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 tableau 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.

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”

A wonderful sad and uplifting book about what it’s like to be a nurse. Would that all nurses could be like Miss Christie. Should be required reading for all nursing students and would be patients- indeed all of us. The writing is beautiful.

This book should be required reading for seniors, their families and all possible caregivers. No, wait, it is a book that every compassionate adult should read.Don’t miss this extraordinarily heart-felt discussion of the importance of respectful, dignified and loving end-of-life care.

I thought this started slow, then once she found her profession she definitely found her voice. The author practiced in the U.K. so not all the settings were familiar but the nursing experiences resonated--probably with nursing experiences anywhere. The nursing episodes were well--often beautifully-- written. I especially liked the way she shared her thoughts about the nature of nursing and the relationship of those experiences to nursing theories and to the living of her own life.

This book started a little slow but it certainly picked up speed and had me hooked by the third chapter. Having been a patient in a hospital close to fifty times I read with a special interest. I am forever indebted to all the wonderful nurses who have saved my life and dignity over and over and over. I appreciate the glimpse into their lives and will be even more keenly aware of what they sacrifice so that we can have compassionate care. Job well done!

This book depicts the very human side of nursing and the toll it takes on those in the profession. It is about nursing in Britain rather than the U.S. but nursing is a universal profession so that does not detract from the book, however, it does depict a very different health care system than in the United States. If you love medical memoir, you will love it.

I disliked this book intensely- I cannot believe it was written by a nurse. Not a nurse in the true caring and nurturing sense of the word. The author seemed to be impressed by her management of words and knowledge of philosophy rather than giving an account of her patient care. Many of the old school nurses will be unimpressed by this list of how clever and caring the author was.

As a nurse I found this incredibly self indulgent and certainly doesn’t accurately reflect nursing today. Cannot recommend this at all.

After reading this book I first wanted to hug my children, then my parents, then a nurse. Christie Watson’s story of her 20+ years working as a nurse within the NHS is beautifully, almost poetically written, yet is easily accessible & engaging. Through stories of individual patients, and looking back on the history of nursing Christie encourages us to look more closely at a profession we will all encounter in our lives, either as a patient ourselves, or visiting a loved one in hospital. Nursing is undoubtably an incredible profession to work in, but we must also understand that at times it is a very difficult job, both physically and emotionally. This is an incredible book that everyone should read. Thank goodness for our NHS and thank goodness for nurses.

So many novels/autobiographies about nursing are either sickly sweet tearjerkers like "Call the Midwife" or badly written historical jolly student nurse japes retelling nurse training from a bygone age.In contrast this book manages to include nursing research and theory, coupled with the authors personal philosophy of nursing in an intelligent and readable way to explain what nursing means and how important it is. This makes it sound rather a dry read, but it is completely the opposite as the author explains her reasoning through personal experience. She demonstrates her understanding of the language of kindness in nursing both as a nurse and a relative of a patient. A very cleverly written book full of insight, it should be compulsory reading for everyone involved in the healthcare professions. I loved it.

I bought this copy for my mother after devouring the first copy I bought on holiday and then giving that to a friend. Christie Watson is most certainly spreading the language of kindness and I am hoping to too through distributing this book to those around me! Highly recommend as a read if you're keen to hear more about our NHS and the challenges faced by those responsible for caring for us - physically, emotionally and mentally, although rarely paid for all three.