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Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Aaru in Books

Nov 8, 2019  
Aaru
Aaru
David Meredith | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Rose is only 16 but her life is over. She has terminal cancer but a mysterious strangers offers her and her family the option of taking part in a trial. When she dies they assume the trail failed and mourn her passing, her sister being hit particularly hard. Then the message comes... Rose lives on.

This books takes one fascinating idea - what if people's personalities and memories could be copied at the point of death and then recreated inside a computer? - and looks at it from a lot of different angles. It is certainly thought provoking, and occasionally disturbing.

The first half of the book deals with Rose's death, the grief of her family and then the emotional trauma, denial and final acceptance that in some ways she is still alive. It also follows Rose's journey as she discovers her new virtual world and its other inhabitants.

The second half is darker and moves into thriller territory as Rose's new paradise shows that it may not be perfect and both her and her sister are exposed to danger. Some of the themes here - obsession, violence, sexual abuse, suicide - are made all the worse by their premeditated nature.

This book will make you think about a potential life after death but it doesn't flinch from showing the emotional, physical and moral implications that might arise both for those saved and those they leave behind.
  
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
Adam Kay | 2017 | Biography
9
9.0 (44 Ratings)
Book Rating
Adam Kay was a junior doctor from 2004 until 2010, before a devastating experience on a ward caused him to reconsider his future. He kept a diary throughout his training, and This Is Going to Hurt intersperses tales from the front line of the NHS with reflections on the current crisis. The result is a first-hand account of life as a junior doctor in all its joy, pain, sacrifice and maddening bureaucracy, and a love letter to those who might at any moment be holding our lives in their hands.

I happened to win this book in a competition @smashbomb it's not something I would normally buy myself but I'm so glad I did! I have laughed, felt physically sick and cried and Adams recounts. After having a lot of issues on a personal level with birthing 4 children one of which was preterm and died at 18 days old I can see the constant struggle in our maternity wards. The second begin now I face endometrial pre cancerous cells and need an Hysterectomy, its quite funny that I chose to read this during our covid 19 lockdown it brought so much home. We should be celebrating doctors like Adam and our staff in the NHS as they keep battling on against budget cuts, long hours, shit pay and a barrage of patient abuse!!! Please read this book and please next time you use our NHS say thank you it goes a long way!!