REVIEW

Tatjana Tur

Mercy and life.

              I have just read Aldona Groupas autobiography “Nurse, give me a pill for Death”. The book left a mixed impression to me.

From one hand it’s written in a simple language manner, which is more suitable for blogs in Internet than for literature. But from the other hand such style of writing gives life to narration and people understand it very well like a diary of real life.

           At the heart of the plot is a description of a nurse ‘s life in England after moving from Lithuania in modern times. The author describes in detail and scurpulesically how the search for work took place, about the move to England, the work itself and, of course, about her feelings.

It would seem simple story: a person went to another country, in search of a better life, rich with high hopes and dreams of a happy future, but at the same time the author ‘s desire to help people, his humanism and mercy cannot leave the reader indifferent.

            From an information point of view, this book will be particularly interesting to medical workers from Russia and the CIS who would like to move to England. Aldona describes in details the difficulties waiting for non-EU medics in Britain, how to get a professional qualification number and nurse ‘s license in order to start working in a specialty. It is necessary to have considerable mental strength, determination and greater humanity to agree to a lower position than in the homeland to continue to do the favorite job. The main character likes helping people. Empathy and desire to achieve more in life make the heroine interesting and modern. She details how she worked as a nurse with elderly and sick people, for whom nurses and nurse assistants are the closest people. 

          Also, I would like to note how sincerely the main heroine is surprised in a certain difference of the culture to which she is used and English reality. It is really interesting for readers from the post-Soviet space, because this difference of cultures is mountainous. The author admires the freedom and respect of the British towards foreigners, their attitude towards the uniform, formalities, national peculiarities of other people, as well as the tradition of nursing, which is not the case, for example, in Russia, where mainly all care falls on relatives, if necessary, rather than on the State. 

         In the design of the book I really liked illustrations, the childishly sincere graphics as it is impossible to accurately convey the essence of the book – sincerity, mercy and kindness – these are the qualities that all people need, and the main heroine by her example shows how she became happy helping other people.