spontaneously stopped at home). I know the family was not identified, but I find it unkind to have a child‘s traumatizing death be fodder for this book. Even more, to learn that resuscitation efforts at the hospital were for show and to prevent litigation was even worse.

I found it annoying that in this memoir the author stated, “I won‘t go into my college experience. Much has been written...”. Okay. So the author has already decided that I wouldn‘t be interested in reading about her college experience (which was completely wrong), but why write about what one is not going to write about??

Something is missing in the beginning of this book. The only things we learn from the opening chapters about the author‘s childhood is that this black woman had a spirit who whispered to her, her father had been physically abusive to her brother and mom, she grew up in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Washington, DC, and she attended The National Cathedral School. A bit more background information about the author would have been appreciated.

It‘s such fun to finish a good book (Born a Crime by Trevor Noah) and start a new book. The book pictured here was my choice. I just started reading it this evening. It‘s a book that two of my friends have already requested after I finish it. By the demand, I guess it must be a good read. Well, I‘ll soon find out.

This book is beautiful. Told by an ER doctor, she makes stories of life and death meaningful. Each story is engaging, and she teaches readers and patients alike how to heal, often without medications. She‘s inspired me to start meditating and to truly care for myself. Amazing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An interesting memoir, and I loved all the case studies. I like straight non-fiction more than memoirs, so I probably would have enjoyed this more if it was medical non-fiction without the memoirist bits. I actually felt this book was trying to be too many things at once. But I still enjoyed the read, ans my criticism is more due to my personal taste than the book itself, which I definitely recommend!

#booked2021 #covidheroes
#bookspin

Waiting on a teenager to get ready for the day to join her parents outside on a short hike = a lot of extra reading time while I wait. 🤣🤣

Haven‘t read it but love this quote.

#memoir #medicine #healing

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“…after letting go, there is forgiveness; after forgiveness, there is faith. My key now was a radical alignment with truth, a radical faith that in leaning into love and letting go of everything else, the path unfolds as it should.”

Full GoodReads Review ⤵️
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3828019736

#memoir #medicine #healing

I usually avoid memoirs in general and definitely medical ones but this was very nicely written.

This book was very beautifully written. It is told in the format of stories that impacted the author during her medical career as an ER physician. There were some stories that really had me tearing up. 🌟🌟🌟🌟!

This was a good book, but honestly a few chapters were hard to read. It also felt like the author was trying really really hard to convey to the reader that she is “okay”. I would have loved her to talk about her own brokenness a little bit more.

This was far more philosophical than I anticipated but it was lovely nonetheless. Really glad I read this. Just a heads up on content because this mentions abuse, rape, and violence - all tough subjects handled sensitively I thought.

Such a clear explanation …

I love books about the medical profession because truthfully I probably should have been a doctor. This one wasn‘t bad… in fact there were a lot of super interesting parts of it. But it felt impersonal? I always felt at an arms length from the action, if that makes sense.

A little bit about her patients per chapter and how they relate to Harper. Found it calling to be read.

A beautiful memoir! Harper‘s insights on life and patient care is inspiring and thought provoking. At the end of the day, that‘s what I call a good read.

#Booked2021 #COVIDHEROES

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5/5)

As an ER nurse, I definitely connected to this book and the many medical scenarios, stories, emotions, and revelations that she shares. This book explores persevering through trauma and being your best self while giving you an inside look to the everyday life in an ER. This book was heartbreaking, eye-opening, and inspirational. Thank you Dr. Harper for sharing your story 🧡

“Forgiveness condones nothing, but it does cast off the chains of anger, judgement, resentment, denial, and pain that choke growth. In this way, it allows for life, for freedom. So that‘s what‘s at stake when it comes to forgiveness: freedom. With this freedom we can feel better, be better, and choose better next time.”

- Michele Harper

All deserve the chance to speak and be heard and be touched. If we‘re lucky, we‘re touched at every station along the journey, and if nothing else, then at the end 🩺🏥💫

I expected this to be more medical than it was. But ultimately I appreciated Harper‘s holistic combination of past traumas, current challenges, racial aspects of medicine, and thoughts on yoga/meditation. She‘s a calm, almost emotionally distant writer, which again made this unexpectedly subtle.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com

#thebibliophage2021 #booked2021 #COVIDHEROES #nonfictionchallenge2021 #somethingaboutdoctorsornurses

Sometimes the “recommendations” on GR just stump me ... a memoir about a young doctor doesn‘t equate with a cute craft book. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

As long as we‘re willing to move forward, to nourish our body and spirit and allow for the disintegration of any attachment to patterns that do not serve us, without our understanding exactly how the next bits will fall into place, beautiful outcomes do unfold.

Forgiveness condones nothing, but it does cast off the chains of anger, judgement, resentment, denial, and pain that choke growth. In this way, it allows for life, for freedom. So that‘s what‘s at stake when it comes to forgiveness: freedom. With this freedom we can feel better, be better, and choose better next time.

I am so glad I picked this up, but I‘m not going to lie - it broke me a little bit. This is a memoir by a doctor who works in Philadelphia hospitals as an ER doctor. She shares her experience from her life and her work and how she has healed herself along with patients. I cried and felt hope and have to say the writing was just so beautiful and excellent. This didn‘t read like a medical book. It was personal and I appreciated it so much.

A wonderful little #memoir from an ER doctor. Dr. Harper presents herself as a caring and big-hearted doctor whose mission in life is to heal. Reminds me of a good friend of mine who was a nurse her entire life who said she always knew she wanted to “fix things”. I‘m so glad there are people out there like this; I‘m certainly not cut out for this! The ER stories she tells here are at turns suspenseful, moving, and devastating. Highly recommended!

What an amazingly uplifting, tender, and affirming book. The importance of not allowing others to define or shape your sense of self worth was such an important thing for me to contemplate today. Absolutely loved Harper‘s writing and her willingness to leave her heart on the pages of this wonderful book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Omg this book gave me all the feels!! Harper wrote such a beautiful book of stories that used her experiences in the ER to expound upon deeper issues of abuse, identity, grief, love, and most of all...hope. There is so much human experience is such a small book! I highly recommend.

As far as memoir books go, this is a good one. It‘s a memoir of a female, african american, ER doctor with heartbreaking and chaotic experiences in the ER, mixed in with childhood trauma. Such a good book and telling of her personal experiences. I give it 4 stars.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #botm

I am always impressed by people who are not writers by trade but write so beautifully. I especially loved the first chapter, and even the dedication is quote book worthy. This was very difficult to read and subsequently review because I have to understand that this is Dr. Harper's truth. However, being a patient and being a loved one of patients, it was difficult to read what I interpreted at times a total lack of empathy.

I hope to finish the tagged book tomorrow which will put me at my goal of 100 for 2020. How are you all doing this year with your 2020 book goals?

As a nurse (20 years of blood, sweat, and tears) I appreciated the stories of the experiences of this ER physician. The beauty in breaking is about renewal and transformation.

🎧 Michele Harper is a female, African American emergency room physician in a profession that is overwhelmingly male and white. Brought up in Washington, D.C., in a complicated family, she went to Harvard, where she met her husband. They stayed together through medical school until two months before she was scheduled to join the staff of a hospital in central Philadelphia, when he told her he couldn‘t move with her.

So many things that happen to us are not right, are not okay. And we can survive and heal and use that to be stronger and shape our lives and the lives of others in wonderful, powerful, healing ways, should we choose to do so.

Great memoir from a flawed ER doctor who ruminates about her losses and struggles through her healing and working with a variety of patients. She‘s a wonderful writer and I appreciate her vulnerability and observations about physical, spiritual and mental health. Great reminder that none of us have all the answers but we can accept where we are and improve.

How I feel about everyone and everything interrupting my reading goals today!! 🙄

Another book I wanted to love and couldn't. The author came across as judgmental and pretentious. I couldn't stand her moral superiority. I wouldn't recommend it.