ARC Review: “White Coat Diaries” by Madi Sinha

“White Coat Diaries” by Madi Sinha

Publishing Date: September 15, 2020

Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance

Page Length: 305 pages (electronic review edition)

Synopsis:

Having spent the last twenty-something years with her nose in a textbook, brilliant and driven Norah Kapadia has just landed the medical residency of her dreams. But after a disastrous first day, she’s ready to quit. Disgruntled patients, sleep deprivation, and her duty to be the “perfect Indian daughter” have her questioning her future as a doctor.

Enter chief resident Ethan Cantor. He’s everything Norah aspires to be: respected by the attending physicians, calm during emergencies, and charismatic with his patients. And as he morphs from Norah’s mentor to something more, it seems her luck is finally changing.

But when a fatal medical mistake is made, pulling Norah into a cover-up, she must decide how far she’s willing to go to protect the secret. What if “doing no harm” means putting herself at risk? (description from Goodreads)

Review:

This story follows Norah, an intern at hospital who is struggling to adjust at her new job. She did well in medical school, but actually working inside of hospital proves to be very different than what she learned in the textbooks she studied. Norah quickly finds camaraderie with her fellow interns in the Internal Medicine Department as they work their way though each shift.

Norah feels as if she’s at a crossroads in her life. Shes struggling in her career but also feels like she has to take care of her mother who has health issues and needs daily help. Being a doctor is important to her because she’s carrying on her dad’s legacy, but she is unsure if she can handle the job. She also is going through a process of self-reflection in her life. She wants more for her self but unsure of the steps she needs to take to move forward.

I like how this novel balances the lighter moments with more serious ones. There’s a lot of comedic moments that will have the reader smiling. It also talks about some deeper topics like caring for a sick parent, depression, and grief. his novel also acts as a coming of age story. Even though Norah is an adult she still has some growing up to do in her job and in her personal life she gets put into sticky situations. Her decisions have a butterfly effect. Shes not perfect, but she’s trying to be a more confident person, she puts her needs before everyone else, and is having trouble navigating her love life. All these characteristics make her human and realistic, its a character that people can relate to.

I though the writing was very detailed overall and I enjoyed how the Sinha (a physician herself) described the inner workings of the hospital and the obstacles that medical professionals deals with on a daily basis. Norah is forced to make some hard decisions in her career and personal especially learning how to take care of patients. I didn’t like how the book got to a climactic point and then jumped forward in time towards the end. It felt a bit jarring but this (time jump) worked out in the end. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed this medical/romance/slice of life novel.

Final Verdict: