Scan barcode
dinasamimi's review against another edition
4.0
This story is insane. It’s a truly unimaginable situation, told fairly well. The last third of the book fizzled out for me. Fink sparked a lot of debate in our household re: her accusatory and leading writing style. The author definitely has an angle and it may not totally jive with the way medical professionals actually operate. Not much examination of race either. Worthwhile read, though the TV adaptation is not great so far.
karalektra's review
Just couldn’t keep going, was losing interest, not getting to the point
amandamariedevine's review
Got 50% of the way through and it was just nonsense. I get it true retelling but it jumped around so much I couldn’t follow and included background information that was not important.
mollyvh's review against another edition
4.0
I've always heard about how devastating Katrina was, but this really puts into perspective how bad it got. This is HEAVY, but worth the read.
book_concierge's review against another edition
4.0
Book on CD read by Kirsten Potter
The subtitle says it all: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital. This is the story of the men and women who survived Hurricane Katrina inside New Orleans Memorial Hospital, and of those who died.
Fink divides the book into two sections. In the first section she outlines the events leading up to, during and after the storm hit New Orleans. She gives us backgrounds on the key players – nurses, doctors, and patients. We also learn something of the corporate structure of Memorial and of Life Care (a hospital within a hospital). Fink reveals the difficulties with miscommunication, lack of infrastructure, and conflicting information.
In the second part of the book Fink turns her attention to the investigation and prosecution of Dr Anna Pou and nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo. Louisiana’s Attorney General’s office spearheaded the efforts to arrest and charge these women with homicide in the deaths of several patients at the facility. She outlines the difficulties the investigators had in getting records, the conflicting “eye witness” reports, and the variances in professional opinions. A grand jury was convened and heard testimony; the grand jury declined to indict Pou on every charge brought.
I thought that Fink did a fine job of outlining the conditions within the hospital during and after the storm. There was a definite sense of chaos and anxiety. Where were their rescuers? How would they get out? Where would they go? I could imagine their hopes being dashed witnessing a fire truck approaching, but turning back due to rising flood waters. Or hearing helicopters only to have them fly away. I can imagine how terrifying it felt to have to sprint across a glass-enclosed skywalk that is being buffeted by high winds, glass panes popping out and breaking. And I can imagine the stench of several days’ worth of backed-up toilets, sweaty bodies and frightened animals in a building with no lights or air conditioning.
In this first section, Fink’s reporting seemed even-handed, showing both good and bad behavior (nurses who manually ventilated patients when electricity went out; a doctor who seemed to care more about her cat than her patients) On the whole, the way Fink presented the five days at Memorial made me sympathetic to the staff as they did what they thought was best in a situation no one can really prepare for.
However, in part two, I felt that Fink lost some of her journalistic detachment. The grand jury may have declined to indict, but Fink seems bent on trying Dr Pou in this book. She explains that the three women’s attorneys (and attorneys for many of the other Memorial staff members who were never charged) advised their clients to never speak of the events to anyone, but Fink then goes on to belittle Pou for not talking about the time at Memorial in speeches the doctor later gave on disaster preparedness. And Fink gives the last word to an anonymous juror who shares her conviction that a crime was committed.
Despite what I perceive as Fink’s bias, however, I still think this was a fascinating and informative look at how our governments and institutions are prepared (or not prepared) to deal with the realities of a major disaster. I particularly liked the epilogue which looked at situations in New York during Hurricane Sandy several years later … and with most hospitals STILL having their electrical and mechanical systems in the basement, prone to flooding.
Kirsten Potter does a fine job reading the audiobook version. She has good pacing and, rather than “perform” the book, she reads as if she were reporting it. I think that style works well for this type of nonfiction.
The subtitle says it all: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital. This is the story of the men and women who survived Hurricane Katrina inside New Orleans Memorial Hospital, and of those who died.
Fink divides the book into two sections. In the first section she outlines the events leading up to, during and after the storm hit New Orleans. She gives us backgrounds on the key players – nurses, doctors, and patients. We also learn something of the corporate structure of Memorial and of Life Care (a hospital within a hospital). Fink reveals the difficulties with miscommunication, lack of infrastructure, and conflicting information.
In the second part of the book Fink turns her attention to the investigation and prosecution of Dr Anna Pou and nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo. Louisiana’s Attorney General’s office spearheaded the efforts to arrest and charge these women with homicide in the deaths of several patients at the facility. She outlines the difficulties the investigators had in getting records, the conflicting “eye witness” reports, and the variances in professional opinions. A grand jury was convened and heard testimony; the grand jury declined to indict Pou on every charge brought.
I thought that Fink did a fine job of outlining the conditions within the hospital during and after the storm. There was a definite sense of chaos and anxiety. Where were their rescuers? How would they get out? Where would they go? I could imagine their hopes being dashed witnessing a fire truck approaching, but turning back due to rising flood waters. Or hearing helicopters only to have them fly away. I can imagine how terrifying it felt to have to sprint across a glass-enclosed skywalk that is being buffeted by high winds, glass panes popping out and breaking. And I can imagine the stench of several days’ worth of backed-up toilets, sweaty bodies and frightened animals in a building with no lights or air conditioning.
In this first section, Fink’s reporting seemed even-handed, showing both good and bad behavior (nurses who manually ventilated patients when electricity went out; a doctor who seemed to care more about her cat than her patients) On the whole, the way Fink presented the five days at Memorial made me sympathetic to the staff as they did what they thought was best in a situation no one can really prepare for.
However, in part two, I felt that Fink lost some of her journalistic detachment. The grand jury may have declined to indict, but Fink seems bent on trying Dr Pou in this book. She explains that the three women’s attorneys (and attorneys for many of the other Memorial staff members who were never charged) advised their clients to never speak of the events to anyone, but Fink then goes on to belittle Pou for not talking about the time at Memorial in speeches the doctor later gave on disaster preparedness. And Fink gives the last word to an anonymous juror who shares her conviction that a crime was committed.
Despite what I perceive as Fink’s bias, however, I still think this was a fascinating and informative look at how our governments and institutions are prepared (or not prepared) to deal with the realities of a major disaster. I particularly liked the epilogue which looked at situations in New York during Hurricane Sandy several years later … and with most hospitals STILL having their electrical and mechanical systems in the basement, prone to flooding.
Kirsten Potter does a fine job reading the audiobook version. She has good pacing and, rather than “perform” the book, she reads as if she were reporting it. I think that style works well for this type of nonfiction.
jenbsbooks's review against another edition
4.5
This has been made into a TV series (for Apple+) and I must admit I watched it before reading the book. I thought it was really well done. I wasn't sure if I'd get to the actual book after watching, but it was available for download from the library (audio and Kindle copy). I'm glad I watched the series first, and I'm glad I read the book too ... as always, there is a lot in the book that doesn't make it onto the screen.
I glanced over some of the other reviews ... some love the book, others were quite critical. I can appreciate some of the concerns by the other reviews, while still reflecting on my experience, and feeling like I learned a lot and it kept me quite captivated, even knowing the "story" going in. SO many things to think about and ponder.
I went with the audiobook, but had the Kindle copy at hand. I referred to it a few times ... once, after hearing the word "concatenating" (meaning "to link things together in a chain or series"). I like to highlight/look up words I'm not familiar with, so I did a search in my Kindle copy to find the word ... and it wasn't there! I searched for my spot, and that paragraph was changed from the audio to the Kindle copy. To my knowledge, both formats were published in 2013, one wasn't an updated version ... and yet, that's what I'm assuming happened (Kindle copy was updated?) It would be interesting to get a physical copy and check out this paragraph. It makes me wonder what else differed from the Kindle to Audio.
In my mind, I think I say the city "Or-Lins" (two syllables) ... the narrator pronounced it "Or-le-ins" (three syllables).
I was telling my son a little about the situation presented herein, and he was aghast and said "now this was fiction, right?" and I had to tell him no (taking into account "truth" can be different from alternate perspectives, but just going by the most basic facts). The author does address where she got information, what dialog was an exact recollection (while noting "memories often fade and change"). Narrative journalism.
TOC - Two Parts (Deadly Choices & Reckoning), chronological chapters, no headers. Prologue and epilogue. There were some quotes at the start of the two parts ... from Jose Saramago's Blindness (which is a book that quite captivated me).
ProFanity (x3)
I glanced over some of the other reviews ... some love the book, others were quite critical. I can appreciate some of the concerns by the other reviews, while still reflecting on my experience, and feeling like I learned a lot and it kept me quite captivated, even knowing the "story" going in. SO many things to think about and ponder.
I went with the audiobook, but had the Kindle copy at hand. I referred to it a few times ... once, after hearing the word "concatenating" (meaning "to link things together in a chain or series"). I like to highlight/look up words I'm not familiar with, so I did a search in my Kindle copy to find the word ... and it wasn't there! I searched for my spot, and that paragraph was changed from the audio to the Kindle copy. To my knowledge, both formats were published in 2013, one wasn't an updated version ... and yet, that's what I'm assuming happened (Kindle copy was updated?) It would be interesting to get a physical copy and check out this paragraph. It makes me wonder what else differed from the Kindle to Audio.
In my mind, I think I say the city "Or-Lins" (two syllables) ... the narrator pronounced it "Or-le-ins" (three syllables).
I was telling my son a little about the situation presented herein, and he was aghast and said "now this was fiction, right?" and I had to tell him no (taking into account "truth" can be different from alternate perspectives, but just going by the most basic facts). The author does address where she got information, what dialog was an exact recollection (while noting "memories often fade and change"). Narrative journalism.
TOC - Two Parts (Deadly Choices & Reckoning), chronological chapters, no headers. Prologue and epilogue. There were some quotes at the start of the two parts ... from Jose Saramago's Blindness (which is a book that quite captivated me).
ProFanity (x3)
rainbowbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
This was a hard read because I read it as news broke about corpses in Puerto Rico 10 months after Hurricane María. The lessons we should have learned from Katrina and Sandy have not spread far enough.