A Book Review by Srianee Dias.

A Book Review by Srianee Dias.

This is going to hurt by Adam Kay 

While browsing through the selection of books available to me on Kindle Unlimited, this intriguing title caught my eye: “This is Going to Hurt” by Adam Kay.  I had never heard of Adam Kay, so on reading the reviews and the blurbs, I found out that the book had been a multimillion-copy best seller, written by a real doctor in the NHS in the UK.  It was described as being “blisteringly funny” by the Boston Globe, and “heartbreaking” by the New Yorker.  It sounded interesting enough for me to download and start reading.

The subheading on the title page says “Secret diaries of a young doctor.”

The format was unusual, because it was based on his real diary entries, and it is a series of anecdotes. Adam Kay records his life as he progresses in OB/GYN from House Officer, multiple posts as Senior House Officer, multiple posts as Registrar  and then finally Senior Registrar. At the beginnig of the chapters he explains the responsibilities each post entails.

Most of the anecdotes end with a funny observation and I found myself laughing out loud!  Really loud!  He describes his relationships with the consultants and his other colleagues.  We can all relate to his nights on call, and the last minute changes in plans with family and friends.  Because he is Jewish, he had to work every Christmas holiday.  He spent many hours in the hospitals which strained his personal relationships.  We don’t hear too much about his personal life, because this, after all, is about the life of a young doctor.

 Some of the stories are quite touching, and it is easy to see that Adam Kay is a sensitive young doctor. He describes how he would visit the special care nursery on his way home if any of the babies he delivered ended up there. He felt the need to check on their progress.

Both his parents are physicians as well as many other relatives. It is possible that he drifted into choosing medicine as a career without too much thought.  During his stint as a Senior Registrar he finally realizes that he is not cut out to be a doctor. 

He is now a screen writer and author.

This book was quite engaging and entertaining. The author uses a fair amount of slang (he attended medical school after all!) as well as many British medical acronyms that were unfamiliar to me.  I feel that this book would appeal mostly to those in the medical field, although there were many appreciative reviews by readers.

I hope that some of the readers of this blog will try to get their hands on a copy of this book or download it.  (It may be difficult to find in Sri Lanka.)