Review: Funny, Fast-Paced Fictionalization of a Hospital Night Shift
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 3, 2014
“Night Shitf” is a funny, fast-paced look into life on the night shift of a hospital. Though one of the narrators remarks at one point that it’s going to be an ordinary night, the stories are bizarre enough to make you wonder what a crazy night could possibly look like!The book opens with the perspective of Moses, who has been on the night shift for 25 years—that whole time, he’s been looking for something, and he hopes that it’s finally the night he finds it. He will cross paths with the hospital Don Juan, Salim; Camella, a beautiful nurse struggling with the aftermath of her divorce; Dr. Dina Benovic, a blonde bombshell of a doctor who is about to experience her first night in the ER alone; and a myriad of demanding and often unpleasant patients.The plot of “Night Shitf” is light and fun, with frequent moments of humor (I both laughed and cringed at an episode involving a patient and a stick of deodorant), but where it really shines is the cast of characters. The author presents them with a tongue-in-cheek affection, summing each one up with a few succinct phrases and a picture before each chapter. The author also has a talent for characterization, and you easily see Moses navigating the insanity of the ER but maintaining an inner calm; you feel Camella’s frazzled distraction but see her good heart; and you smile at Dina’s can-do attitude and the unglamorous first night she has. I also enjoyed how the author uses the physical structure of the text to move the book forward in some places—you don’t really see a lot of experimentation with text layout and I found that to be a part I enjoyed more than I would have expected.I would recommend “Night Shitf” to readers who like humor, satire, and novels with memorable, amusing characters who definitely aren’t perfect people but who are perfectly entertaining.