No Crying in the Operating Room: My Life as an International Relief Doctor, from Haiti, to South Sudan, to the Syrian Civil War by Cecily Wang
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
To say I was disappointed in “No Crying in the Operating Room” would be an understatement. I was expecting this book to be one I could not put down. Instead, I struggled to make my way through this very short book. There were times where I was so bored that I contemplated not bothering to finish it.
The author was very detached. The title made me think that this would be an emotional account of her time as an international relief doctor. Instead, it was matter of fact and almost cold at times. I found it especially callous how she discussed some of her patients in the US. At one point she mentions waiting for someone to die to free up the bed for another patient. How sad for a doctor to not only feel this way but then to feel comfortable sharing that with the world.
This book lacked organization. I am familiar with the memoir genre, so I appreciate that it is not necessarily told in a linear fashion. However, there seemed to be no system for why the author told a story when she did – jumping back and forth in ways that were quite confusing.
There were also things that were contradictory – author had a good childhood except her mom beat her, she cut off her family but she’s close to her brother. Those things could have been easily overlooked had the rest of the book been more engaging.
The author took several trips overseas working in Haiti, Sudan, etc. Working with Salvation Army and Doctors without Borders as well as working in US hospitals. For her service we are extremely grateful, but I think this depiction of her career was severely lacking. The fact that it took me 10 days to finally finish reading 163 pages says it all!
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