The Making of a Nurse
By Tilda Shalof
McClelland & Stewart, 2007
By Sarah Murray
Posted May 21st, 2007As I’m trying to think of a way to describe this book, there is a quotation buried in the back of my head that has suddenly reappeared from my avid reading of women's magazines. It’s from a legendary fashionista (possibly Coco Chanel?) and loosely states that "true elegance is the ability to show restraint." It may be completely wrong, but the point of the matter is that someone in the know once said something along these lines, and apparently it isn't just applicable to fashion.
Tilda Shalof's second book The Making of a Nurse puts this maxim to the test. A 20-year veteran of the Intensive Care Unit at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Shalof began her career in nursing at an early age, and it has taken her all over the world. She has a bizarre way of sharing her life story: it is off-putting and engaging all at once. The tales are often grim, sometimes harrowing, and always emotionally charged, but they are never excessive or ornamental. Shalof is not one to mince words, but she isn't one to waste them, either. There is no 'gush'; recognition is given where it is due, but in the most straightforwardly delicate and sensitive of ways. It's not hard to spot where her career as a nurse has merged with her career as a writer.
Shalof does not shy away from politically charged commentary either, and the heath care system, doctor-nurse relations, nursing shortages and education all receive time in the spotlight. Weaknesses, discrepancies, and questionable logic are all highlighted, but never to the extent that they take over the text. Shalof isn't setting out to be a politician — she’s just a writer who tells it like it is. The nurses that have made their way into Shalof's story are tough, smart, and courageous, but are equally vulnerable to the emotional and physical strain of the job at hand. For the somewhat heartless folks out there who have no sense of appreciation for nurses and the medical community, this book will give you a much needed reality check. It may also make you wonder what the eff will happen if, God/Allah/Buddah/Vishnu forbid, something ever happened to you or a loved one.
The Making of a Nurse is reassuring, but it's a wake-up call. It's humbling but it's inspiring. It's countless contradictions all at once, but that’s life.