A review by sarahweyand
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink

challenging informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

I was alive when Katrina hit but too young to understand its impact. This book is well-researched, very detailed, and unflinching when it comes  to the accounts of the five days spent at Memorial and the fallout after the fact. The first half of the book recounts the five days during the hurricane, and the second half gives details on the aftermath and ensuing legal battle that occurred.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book and it was exactly what I expected going in. A great piece of narrative nonfiction that I would recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about this disaster. And then it started to drag. I figured Fink would get into some details of what happened after Katrina, but not to the extent that she did. While I do think that she does a good job of talking about the medical malpractice issues and discussing both viewpoints, it became repetitive for me and I found myself zoning out more frequently.

If you want a very full picture of what happened, this may just be the book for you, but at 550 pages, I'd recommend stopping after the fifth day at Memorial if you aren't as interested in the aftermath.
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