The Language of Kindness: A Nurse's Story

Beautifully Written. Precise Language Choices. Honest Storytelling. Ms. Watson Can Write."The Language of Kindness" is that rare memoir that makes one wonder why the literary community fawns over Karl Ove Knausgaard and Elena Ferrante. Literature is a church. It is found not when a few gather to worship but when writing craft meets narrative truth.My wife is a nurse. Not only a nurse, but a nurse of great competence. She elicits one's trust in seconds. I am not biased. These are things others say about her. She scored well for her MCAT. But time and even prevented her from attending Medical School. In this, her patients have lucked out. I bought this memoir for her. She adored it. Then I discovered this tidy, specific book, one that does a fair job even of explicating the accomplishments of a certain Miss Nightengals, who in a real way set the parameters of this too overlooked profession.Nursing truly is a calling. There are important, no, vital members of the healthcare community. The smart ones save your lives from inexperienced residents and narcissistic doctors all the time -- and my wife would be among the first to point out that many, especially in Los Angeles or the DC Metro area -- are extremely talented. My wife is a cardio-thoracic ICU nurse. But she has served across the board, and from PACU to NICU to the ER, she has seen it all, and Christie Watson has shed light on much of it, from showing the line of possible career realities that led her to her calling to providing one with a fine set of scenes that tell the story of one man's struggle with mental illness, to the glories Ms. Watson has known in midwifery. Fine, fine work. Godspeed. Read it if you have never contemplated the field. This, especially, is the sort of reading in which I learn something - while being gripped by the story told.

""The Language of Kindness" is a memoir of two decades of nursing by a British woman who has now turned to professional writing (as well she should, based on the ability demonstrated in this book). More than anything else, Ms. Watson's book is about love that cares: for her patients, their families, her colleagues, and her former profession. Highly anecdotal, escorting us from her fainting at the sight of her own blood while a student in phlebotomy, through her travels in pediatric wards (where some heartbreaking tableaux await), operating rooms, and other medical units, up to her own father's final days, when he receives hospice care from another superlative nurse.While Ms. Watson knows how to render a scene vividly, the book lacks the straight through-line that I appreciate in the works of Atul Gawande. Thus, when she digresses to the history of nursing and its scholarly investigation, the result is just that: digressive. The distance the reader must leap from some chapters to others can also distract. That said, there's no denying this book's power and importance. Like Gawande, Watson helps us to understand and better to appreciate not merely the science but the heart of medicine, practiced by fallible humans who daily perform acts of extraordinary kindness.

I too have been a nurse for 20 years and my professional path somewhat mirrors the authors although I am in the U.S. not the U.K. I needed to read this to reconnect with and reaffirm the things I know I am doing right particularly the commitment to kindness. I often say the two most fundamental qualities in a nurse are integrity & empathy. Nurses continue to be underpaid and undervalued. We embark on this profession not as a job but as a calling. It is increasingly difficult to stay a bedside nurse and sustain oneself financially. Good nurses must leave in order to achieve financial stability and this is a tragedy.

Ms. Watson shares her own feelings along with detailed descriptions of events and drew me into her story with clear explanations and her knowledge of procedures and disease processes. I wish she had included the anxiety nurses experience over the way in which they can be unexpectedly “pulled” from one department to another as the hospital census demands. Each department has a unique layout and, although the basics of nursing are the same, there are different aspects to look for and chart in different types of nursing. The prospect of this happening caused me great anxiety and made it difficult to plan my work during my thirty years as a nurse in Tennessee hospitals. Both Ms. Watson and I enjoyed our nursing careers and felt that we received more from our patients than we were able to give to them.Margaret S. McMillion “Personal Baggage: A Tale of Marriage, Medicine, and Murder”

I am a nurse and have been for 14 years. I have felt many of the feelings Christie describes in her daily shift. I am journeying into a different field of nursing and this book encourages me to continue with confidence and purpose.

I think only a nurse would appreciate this book. I am a nurse and found it relatable but could only give it 3 stars.

What an underpaid and even dangerous job.Nurses are leaving the profession and no wonder. But I would hate to go to hospital and not get a female nurse.The NHS used to be a blessing when it started.I learned a lot from the book.Why did she have to work so hard as a single mom? (sending her children to school sick and not being able to get shoes for them when they had a father with a good job?) I didn't quite understand her unnecessary sacrifices.

As a former nurse, and a current home health care worker, I LOVED this book. I loved everything about it, except that it ended. I hope Christie writes more about healthcare and nursing. She doesn't dumb it down. She writes with emotion. The section about her dad had me crying. This book was never boring. "The Language of Kindness" is an excellent read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in nursing.

An amazing read into all kinds of nursing that even me as an adult muse never knew existed what goes on in the background in other specialities of the nursing field. This book made me laugh, cry and laugh and shocked my system when reading about the horrors and incidents of young and older people's lifes. It's an amazing read to anyone who is considering nursing and for those who think nursing is an easy job. Christie reveals the real world and how a true caring compassionate nurse should be. I take my hat off to her.

Supplementary/ reference material to textbook

Going by the title, I expected a sensitive portrayal of what the writer's experience- the human drama, as a nurse. Instead it is a series of medical reports, often with gruesome details , about what all she saw with the eyes of a novice. A waste of time.

This gives a realistic and also accurate look at being a nurse and is also beautifully written

Beautifully written; from the heart. She manages to convey what it really means to be a nurse. I don’t think I ever quite managed to nurse that well myself but I recognise it is what all nurses strive for. It should be recommended reading for all new student nurses.