I knew nothing about Louisa May Alcott, and I think I was expecting Beth, but she is Jo unleashed and un-conflicted, with an irreverent, self-mocking and yet deeply compassionate voice. This vivid little book should be on the civil war curriculum everywhere. It is packed with all the issues of the time, and yet so light on its feet, opinionated without polemics.

"I never shall regret the going, though a sharp tussle with typhoid, ten dollars and a wig are all the visible results ... one may live and learn much in a month ... Let no one who sincerely desires to help the work on in this way delay going through any fear; for the work of life lies in the experiences that fill it."

Oh I loved this little book. I read it after reading Amanda’s memoir (and I am still working on a review, promise! It’s turned in to more of a reflective journal and we all know how fun those were to write in nursing school. But I want and need to write it so I will!) Nurse Periwinkle, although separated from us by 150 years, experienced many things that are all to familiar to modern nurses, such as prematurely being thrust in to being in charge of a ward, having someone die right away, wanting the exciting patients, the realizing what that entails and then not waiting the sick patients anymore. And how many of us can relate to being told that you’re “there to work, not wonder or weep; so i corked up my feelings and returned to the path of duty.” Wait until later to find a supply closet to cry in. Her visceral response and disgust about finding a Rebel in her ward is something we saw a lot this pandemic. However, at the end of the day, your patient is a person in a bed who needs nursing care and you have a duty to care for him in the best way that you can, whether he’s a jerk, criminal, noncompliant, or any combination thereof. I get the moral distress and frustration but we have a code of ethics and a professional responsibility to do better (and I know that nursing as a profession didn’t exist back them, but today’s nurses should know that).

Her description of the “fearsome beverage” that is hospital coffee shows that even that hasn’t changed, describing it ad “mud soup, scalding hot, guiltless of cream, rich in an all-pervading flavor of molasses, scorch, and tin pot.” If that’s not a spot-on description of hospital coffee to this day, I don’t know what is.

A Night Shift nurse myself, I feel a solidarity with Nurse Periwinkle dealing with being understaffed on the Night Shift and having to deal with three simultaneous crises. Also, the Doctor making the nurse break bad news and deal with the consequences is all too familiar. Like today, the windows don’t open (except for the one with the “compound fractures” that’s drafty), there are smells (how often do we anoint the room with peppermint oil) and after visiting the cleaner, better equipped hospital (or hear that the travel nurse is making 11k/week) you seriously re-evaluate your life choices.

Unlike Amanda’s book, “Everybody Just Breathe: a Covid nurse’s memoir of stamina and swear words” there are no swear words in this book. However, I think that if swear words were a viable option, she would have sprinkled them in liberally. Just read this and tell me she wouldn’t have unleashed a barrage of fucks if she could: “If a look could annihilate, Francis Saucebox would have ceased to exist; but it couldn’t; therefore, he yet lives, aggravate some unhappy woman’s soul, and wax fat in some equally congenial situation.”

Finally, holy smokes does this paragraph resonate: “Constant complaints were being made of incompetent attendants, and some dozen women did double duty, then were blamed for breaking down. If any hospital director fancies this a good economical arrangement, allow one used-up nurse to tell him it isn’t, and beg him to spare the sisterhood, who sometimes in their sympathy, forget that they are mortal, and run the risk of being made immortal, sooner than is agreeable to their mortal friends.” Somebody send Nurse Periwinkle to the Joint Commission headquarters with Nurse Blake, then send her up to the C-suite of every hospital! But instead we’ll get federal legislation proposed to limit how much we can earn, judges in Wisconsin issuing emergency injunctions saying that you’re not allowed to quit your job, and then get thrown in jail for systemic failures for good measure. However, like Nurse Periwinkle, the “stern and salutary” lessons of being an ICU nurse have indeed deepened my faith in God and myself, and I guess I’ll keep it up as long as my back holds out.

This is a short reflection on LMA’s brief time as a nurse in Hurly-Burly House hospital in Washington DC. She so beautifully and honestly writes about her experiences there. Her descriptions of hospital life amidst such a bloody and brutal war as the Civil War, mixed with her abolitionist views, is priceless.
Because this takes place more than 150 years ago she makes many comparisons to people and events that are lost to the ages. I think an annotated version would be useful to help better understand some of those things.

Hospital Scetches was Louisa May Alcott's break-through as an author.
It's about her experiences as a nurse during Civil War.

The first tow chapters are quite entertaining and you could already get some hints for characters in Little Women. The other chapters are more sober and a bit preachy. But there still some amusing parts.

This is a generally fun and lighthearted hospital story though it certainly has it’s solemn parts as well. Nurse Periwinkle was delightful, and I loved getting to know her patients… especially John and “Baby B.” There is a word or two that needs marked out and a few mentions of drinking and cussing, but overall, I found it a very enjoyable book. (It also was a bit feminist at times, but those parts were generally rather brief.)

I listened to this book as it audiobook:
It was an emotional roller coaster.
What I liked:
✅It was fast paced.
✅She was a feminist, but not in an annoying way.
What I didn’t like:
❌some of the social norms back then.
❌it was very traumatic.

Favorite quote: “Few men appear and the women seem to be doing all the business which perhaps accounts for its being so well done. “

Ok this review is a joke so bye.

After briefly serving as a nurse in a hospital in Washington, D. C., Louisa May Alcott returned to her home in Massachusetts and wrote a series of essays which were published in the newspaper Commonwealth. She was only active for approximately 6-8 weeks before she got sick and was advised to go home. These essays relate the things she saw and did in that short time.

The tone is, oddly, very lighthearted considering the subject matter. However, Miss Alcott said of herself that she preferred
to approach her duties cheerfully and with a touch of humour in order to make it more pleasant for the men in her care. Her admiration for their bravery is evident in the way she writes.

The essays give a very good idea of how some of these hospitals operated and the terribly hard work of the nurses of that day. Even though this is a short work, Miss Alcott paints a complete picture of this part of the War.

So, Little Women has never been my thing. And it seems Louisa Mae Alcott felt similarly. This was a book club read and I am so happy it was because I learned a lot about her. This is her actual account of her time as a nurse during the Civil War. It was interesting and at times comical. Through discussion, I also learned that her family counted Thoreau, Emerson, and Hawthorne as close friends and that she wrote “lurid short stories and sensation novels for adults that focused on passion and revenge” under a pen name. She was considerably more interesting than I ever gave her credit.

This was a fictional account of Louisa May's time as a nurse during the Civil War. I really enjoyed it.

Hospital Sketches Louisa May Alcott tells the true story of her time nursing soldiers during the civil war.

I absolutly adore how the book opens.
"Write a book," quoth the author of my being.
"Don't know enough, sir. First live, then write."
"Try teaching again," suggested my mother.
"No thank you, ma'am, ten years of that is enough."
"Take a husband like my Darby, and fulfill your mission," said sister Joan, home on a visit.
"Can't afford expensive luxuries, Mrs. Coobiddy."
"Turn actress, and immortalize your name," said sister Vashti, striking an attitude.
"I won't."
"Go nurse the soldiers," said my young brother, Tom, panting for "the tented field."
"I will!"

I had no idea this book existed until my sister gave it to me for our monthly book swap. I’m so glad she did! This little volume (only 90 some pages) is a gem!

I love Little Women and the other stories that Alcott wrote, but man, Hospital Sketches is such a different style! I had no idea that Alcott was so hilarious, sarcastic, or witty! I was laughing my head off throughout the whole book.

“As boys going to sea immediately become nautical in speech, walk as if they already had their "sea legs" on, and shiver their timbers on all possible occasions, so I turned military at once, called my dinner my rations, saluted all new comers, and ordered a dress parade that very afternoon.”
Love it! XD

"Was the Governor anywhere about?"
No, he wasn't.
"Could he tell me where to look?"
No, he couldn't.
"Did he know anything about free passes?"
No, he didn't.
"Was there any one there of whom I could inquire?"
Not a person.
"Did he know of any place where information could be obtained?"
Not a place.
"Could he throw the smallest gleam of light upon the matter, in any way?"
Not a ray.
I am naturally irascible, and if I could have shaken this negative gentleman vigorously, the relief would have been immense. The prejudices of society forbidding this mode of redress, I merely glowered at him; and, before my wrath found vent in words, my General appeared, having seen me from an opposite window, and come to know what I was about.
Haha!!

“A fat easy gentleman gave me several bits of paper, with coupons attached, with a warning not to separate them which instantly inspired me with a yearning to pluck them apart, and see what came of it.”
Why do I find that so relatable??

The boat is new, but if it ever intends to blow up, spring a leak, catch afire, or be run into, it will do the deed to-night, because I'm here to fulfill my destiny. With tragic calmness I resign myself, replace my pins, lash my purse and papers together, with my handkerchief, examine the saving circumference of my hoop, and look about me for any means of deliverance when the moist moment shall arrive; for I've no intention of folding my hands and bubbling to death without an energetic splashing first. Barrels, hen-coops, portable settees, and life-preservers do not adorn the cabin, as they should; and, roving wildly to and fro, my eye sees no ray of hope till it falls upon a plump old lady, devoutly reading in the cabin Bible, and a voluminous night-cap. I remember that, at the swimming school, fat girls always floated best, and in an instant my plan is laid. At the first alarm I firmly attach myself to the plump lady, and cling to her through fire and water; for I feel that my old enemy, the cramp, will seize me by the foot, if I attempt to swim; and, though I can hardly expect to reach Jersey City with myself and my baggage in as good condition as I hoped, I might manage to get picked up by holding to my fat friend; if not it will be a comfort to feel that I've made an effort and shall die in good society.

Goodness, there were so many hilarious stories on every page. My brothers thought I was crazy when I was doubled over my book, laughing until the tears came.

Alcott tells of the tragedies that she witnessed in the hospital and the bravery of the men she nursed. Grab some tissues.

“Anything more natural and frank I never saw, and found this brave John as bashful as brave, yet full of excellencies and fine aspirations, which, having no power to express themselves in words, seemed to have bloomed into his character and made him what he was.”

“Oh! if I'd only been as thin when Kit carried me as I am now, maybe he wouldn't have died; but I was heavy, he was hurt worser than we knew, and so it killed him; and I didn't see him, to say good bye.”

I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a short, witty, (tragic) read!

Let no one who sincerely desires to help the work on in this way, delay going through any fear; for the worth of life lies in the experiences that fill it, and this is one that cannot be forgotten.

CW: wounds, blood, death (all the normal hospital stuff), racist comments

Really interesting reading for a nurse like myself of Alcott's time as a volunteer Civil War nurse. She seems to have worked hard and been appreciated by patients and doctors. This was before she became well-known as the author of Little Women.

Though short, this book is written with LMA's clear voice and style. The characters are described in detail and the book moves along quickly. Chapter four will make you cry and yet chapter five has descriptions of pigs and nukes that make you laugh out loud. What a great contrast! I enjoyed the postscript that was included as well.