Chasing the Surge

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews
Summary
A just-the-facts journal of one traveling nurse's experience during the first year of covid-19.

Review
I felt the primary audience for the book was people who wanted to know what it was truly like in the hospital trenches as covid progressed during 2020. On that front, it's an enlightening book, though oddly not marketed as covid-focused

The author's style is simple and straightforward, which made for an easy, if not always engaging read. He mixes in a little of his family history and backstory, and while the additions are unfortunately fairly clumsy, they do give a fuller picture of how he got to where he is. The book overall could have done with more editing for consistency of tone, tense, and focus.

The author takes pains to avoid a partisan political position. He clearly has his own views and experience, but, with few exceptions, he avoids inserting them in the book, allowing the record of events to stand on its own, which it does nicely. If you want to know what it was really like to work the front lines as covid arrived, this will give you a peek.

The end incorporates the covid stories of others, which didn't add as much, simply because we don't know the narrators. However a pleasant personal surprise came from the inclusion of a narrative and two songs from singer-songwriter Darden Smith, one of my favorite musicians. Given Street's background in the military, the songs presumably came about through Smith's ‘Songwriting with Soldiers' project, though it's not mentioned.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.