The Language of Kindness: A Nurse's Story

I'm the parent of a child with complex medical needs. She is severely disabled. Non verbal, non mobile, 100% tube fed and has epilepsy. Until 5 years ago I had very minimal experience of hospitals and nurses whereas now I can read medical notes and understand almost all of what is being discussed. It was great reading a book where I could see things from the other side of the hospital bed. We have become close over the years with some amazing nurses. Ones who will stay up late and chat with me in our cubicle. Ones who have taught me how to repass an NG tube, then a Gtube, then to being amazing at seeing a GJ button for the first time. I used to be so squeamish but now I think I would have been a great nurse. Nurses are amazing. They work tirelessly and this book shows not only how strained our nhs resources are, but how in spite of this the nurses persevere. It shows also the emotional side to it and the personal journey each nurse must go through. I was amused to learn about the author knowing which area a nurse worked in without knowing. I am familiar with this having encountered A&E nurses and all kinds. Thank you for writing this book. I suspect people who have not been exposed to the world of hospitals may be in for a bit of a shock and it would be great if more people could read it.

I am in this industry as a mature nurse! Pleasant book, would recommend it to all nurses! Thank you

This book had been a bestseller and appears on many recommendation lists. It had been a while since I had read a medical autobiography (and I've read a few in the past) so I was keen to pick this one up. First published in 2018 (before Covid), this book has 322 pages split into 13 chapters. I was interested to see that the author had written two novels before this memoire so hoped for good writing skills. I'm not from a medical background but have a basic knowledge and it is clear that there is plenty to learn from this book. It has become a habit to complain about the NHS being underfunded without considering the amazing technical advances that have been made and there are times where this author falls into this trap. She does not acknowledge the continually increasing expectations. Alongside the funding grumbles, the author takes time to show the hard work that some of the staff perform every day and she focuses on those that care deeply which is a great tribute to them. The technical side to Christie's nursing is very detailed but, despite this, the humanity always shines through. The stories are never about the mechanical achievements and concentrate on the people who are being treated when at their most vulnerable. There are some lessons to be learnt and the section about patient dignity (if you do not respect a patient then their dignity will be lost) will stay with me. I couldn't be a nurse and can only admire this author's devotion to her patients. An unexpected theme that comes through the writing is her determination to be realistic to her patients - e.g. saying "he'll be fine" is always to be avoided as he is sometimes not fine with surgery having major risks. I did not enjoy the Adam Kay books as they often relied on inappropriate humour to get a cheap laugh from tragedy and sorrow. This book is much more gentle in the way that it allows us into the world of the nurse whilst maintaining the sensitivity of the patient.

A very good book.

It was so amazing and honest to read. Thank you and all your colleagues for all you have done. I read it all in 2 days, and part of it made me cry

I read this book as a soon to be student nurse. Some of the stories and anecdotes are interesting and insightful. However, I found the book had no sense of chronological or other order so it jumped around a lot. A chapter would start on one thing and somehow meander onto another topic. Also I found it made nursing very uninspiring and quite off putting. I suppose it did discuss the language of kindness but the end message was very negative.

If everyone in the UK read this book, nurses would be paid over £100,000 (Jan 2023) and the NHS receive proper funding. Christie Watson writes really well and has the ability to make the reader laugh out loud and cry on the same page. Her brilliant book has had more impact on me, for multiple positive reasons, than any other book in many years. It is a ‘warts and all’ revealing of the realities of nursing and medical life through a lens of experience, compassion and kindness. If ever I need nursing I would hope those who nurse me have been trained and inspired by a Christie Watson. Magnificent.

This book helped with me with my personal statement for Uni, it’s a good read to learn that nursing is more than just caring for patients.

Great book! Took a while to be delivered although this could be due to Covid-19.

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

Supplementary/ reference material to textbook

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.

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.