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Heart in the Right Place
Carolyn Jourdan, an attorney on Capitol Hill, thought she had it made. But when her mother has a heart attack, she returns home—to the Tennessee mountains, where her father is a country doctor and her mother works as his receptionist. Jourdan offers to fill in for her mother until she gets better. But days turn into weeks as she trades her suits for scrubs and finds herself following hazmat regulations for cleaning up bodily fluids; maintaining composure when confronted with a splinter the size of a steak knife; and tending to the loquacious Miss Hiawatha, whose daily doctor visits are never billed. Most important, though, she comes to understand what her caring and patient father means to her close-knit community.
With great humor and great tenderness, Heart in the Right Place shows that some of our biggest heroes are the ones living right beside us.
With great humor and great tenderness, Heart in the Right Place shows that some of our biggest heroes are the ones living right beside us.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2007
242 people are currently reading
2121 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Jourdan
25 books169 followersUSA Today,Top-10 Audible & 6-time Top-10 Wall Street Journal best selling Author of Memoir, Biography, Wildlife, and Mystery
USA Today Best Seller Out on a Limb was also voted a Best Kindle Book of 2014.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2022.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Heart in the Right Place in 2017.
#7 NYT-Audible Best Seller Bear in the Back Seat in 2016.
#6 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2015.
#5 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2014.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Bear in the Back Seat in 2013.
#7 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Heart in the Right Place in 2012.
Visit Carolyn online at her website, her personal Facebook page, her Facebook Author page, her Twitter page, or her Instagram page.
Jourdan's newest books are Dangerous Beauty: Stories from the Wilds of Yellowstone and Waltzing with Wildlife: 10 Things NOT to do in Our National Parks.
Other recent works are Nurses: The Art of Caring, Radiologists at Work: Saving Lives With the Lights Off, and Talking to Skeletons: Behind the Scenes With a Radiologist.
The nurse book is a collection of the most memorable moments from the careers of over 60 nurses. It covers nearly 70 years of practice from World War II to the present day.
The extraordinary situations described here are the result of more than 1,000 years of hands-on bedside knowledge. The vignettes contain wisdom and insight gained the hard way, from long experience in the trenches (sometimes in actual trenches) performing tasks that range from the most humble to the most skilled.
The radiology books form a set of companion books, one dealing with the most memorable moments of 40 radiologists and the other chronicling 7 extraordinary nights spent shadowing a single radiologist.
Bear in the Back Seat - Adventures of a Wildlife Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a series of true stories from “[a]n extraordinary landscape populated with befuddled bears, hormonally-crazed elk, homicidal wild boars, hopelessly timid wolves, and nine million tourists, some of whom are clueless."
In Kim DeLozier’s world, when sedated wild black bears wake up unexpectedly in the back seat of a helicopter in mid-flight, or in his car as he’s driving down the highway, or in his office while he’s talking on the phone, it’s just another day in the park.
In Out on a Limb Phoebe McFarland has just moved back to her hometown of White Oak, Tennessee, a sleepy rural community nestled in the mist-shrouded ridges and isolated hollows of the Smoky Mountains.
Now she spends her days working as a rural home health care nurse, making calls on a quirky roster of housebound characters she’s determined to take care of whether they cooperate or not.
She applies this same optimism to her love life, despite the fact that she’s been dating for 38 years without locating any husband material. When she runs into her childhood sweetheart, Henry Matthews, a wildlife ranger for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it looks like she might’ve found her man.
But Phoebe and Henry’s chance for romance has to be put on hold while they undertake a desperate search for a young woman who mysteriously vanished from the park during a gathering of world famous biologists and botanists, including a charismatic Frog Whisperer.
Medicine Men
USA Today Best Seller Out on a Limb was also voted a Best Kindle Book of 2014.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2022.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Heart in the Right Place in 2017.
#7 NYT-Audible Best Seller Bear in the Back Seat in 2016.
#6 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2015.
#5 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2014.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Bear in the Back Seat in 2013.
#7 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Heart in the Right Place in 2012.
Visit Carolyn online at her website, her personal Facebook page, her Facebook Author page, her Twitter page, or her Instagram page.
Jourdan's newest books are Dangerous Beauty: Stories from the Wilds of Yellowstone and Waltzing with Wildlife: 10 Things NOT to do in Our National Parks.
Other recent works are Nurses: The Art of Caring, Radiologists at Work: Saving Lives With the Lights Off, and Talking to Skeletons: Behind the Scenes With a Radiologist.
The nurse book is a collection of the most memorable moments from the careers of over 60 nurses. It covers nearly 70 years of practice from World War II to the present day.
The extraordinary situations described here are the result of more than 1,000 years of hands-on bedside knowledge. The vignettes contain wisdom and insight gained the hard way, from long experience in the trenches (sometimes in actual trenches) performing tasks that range from the most humble to the most skilled.
The radiology books form a set of companion books, one dealing with the most memorable moments of 40 radiologists and the other chronicling 7 extraordinary nights spent shadowing a single radiologist.
Bear in the Back Seat - Adventures of a Wildlife Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a series of true stories from “[a]n extraordinary landscape populated with befuddled bears, hormonally-crazed elk, homicidal wild boars, hopelessly timid wolves, and nine million tourists, some of whom are clueless."
In Kim DeLozier’s world, when sedated wild black bears wake up unexpectedly in the back seat of a helicopter in mid-flight, or in his car as he’s driving down the highway, or in his office while he’s talking on the phone, it’s just another day in the park.
In Out on a Limb Phoebe McFarland has just moved back to her hometown of White Oak, Tennessee, a sleepy rural community nestled in the mist-shrouded ridges and isolated hollows of the Smoky Mountains.
Now she spends her days working as a rural home health care nurse, making calls on a quirky roster of housebound characters she’s determined to take care of whether they cooperate or not.
She applies this same optimism to her love life, despite the fact that she’s been dating for 38 years without locating any husband material. When she runs into her childhood sweetheart, Henry Matthews, a wildlife ranger for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it looks like she might’ve found her man.
But Phoebe and Henry’s chance for romance has to be put on hold while they undertake a desperate search for a young woman who mysteriously vanished from the park during a gathering of world famous biologists and botanists, including a charismatic Frog Whisperer.
Medicine Men
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 522 reviews
April 25, 2008
I was bound to like it, because I wrote it. : )
July 19, 2014
Goodreads author Carolyn Jourdan is one of my longest-standing Goodreads friends; but back in 2007, when this book first came out and before I'd ever heard of Goodreads, I'd read a review of it in Library Journal or Booklist (maybe both) and been intrigued by it. I usually don't read memoirs, except for James Herriot's books, but this one caught my interest. So, when I had a chance to snag a copy on BookMooch awhile ago, I grabbed it up. I'm really glad I finally made time to read it!
The Goodreads description actually gives a good sketch of the situation that confronted Carolyn during the year that this book covers, and the decision that emerged from it. What it may not fully convey is the flavor of the book. It's not a bit pat or treacly; the author doesn't try to portray herself as a saint, and her struggle with the idea of giving up a $100,000-a-year job as a Senate committee counsel, and a lifestyle she liked, in order to opt for a much less heralded and lucrative place of service is portrayed with unflinching honesty. That makes her decision all the more powerful in the end; it wasn't something she effortlessly fell into, but a conscious, deliberate choice of the kind of things that matter most in life. Along the way, she provides us as readers with a wonderful ride.
Appalachia is where I've lived for more than 20 years, so I could relate to the setting here. She doesn't romanticize it, though she makes it clear that it's a place of great natural beauty, a place where communities of friends and family who actually help each other can still be found, and a place with a cultural ethos that's not wholly homogenized by modernity. But it's also a place of widespread poverty, ravaged by prescription drug addiction, and not immune to the social dysfunctions of modern life. Above, I mentioned James Herriot's books as memoirs I liked. Some reviewers have actually compared this book to his work; and allowing for the differences in time and place, there are similarities in the rural setting, the tone, and the fascinating character portrayals of the patients --which here even include some animals; Dr. Jourdan wasn't a veterinarian, but he saw a few four-legged patients nonetheless. (The goat on the cover of the edition I read came in for an X-ray. :-) ) There's abundant humor in these pages; I laughed out loud several times. But humor sometimes serves to hold back tears, because medical practice necessarily involves its tragedies, too; patients die, and they're not always the patients we think are "ready" to die. And there's a goodly share of wisdom, too, homespun or hard-won; and ultimate triumph that makes the spirit soar. It's no secret that I tend to prefer fiction over nonfiction in my reads, but this is nonfiction that's as readable as a novel --a high-quality, serious novel that has something worthwhile to say (as opposed to what passes for a modern "literary" novel).
I'm trying not to make this review too long; but one point that cries out to be made, and that the reader can't help but take from the book, is the contrast between the older personal, service-oriented kind of medicine exemplified in this book by Dr. Jourdan (a doctor, for instance, who still made housecalls, and didn't charge indigent patients), and the modern bureaucratic, profit-driven model we're told we have to settle for now. We all know the former is better, but we've gotten accustomed to wringing our hands and bewailing its loss. This book shows us that we don't have to do that; that human-scaled medicine is a viable option for the present, given people determined to make it work.
Very strict Christian readers may be put off by the fact that Carolyn and her family and friends don't totally eschew a certain amount of bad language of the d-, h- and s-word sort at times, and she faithfully reproduces that dialogue as it was. And a couple of conversations involve theological speculations that aren't strictly orthodox. For my part, I honestly wasn't bothered by either factor here. (As far as theology goes, I'd rather see people take God seriously enough to think about him, even in ways I don't agree with, than to ignore Him; and the latter is something our author doesn't do.)
While the author doesn't try to make herself a plaster saint on a pedestal here, and laughs at her own foibles as much as at anybody's, the personality that's revealed here is a really likeable one: kind, smart, caring (and at times a little zany :-) ). I'm proud to say that we're "friends" (even in the limited sense that word sometimes bears on Goodreads); and getting to know her, even through the medium of a book, is one of the best treats this read has to offer.
Note: in the back, the edition I read has a short but interesting "Conversation With the Author," and even some discussion questions for book clubs who want to do this book as a read. I'm not sure if all the editions have these; but I highly recommend the book in any edition!
The Goodreads description actually gives a good sketch of the situation that confronted Carolyn during the year that this book covers, and the decision that emerged from it. What it may not fully convey is the flavor of the book. It's not a bit pat or treacly; the author doesn't try to portray herself as a saint, and her struggle with the idea of giving up a $100,000-a-year job as a Senate committee counsel, and a lifestyle she liked, in order to opt for a much less heralded and lucrative place of service is portrayed with unflinching honesty. That makes her decision all the more powerful in the end; it wasn't something she effortlessly fell into, but a conscious, deliberate choice of the kind of things that matter most in life. Along the way, she provides us as readers with a wonderful ride.
Appalachia is where I've lived for more than 20 years, so I could relate to the setting here. She doesn't romanticize it, though she makes it clear that it's a place of great natural beauty, a place where communities of friends and family who actually help each other can still be found, and a place with a cultural ethos that's not wholly homogenized by modernity. But it's also a place of widespread poverty, ravaged by prescription drug addiction, and not immune to the social dysfunctions of modern life. Above, I mentioned James Herriot's books as memoirs I liked. Some reviewers have actually compared this book to his work; and allowing for the differences in time and place, there are similarities in the rural setting, the tone, and the fascinating character portrayals of the patients --which here even include some animals; Dr. Jourdan wasn't a veterinarian, but he saw a few four-legged patients nonetheless. (The goat on the cover of the edition I read came in for an X-ray. :-) ) There's abundant humor in these pages; I laughed out loud several times. But humor sometimes serves to hold back tears, because medical practice necessarily involves its tragedies, too; patients die, and they're not always the patients we think are "ready" to die. And there's a goodly share of wisdom, too, homespun or hard-won; and ultimate triumph that makes the spirit soar. It's no secret that I tend to prefer fiction over nonfiction in my reads, but this is nonfiction that's as readable as a novel --a high-quality, serious novel that has something worthwhile to say (as opposed to what passes for a modern "literary" novel).
I'm trying not to make this review too long; but one point that cries out to be made, and that the reader can't help but take from the book, is the contrast between the older personal, service-oriented kind of medicine exemplified in this book by Dr. Jourdan (a doctor, for instance, who still made housecalls, and didn't charge indigent patients), and the modern bureaucratic, profit-driven model we're told we have to settle for now. We all know the former is better, but we've gotten accustomed to wringing our hands and bewailing its loss. This book shows us that we don't have to do that; that human-scaled medicine is a viable option for the present, given people determined to make it work.
Very strict Christian readers may be put off by the fact that Carolyn and her family and friends don't totally eschew a certain amount of bad language of the d-, h- and s-word sort at times, and she faithfully reproduces that dialogue as it was. And a couple of conversations involve theological speculations that aren't strictly orthodox. For my part, I honestly wasn't bothered by either factor here. (As far as theology goes, I'd rather see people take God seriously enough to think about him, even in ways I don't agree with, than to ignore Him; and the latter is something our author doesn't do.)
While the author doesn't try to make herself a plaster saint on a pedestal here, and laughs at her own foibles as much as at anybody's, the personality that's revealed here is a really likeable one: kind, smart, caring (and at times a little zany :-) ). I'm proud to say that we're "friends" (even in the limited sense that word sometimes bears on Goodreads); and getting to know her, even through the medium of a book, is one of the best treats this read has to offer.
Note: in the back, the edition I read has a short but interesting "Conversation With the Author," and even some discussion questions for book clubs who want to do this book as a read. I'm not sure if all the editions have these; but I highly recommend the book in any edition!
May 7, 2019
3.75 stars
Most non-fiction that I read is historical, about a trial, a murder, a famine, a famous person. However, this non-fiction was family-oriented, and humorous. Laugh out loud humorous.
Carolyn Jourdan was where she thought she wanted to be. She had the job she thought she wanted. She was in the glitz and glimmer. Then she was needed at home. Her father was a small town doctor, often taking this years fresh tomatoes in payment for his services. He needed a receptionist for his office - temporarily. What else could she do - she moved home - temporarily - to Tennessee, the place that she wanted most to be away from.
This book is written in a quasi-vignette style. Jourdan tells some of the best of the best stories about working in her Dads office. She tells of the escapades of the local people and how her dad treats his patients, with both tenderness and understanding. How death reverberates back to the doctors office and that staff. And how the interaction of each of their jobs effect this tight knit community.
Most non-fiction that I read is historical, about a trial, a murder, a famine, a famous person. However, this non-fiction was family-oriented, and humorous. Laugh out loud humorous.
Carolyn Jourdan was where she thought she wanted to be. She had the job she thought she wanted. She was in the glitz and glimmer. Then she was needed at home. Her father was a small town doctor, often taking this years fresh tomatoes in payment for his services. He needed a receptionist for his office - temporarily. What else could she do - she moved home - temporarily - to Tennessee, the place that she wanted most to be away from.
This book is written in a quasi-vignette style. Jourdan tells some of the best of the best stories about working in her Dads office. She tells of the escapades of the local people and how her dad treats his patients, with both tenderness and understanding. How death reverberates back to the doctors office and that staff. And how the interaction of each of their jobs effect this tight knit community.
May 10, 2019
Thoughts soon.
May 24, 2013
I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. It's a memoir of a woman who takes a leave of absence from her fast-paced, high-pressured government job in Washington, D.C. to help out her father when her mother has a heart attack. Her dad is a country doctor in Tennessee, and Carolyn fills in as his receptionist while her mom recovers. What follows is a year-long journey of Carolyn adjusting to the challenges of working in a doctor's office and struggling with the decision of whether to return to D.C. or to stay and help her parents.
The book is filled with colorful stories and characters, and had a good dose of humor along with the serious. I would recommend it to anyone who likes reading about small-town life, medical stories or personal journeys.
The book is filled with colorful stories and characters, and had a good dose of humor along with the serious. I would recommend it to anyone who likes reading about small-town life, medical stories or personal journeys.
October 27, 2007
another reviewer said the big question is whether Carolyn would return to her big paying law job, and i believe not. i met her this last summer ,when she stayed at my B&B, and visited our pulpwood queen bookclub. she currently works as a guide and writer at the largest national park (Iforgot the name) in the Appalachians. she loves it, and she is still writing/. she is a quirky ,funny gal, and i just loved her. she is the real deal. she is just a very nice ,sweet person, and dresses very down. Her book made me laugh and cry. she has that funny sense of humor about her in the way she talks and writes.
August 11, 2019
I enjoyed reading this memoir and recommended it to my husband, who is enjoying it now.
This book reminds me of James Herriot's stories, with vivid descriptions of the clients that visited the doctor's office and serious and laugh-out-loud humourous incidents. The author's mother had a sudden heart attack, so Carolyn had to temporarily leave a life of glitz and extravagance in Washington to go home to the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee and reluctantly fill in as receptionist in her father's medical practice.
Carolyn remembers her parents working and being "on call" 24 7, in other words, every minute of every day. She was happy to leave home and "make it big" in Washington, and longs to be back there now. But she gradually sees her dad as a "hero" and someone highly needed and thought of in the community.
"The point was that, by intervening in each other's traumas, we could utterly transform each other's lives."
"It was about the fundamental act of placing our attention outside ourselves and onto other people who needed it."
4 brilliant country stars ⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️
This book reminds me of James Herriot's stories, with vivid descriptions of the clients that visited the doctor's office and serious and laugh-out-loud humourous incidents. The author's mother had a sudden heart attack, so Carolyn had to temporarily leave a life of glitz and extravagance in Washington to go home to the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee and reluctantly fill in as receptionist in her father's medical practice.
Carolyn remembers her parents working and being "on call" 24 7, in other words, every minute of every day. She was happy to leave home and "make it big" in Washington, and longs to be back there now. But she gradually sees her dad as a "hero" and someone highly needed and thought of in the community.
"The point was that, by intervening in each other's traumas, we could utterly transform each other's lives."
"It was about the fundamental act of placing our attention outside ourselves and onto other people who needed it."
4 brilliant country stars ⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️
July 26, 2008
At roughly the halfway point, I was prepared to dimiss the book as a cynical attempt by a well-paid civil servant to cash in on her experience; having finished the story, I highly recommend it. Ms. Jourdan's certainly not the same person by the conclusion, and really seems to care about her community.
Narrator does a terrific job with the accents, so it's an esp great audio experience.
Narrator does a terrific job with the accents, so it's an esp great audio experience.
May 7, 2019
Review to follow
August 28, 2007
When Senate Counsel Carolyn Jourdan returns to the mountains of eastern Tennessee from Washington, DC after the sudden illness of her mother, she has no idea how long she’ll be needed to fill in her role as receptionist for her father, the kindly country doctor. She figures at first it will just be two days. But readers can be glad that it wasn’t as in Heart in the Right Place, Jourdan takes the reader on a true journey of the heart to the people of eastern Tennessee and through all the trials and tribulations of a small country one-doctor medical practice. One where he might be paid in even a fox carcass if he charged his patients anything at all.
We meet and learn to love the patients in the practice such as the eccentric Miss Hiawatha and the kindly Mike who doesn’t hardly know he is handicapped. And then there are the two friends Obie and Kermit. You never know what kind of predicament they are going to get themselves into next and what kind of injuries it’s going to cause. Each time they come through the clinic door it’s going to be something totally different. The big question on everyone’s mind is, will Carolyn stay in eastern Tennessee where she earned $0 in one year or return to her high-power, six-figure job in Washington, DC?
It was recommended I get this book via Amazon’s Customers Also Bought feature after I had purchased another book. I clicked on it and read the description. As a long-time medical office employee it sounded right up my alley. But it would appeal to anyone who enjoys sweet stories with quirky characters such as the Mitford series by Jan Karon or anyone who loves the TV series Northern Exposure or Ballykissangel. But these are very real people here, not those from fiction. I laughed and I cried, I read passages out loud to my husband, and I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning two nights in a row to finish it. I can’t recommend this book enough. You will want to buy one for yourself and another as a gift for someone you care about.
We meet and learn to love the patients in the practice such as the eccentric Miss Hiawatha and the kindly Mike who doesn’t hardly know he is handicapped. And then there are the two friends Obie and Kermit. You never know what kind of predicament they are going to get themselves into next and what kind of injuries it’s going to cause. Each time they come through the clinic door it’s going to be something totally different. The big question on everyone’s mind is, will Carolyn stay in eastern Tennessee where she earned $0 in one year or return to her high-power, six-figure job in Washington, DC?
It was recommended I get this book via Amazon’s Customers Also Bought feature after I had purchased another book. I clicked on it and read the description. As a long-time medical office employee it sounded right up my alley. But it would appeal to anyone who enjoys sweet stories with quirky characters such as the Mitford series by Jan Karon or anyone who loves the TV series Northern Exposure or Ballykissangel. But these are very real people here, not those from fiction. I laughed and I cried, I read passages out loud to my husband, and I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning two nights in a row to finish it. I can’t recommend this book enough. You will want to buy one for yourself and another as a gift for someone you care about.
May 14, 2019
Carolyn Jourdan writes an insightful tale that is also delightful as well. She returns her home, a small 'Hollar' community in the Appalachians, somewhere in TN as resourceful and unique as the characters in a James Herriot book. This book covers the period while her mother undergoes heart surgery and Carolyn, their only child assists in her father's medical practice.
She returns as a seasoned, Washington D.C. lawyer, working for a U.S. Senate. She loves her work, her co-workers, and the impact she has on behalf of the citizenry. When her older Mother becomes seriously ill, she takes a vacation to return home and assist in the practical work of keeping her Dad's medical practice operating smoothly. Working among top minds had given Carolyn a great source of accomplishment and confidence until she encounters and grapples medical billing for insurance and Medicare.
The book is structured by various antidotes of a small town medical practice often operating at high speed. Her father at over seventy years old is the only health care provider for many can access in the region. He could have moved to a bigger community for a better standard of living for his family but he choose to serve people, many, who can not afford medical care and some barely surviving. Some are grateful, while others don't give it a moments notice. Carolyn, who lived in the practice when not in school never understood the demands her parents encountered. Her efforts are rewarded by many humorous events and some a bit to intense due to her strong command of the language. One incident is most memorable to me is a patient having multiple episodes of vomiting while awaiting to be seen by the doctor and another who had an accident that left a spike in him that was so large and unyielding that only a household wrench could remove since no surgical tools could grip it adequately. There were other tales that brought laughter to this reader. There were sad moments too, when a lively, affable man still in his prime is diagnosed with an incurable disease.
Carolyn is given a greater appreciation of her hometown and even more for the fact that her parents dedication is so great that they barely scrap by and yet They are dedicated to them and work to deliver top-notch care to their neighbors. What starts off as a two week reminiscence back home, soon becomes two months, three months and beyond. Her mother fails to return to her former vigor and Carolyn extends her leave missing her desire to see the fruition of some of her work efforts. She is missing her dream. Her treasured projects resolved without her further involvement, it is a huge disappointment. D.C. is calling to her through out the day and night. Initially, she remains involved with her projects by making calls late into night and weekends from the family cow barn while cows moo in the background!
As time passes, she meets her midlife crisis head on. The career she has carefully crafted and nurtured is her life and it is slowly slipping her grasp. Her career meets her needs and even one of her coworkers, her best friend and former romantic companion provide her with great joy both professionally and they satisfy her need to be a part of something great. However, what is glaringly obvious is that her parents need her as does her community. She knows that if she returns to Washington, the practice will be closed and the community will struggle. There is nothing there to entice another primary care to settle there. This moral dilemma follows her every waking moment. Once a year passes, Carolyn finally resolves her quandary. It is then the story ends.
Ms. Jourdan is a satisfying writer. Her stories are tangible to the reader and one easily relates to the humanity of a given situation. She could have easily published this as a short-story collection. Instead we see the thread of a career doing great things vs doing great things on a smaller scale fight within her as her personal moral compass. Her love of her parents, community and desire to 'be the change you want to see', conquers her desire to be a key cog in a bigger scene. She believes that heroes come in all forms and in all places. I couldn't agree more.
She returns as a seasoned, Washington D.C. lawyer, working for a U.S. Senate. She loves her work, her co-workers, and the impact she has on behalf of the citizenry. When her older Mother becomes seriously ill, she takes a vacation to return home and assist in the practical work of keeping her Dad's medical practice operating smoothly. Working among top minds had given Carolyn a great source of accomplishment and confidence until she encounters and grapples medical billing for insurance and Medicare.
The book is structured by various antidotes of a small town medical practice often operating at high speed. Her father at over seventy years old is the only health care provider for many can access in the region. He could have moved to a bigger community for a better standard of living for his family but he choose to serve people, many, who can not afford medical care and some barely surviving. Some are grateful, while others don't give it a moments notice. Carolyn, who lived in the practice when not in school never understood the demands her parents encountered. Her efforts are rewarded by many humorous events and some a bit to intense due to her strong command of the language. One incident is most memorable to me is a patient having multiple episodes of vomiting while awaiting to be seen by the doctor and another who had an accident that left a spike in him that was so large and unyielding that only a household wrench could remove since no surgical tools could grip it adequately. There were other tales that brought laughter to this reader. There were sad moments too, when a lively, affable man still in his prime is diagnosed with an incurable disease.
Carolyn is given a greater appreciation of her hometown and even more for the fact that her parents dedication is so great that they barely scrap by and yet They are dedicated to them and work to deliver top-notch care to their neighbors. What starts off as a two week reminiscence back home, soon becomes two months, three months and beyond. Her mother fails to return to her former vigor and Carolyn extends her leave missing her desire to see the fruition of some of her work efforts. She is missing her dream. Her treasured projects resolved without her further involvement, it is a huge disappointment. D.C. is calling to her through out the day and night. Initially, she remains involved with her projects by making calls late into night and weekends from the family cow barn while cows moo in the background!
As time passes, she meets her midlife crisis head on. The career she has carefully crafted and nurtured is her life and it is slowly slipping her grasp. Her career meets her needs and even one of her coworkers, her best friend and former romantic companion provide her with great joy both professionally and they satisfy her need to be a part of something great. However, what is glaringly obvious is that her parents need her as does her community. She knows that if she returns to Washington, the practice will be closed and the community will struggle. There is nothing there to entice another primary care to settle there. This moral dilemma follows her every waking moment. Once a year passes, Carolyn finally resolves her quandary. It is then the story ends.
Ms. Jourdan is a satisfying writer. Her stories are tangible to the reader and one easily relates to the humanity of a given situation. She could have easily published this as a short-story collection. Instead we see the thread of a career doing great things vs doing great things on a smaller scale fight within her as her personal moral compass. Her love of her parents, community and desire to 'be the change you want to see', conquers her desire to be a key cog in a bigger scene. She believes that heroes come in all forms and in all places. I couldn't agree more.
February 23, 2019
Liked it more than I thought that I would. Jourdan does have genuine affection for all the members of her community. She must, because that's the got to be the real reason she stayed. After all, giving up her glamorous career for the sake of her parents' clinic doesn't make sense, as they're going to need to retire soon anyway even if nobody wants to admit that.
I do like her observation that "love... is paying selfless attention."
I appreciate that the Christian element isn't too heavy and is relatively benign.
I wish she'd written a sequel as I'd love to know what happened next in so many cases. But I suppose the story was about the choice between D.C. and TN, and more would have been exploitative.
Thanks to my IRL book club; I never would have enjoyed this quick read if not for them choosing it.
I do like her observation that "love... is paying selfless attention."
I appreciate that the Christian element isn't too heavy and is relatively benign.
I wish she'd written a sequel as I'd love to know what happened next in so many cases. But I suppose the story was about the choice between D.C. and TN, and more would have been exploitative.
Thanks to my IRL book club; I never would have enjoyed this quick read if not for them choosing it.
April 9, 2019
Incredibly well-written memoir by a woman whose life totally changed when she left a high-powered job in Washington, D.C. to "temporarily" help out with her parents' small town medical practice in rural Tennessee, where she grew up, when her mother became ill. She uses humor and drama really well, and her disclosures of what is learning the longer she stays in Tennessee felt quite real, unlike other memoirs, in which the author is making themselves look good at others' expense. I felt like I got to know her, her father, and the people of the town as real human beings I'd like to get to know in person.
April 12, 2014
Favorite quotes:
"If there was one thing I'd learned growing up in a doctor's office, it was that people's mood was rarely dependent on their external circumstances. Its origin was almost always internal." p. 29
"You know how in Bible stories whenever an angel shows up, first thing he always says is, 'Fear not!' Well, it took me most of my life, but I finally figured out that he's not trying to comfort us when he says that. He's giving us an order. It's a command given more than 300 times in the Bible. The Lord's telling us not to let ourselves be afraid. We can't affort to be scared. It just gets in the way of us doing whatever it is that we're supposed to be doing." p. 172
"If there was one thing I'd learned growing up in a doctor's office, it was that people's mood was rarely dependent on their external circumstances. Its origin was almost always internal." p. 29
"You know how in Bible stories whenever an angel shows up, first thing he always says is, 'Fear not!' Well, it took me most of my life, but I finally figured out that he's not trying to comfort us when he says that. He's giving us an order. It's a command given more than 300 times in the Bible. The Lord's telling us not to let ourselves be afraid. We can't affort to be scared. It just gets in the way of us doing whatever it is that we're supposed to be doing." p. 172
April 5, 2023
Sweet memoir. Carolyn Jourdan is a grown woman with a career in politics (Senate counsel) doing well for herself when her mother is stricken with a heart attack, so she goes home to help out for a couple of weeks. Of course, the best laid plans of mice and men..... She fills in as receptionist at her dad's country doctor practice in rural Tennessee while her mom has an extended hospital stay, followed by rehab and a long convalescence. It's obvious, (and I don't think of this as a spoiler), that she ends up staying. In Washington, she felt like her work could influence lives and actually help people. In reality, back home in TN, she ends up helping people that aren't so intangible; the things she says and does everyday have an effect she can see, and the smaller job starts to matter and feel important. She sees how her D.C. role was often way above any concrete aid to real people, and instead was more of the ego boosts of the rich and famous.
Overall, this was a nice memoir, and the writing is ok, and the story is nice, and the people are interesting enough. It's a 3 star read. But I want to share a passage that I found really enlightening, profound, even. Because it's a new perspective, and perspective is the most important thing to understanding. Fletcher, Carolyn's dad's best friend, shares the following wisdom:
"You know how in Bible stories whenever an angel shows up, first thing he always says is, 'Fear not!' Well, it took me most of my life, but I finally figured out that he's not trying to comfort us when he says that. He's giving us an order. It's a command given more than 300 times in the bible. The Lord's telling us not to let ourselves be afraid. We can't afford to be scared. it just gets in the way of us doing whatever it is that we're supposed to be doing." I was stunned. Such an interpretation had never occurred to me and it sure wasn't what they taught in church. Fearlessness didn't come from being comforted, being patted on the back by God, and having our fear reduced. It meant making a conscious decision not to indulge ourselves.
That passage struck a cord with me. I've lived a long time now, and I feel like this is the most selfish I've seen our society become. They say all our societal behaviors swing like a pendulum, and though there were times when people were slaves to everything--their jobs, their marriages, their kids, their parents, their legacies--we've definitely swung most (if not all) the way in the other direction with the concepts of self-care, you be you, yolo, etc. The world would be a better place if the pendulum stopped and hung balanced in the middle, where people did recognize their own needs but also realize the world isn't revolving around them, and looked out for others, too.
Fortunately for Carolyn, she understood that message, and made peace with her decision and felt the value of her contribution.
Overall, this was a nice memoir, and the writing is ok, and the story is nice, and the people are interesting enough. It's a 3 star read. But I want to share a passage that I found really enlightening, profound, even. Because it's a new perspective, and perspective is the most important thing to understanding. Fletcher, Carolyn's dad's best friend, shares the following wisdom:
"You know how in Bible stories whenever an angel shows up, first thing he always says is, 'Fear not!' Well, it took me most of my life, but I finally figured out that he's not trying to comfort us when he says that. He's giving us an order. It's a command given more than 300 times in the bible. The Lord's telling us not to let ourselves be afraid. We can't afford to be scared. it just gets in the way of us doing whatever it is that we're supposed to be doing." I was stunned. Such an interpretation had never occurred to me and it sure wasn't what they taught in church. Fearlessness didn't come from being comforted, being patted on the back by God, and having our fear reduced. It meant making a conscious decision not to indulge ourselves.
That passage struck a cord with me. I've lived a long time now, and I feel like this is the most selfish I've seen our society become. They say all our societal behaviors swing like a pendulum, and though there were times when people were slaves to everything--their jobs, their marriages, their kids, their parents, their legacies--we've definitely swung most (if not all) the way in the other direction with the concepts of self-care, you be you, yolo, etc. The world would be a better place if the pendulum stopped and hung balanced in the middle, where people did recognize their own needs but also realize the world isn't revolving around them, and looked out for others, too.
Fortunately for Carolyn, she understood that message, and made peace with her decision and felt the value of her contribution.
May 22, 2019
Jourdan was serving as legal counsel on Capitol Hill when her mother’s heart attack brought her back to her childhood home in Appalachia. Agreeing to fill in as the receptionist for her father’s rural medical practice for a few days, until her mother could return to work, she could not have guessed that she would still be there one year later, her life on a new trajectory. This is a series of anecdotes about the quirky, good-hearted people in this rural community and the medical care provided by her unflappable father. These were easy-to-read, sweet stories, much like what one might find in a popular magazine. Although I could have put this book down at any time, not all that curious about what came next, I also never dreaded picking it up or starting a new chapter. 2.5 stars
April 28, 2019
Reminiscent of the writings of Patrick McManus and James Herriott, the reader is entertained by a cast of unlikely characters, improbable situations, and a taste of life in rural Appalachian Tennessee.
Alternately poignant, funny, and philosophical we see that making the world a better place doesn't mean having a fancy title, lots of money, or prestige; it means just showing up and being committed to doing what you can with the talents you have.
Alternately poignant, funny, and philosophical we see that making the world a better place doesn't mean having a fancy title, lots of money, or prestige; it means just showing up and being committed to doing what you can with the talents you have.
September 30, 2015
From the section of the book called " A Conversation with the Author ":
Question:
" How do you think we can observe another person's life properly?"
Answer:
" By listening. But we don't listen to each other. This is a really serious problem in our culture nowadays. If we're polite we take turns talking in a self-absorbed way, but we rarely ever listen to what anyone else is saying.
When you do listen, things happen. You find yourself empathizing, developing compassion. It's hard work, though. Suddenly the world isn't "all about me".
If you don't listen, you miss a lot. You fail to realize that each of us faces very different, but equally trying, life circumstances. You don't discover that each of us is so deeply flawed that it's really tough for anyone to proceed through life with any grace at all.
Our whole culture is designed to cover this over.
To me the most significant thing in the world is observing the heroism of each individuals struggle to get on with life in the face of great obstacles.
If we can ever learn to control ourselves, to get still and quiet in the presence of another person, we can see that every persons life, no matter how modest or goofy looking, is deeply heroic. This is the basis of all worthy spiritual practices, learning to occasionally give up your seat at the center of the cosmos and move to the sidelines so you can observe another person as the center.
I learned that watching the show is more meaningful than being the show. "
Question:
" How do you think we can observe another person's life properly?"
Answer:
" By listening. But we don't listen to each other. This is a really serious problem in our culture nowadays. If we're polite we take turns talking in a self-absorbed way, but we rarely ever listen to what anyone else is saying.
When you do listen, things happen. You find yourself empathizing, developing compassion. It's hard work, though. Suddenly the world isn't "all about me".
If you don't listen, you miss a lot. You fail to realize that each of us faces very different, but equally trying, life circumstances. You don't discover that each of us is so deeply flawed that it's really tough for anyone to proceed through life with any grace at all.
Our whole culture is designed to cover this over.
To me the most significant thing in the world is observing the heroism of each individuals struggle to get on with life in the face of great obstacles.
If we can ever learn to control ourselves, to get still and quiet in the presence of another person, we can see that every persons life, no matter how modest or goofy looking, is deeply heroic. This is the basis of all worthy spiritual practices, learning to occasionally give up your seat at the center of the cosmos and move to the sidelines so you can observe another person as the center.
I learned that watching the show is more meaningful than being the show. "
December 22, 2017
Carolyn Jourdan's memoir is a wonderful ride on a roller coaster of emotions. She had it all as an attorney on Capital Hill. When her mother suffers a heart attack, Carolyn returns home to Tennessee to take her mom's place as receptionist at her physician doctor father's practice. She never intends to stay long - just until mom recovers. She realizes what a hero her dad is to the small community, including daily visits by one patient who never even receives a bill. Heartwarming and touching story that I highly recommend.
April 3, 2016
Carolyn Jourdan was living her dream. She had a high profile, six figure job in Washington, D.C. as Senate Counsel for nuclear issues. She also had a wonderful male colleague who shared her enthusiasm and interests. She had a nice apartment, expensive car, expensive clothes, and attended hearings, meetings, receptions, dinners, and other functions while mixing with influential people and important political figures.
This life was very different from her early life. She had been raised in a very small town in eastern Tennessee where her father operated the only medical practice for a large rural area. Carolyn’s mother had been her husband’s office receptionist until she suffered a heart attack. Carolyn took a leave of absence to return home to help her father while her mother recuperated.
Once there, Carolyn was overwhelmed by the number of patients who came to see her father each day. She had never been interested in medicine and couldn’t wait to get back to her exciting life in Washington. However, as the days turned into weeks, then months, Carolyn began to see life in rural Tennessee differently. The closeness of the community, the countless acts of selfless kindness the people showed each other, as well as the quiet, peaceful mountain countryside opened her eyes to the love, wisdom, meaning and fulfillment that can be found in ordinary days.
This is a beautifully written memoir that is told with humor and compassion and shows that people can make a difference in the world without being in the limelight but by just showing up and doing the best you can in whatever situation you happen be in.
This life was very different from her early life. She had been raised in a very small town in eastern Tennessee where her father operated the only medical practice for a large rural area. Carolyn’s mother had been her husband’s office receptionist until she suffered a heart attack. Carolyn took a leave of absence to return home to help her father while her mother recuperated.
Once there, Carolyn was overwhelmed by the number of patients who came to see her father each day. She had never been interested in medicine and couldn’t wait to get back to her exciting life in Washington. However, as the days turned into weeks, then months, Carolyn began to see life in rural Tennessee differently. The closeness of the community, the countless acts of selfless kindness the people showed each other, as well as the quiet, peaceful mountain countryside opened her eyes to the love, wisdom, meaning and fulfillment that can be found in ordinary days.
This is a beautifully written memoir that is told with humor and compassion and shows that people can make a difference in the world without being in the limelight but by just showing up and doing the best you can in whatever situation you happen be in.
September 6, 2024
As a resident of Tennessee, I’m glad to have discovered this book. Carolyn Jourdan, the author, grew up in rural East Tennessee, the daughter of a medical doctor who treated everyone in the area, whether they could pay or not. Wanting a different sort of life, she became a successful lawyer and eventually worked for the US Senate in Washington DC. However, when her mother became ill, she gave up her high powered lifestyle and returned home to help out in her father’s medical practice. A fish out of water at first, she observed all walks of life come through the clinic doors. Jourdan captures the essence of a number of local characters and patients in a series of anecdotes, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and other times just sad, but always realistic.
As I read I kept being reminded of country veterinarian James Herriot’s tales of life in the English countryside.
4.5 stars
As I read I kept being reminded of country veterinarian James Herriot’s tales of life in the English countryside.
4.5 stars
September 14, 2008
This book is a lot like All Creatures Great and Small, except the patients are human. It's set in rural East Tennessee, where for 40 years, often for free, Jourdan's MD daddy and PharmD momma have taken care of "the crushings and maulings ... for the zinc mines, the slashes and gorings from the sausage factory, and the spatter burns from the rendering plant, not to mention the miscellaneous farming and hunting atrocities...." There are capital-C characters, many of whom seem eccentric to me but probably don't in their community. Jourdan tells a series of funny, engaging anecdotes and has some memorable descriptive passages, including one that starts with this gorgeous sentence: "Inside a barn is a whole universe, with its own time zone and climate and ecosystem, a shadowy world of swirling dust illuminated in tiger stripes by light shining through the cracks between the boards."
It's a testament to Jourdan's storytelling ability that she holds our attention without truly changing. She become less squeamish about blood & guts; otherwise, she simply becomes more of what she's always been--farm kid, car nut, dutiful daughter, caring person.
The book has some weaknesses. Jourdan tries to keep us in suspense about whether she'll stay permanently, but no-thanks to the book jacket we already know she will. The anecdotes are disconnected and we don't get follow-through on some of the people we come to care about. It takes a long tedious time for Jourdan's self-pity about leaving DC to fade, and once it does, she preaches about What Matters in Life. Her writing is similar to what she eventually discovers about her life: things go best when she focuses her attention away from herself.
It's a testament to Jourdan's storytelling ability that she holds our attention without truly changing. She become less squeamish about blood & guts; otherwise, she simply becomes more of what she's always been--farm kid, car nut, dutiful daughter, caring person.
The book has some weaknesses. Jourdan tries to keep us in suspense about whether she'll stay permanently, but no-thanks to the book jacket we already know she will. The anecdotes are disconnected and we don't get follow-through on some of the people we come to care about. It takes a long tedious time for Jourdan's self-pity about leaving DC to fade, and once it does, she preaches about What Matters in Life. Her writing is similar to what she eventually discovers about her life: things go best when she focuses her attention away from herself.
February 6, 2008
I hate to use the term "heartwarming," but Heart in the Right Place is just that. I don't want to label it a "dame tome" (a la "chick flick"), but it is that, too. Labels like those just cover up how good Carolyn Jourdan's memoir is. Carolyn, an educated, savvy lawyer on a Congressional staff in D.C., is forced to return to rurban East Tennessee to take over as receptionist in her father's one-man practice while the regular receptionist -- her mother -- recuperates from a heart attack. The experiences she has are, yes, heartwarming but also hilarious. Because she is a native, Carolyn captures the understated humor of the rural Tennessee Valley as few other writers have. She has a great ear for dialogue and a keen grasp of both the comedic and the poignant possibilities of the life-affecting incidents that arise daily in the life of a country doctor. Start this book only when you don't have anything else on the agenda, because you'll read it straight through once you begin.
In the interest of full disclosure, I know the author and read the book in galleys. But I wouldn't lie to you. Read it.
In the interest of full disclosure, I know the author and read the book in galleys. But I wouldn't lie to you. Read it.
July 18, 2009
Carolyn Jourdan believed that she had it all. She was a counsel for the U.S. Senate, made a salary in the six figures, and rubbed elbows both professionally and socially with the power set in Washington, D.C. Then her mother had a heart attack and she rushed home to rural eastern Tennessee to help her father in his medical practice. Her father was the only doctor in their small town and Carolyn is amazed, and horrified, by the "cases" that walk through the door. One minute they are dealing with the usual rash of heart problems, anxiety issues, and lots of clients who can't pay for services and the next she finds her father x-raying the leg of a small goat as a favor for a friend. Sorting out the patients in the waiting room and figuring out the Medicaid codes becomes all-encompassing and soon the weeks are rolling by. Carolyn ultimately ends up leaving her Senate job and relocating permanently to assist her parents. A very enjoyable read dealing with the question, what are our true obligations to our family?
June 17, 2015
I haven't read a memoir or any nonfiction other than a cookbook that I picked up for review since March. That's a long time. So when I was browsing Overdrive last night I picked out this book and I can safely say that I'm glad I did. This book was laugh-out-loud funny in some parts and heartbreaking in other parts.
The author did a wonderful job of balancing out her humor and spacing it out in between the deaths that would inevitably come with a memoir about a part of the medical field. One such reoccurring hilarious characters was Langston, a narcotics addict, that would call at least once a week trying to get a prescription. His interactions with Carolyn were simply hilarious and I found myself laughing out loud at them. There were many other hilarious characters that appeared throughout the book.
Overall an extremely enjoyable book that only had a few minor drawbacks, none of which are really worth mentioning, they're mostly my preferences. Highly recommend!
The author did a wonderful job of balancing out her humor and spacing it out in between the deaths that would inevitably come with a memoir about a part of the medical field. One such reoccurring hilarious characters was Langston, a narcotics addict, that would call at least once a week trying to get a prescription. His interactions with Carolyn were simply hilarious and I found myself laughing out loud at them. There were many other hilarious characters that appeared throughout the book.
Overall an extremely enjoyable book that only had a few minor drawbacks, none of which are really worth mentioning, they're mostly my preferences. Highly recommend!
January 30, 2013
I read this fun and profound memoir over the course of a weekend in the mountains back in 2008, and it remains one of the fondest reading memories I've ever had. Carolyn Jourdan was compelled to return home to her native Tennessee from her high-powered Washington, D.C. career when her mother fell ill. Her father, the sort of rural doctor "they" don't make anymore, needed her help running his practice. Thinking she'd only be there a few weeks, Jourdan soon began to discover the deep integrity there is in a good day's work in the service of just plain folk. "Heart in the Right Place" is funny, moving, and profound without being treacly.
December 19, 2017
I kept looking to see if this book was a memoir. It says it is. It reads more like fiction but is indeed labeled memoir. The author takes a leave from her job as an attorney on Capitol Hill to help her father in his rural Tennesee medical practice. What follows is a revolving cast of characters that will warm your heart. After several months have gone it does not look like her mother is going to be able to return to her job. The author needs to make a decision. Should she stay or should she return to her job in Washington, D.C. that pays a heck of a lot more money? Well, the ending is fairly predictable but this is an easy, quick read.
September 27, 2012
This book is an event. You step into the pages and walk with Carolyn as she tries to balance her feelings about assisting her wonderful father, who is dedicated to the welfare of his community, and her high life as a prestigious government lawyer. Being able to enter into her life and think her thoughts and see what she sees gives you a sense of being her - this is how we must become in the future, experience other's joy and pain as if it is our joy and pain. Then we form the new sense of community that many of us yearn for.
May 14, 2013
I enjoyed this book. I read parts and listened to parts. I had to keep checking that this was actually a memoir, not fiction.
Carolyn Jourdan details this part of her life with care and just enough detail. She displays the wonderful and surprising world of the folks of her small, hometown community from the vantage of the reception desk at her dad's medical practice. The readee also gets a goid idea of what life as a DC lawyer was like for her before she went home. I laughed and cried with each person's story. This was an entertaining book to read.
Carolyn Jourdan details this part of her life with care and just enough detail. She displays the wonderful and surprising world of the folks of her small, hometown community from the vantage of the reception desk at her dad's medical practice. The readee also gets a goid idea of what life as a DC lawyer was like for her before she went home. I laughed and cried with each person's story. This was an entertaining book to read.
August 2, 2020
This is a fantastic story and well written. Very entertaining.
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