The Sky Was Falling: A Young Surgeon's Story of Bravery, Survival, and Hope

by Cornelia Griggs

The dramatic, unforgettable, and ultimately cathartic diary of a young pediatric surgeon and mother working on the front lines as the COVID-19 pandemic hit one of New York City’s busiest hospitals.

In the spring of 2020, many of us were sequestered in our homes, attempting to teach our children and learn to bake while the pings of news alerts and wails of sirens reminded us of the devastation outside. Dr. Cornelia Griggs’s experience was nothing like ours.

A pediatric surgery fellow in New York City, Griggs was entering the final victory lap at the end of nine grueling years of training. She was set for a big graduation celebration and looking forward to spending some real time with her husband and two toddlers.

When COVID-19 arrived, Griggs initially encouraged her friends and family not to panic. But as mysterious cases began showing up in the hospital, and then hospital supplies started disappearing from shelves, she couldn’t hold back the feeling that this was going to be worse than she had thought. Out of frustration and fear, she penned a startling op-ed in The New York Times that went, for lack of a better word, viral. The piece was read by over a million people, and Griggs appeared on CNN.

Now, she is completing her story. The Sky Was Falling is her day-by-day account of the staggering case numbers, dwindling respirator supply, and lack of clarity on how to treat this new disease. Harrowing and deeply personal, it reads like an all-too-real white-knuckle thriller and describes how healthcare professionals went beyond what they thought they were capable of to heal their patients, and themselves.

Genres: Nonfiction, Medical, Memoir, Biography Memoir, Health, Science, Audiobook

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 12, 2024

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an ICU nurse who worked the pandemic, I can confirm that everything in Dr. Griggs journal-based memoir is 100% true to form. The situations she describes, the patients, the chaos and complexity of surgical ICUs (ECMO, ventilators, complications in disease courses and infections) is exactly how I have experienced it. What I had a hard time getting past was the self-indulgent parts that were more non-story… the references to Griggs’s life of privilege and elitism (her mother has connections in the media and higher education), their life in Manhattan, the stories she tells about her doctor-friends and their privileged lives. It comes off as extremely tone deaf, especially when writing about being on the front lines of the pandemic. Furthermore (and Griggs mentioned a this several times throughout her story), she was only a fellow in the hospital. As such, she was not exposed to working in an adult ICU with Covid patients, and as a fellow (a new doctor), she lacks the experience and insight necessary to tell the story of the pandemic in a poignant way. Long story short—I’ve worked with a lot of Dr. Griggses, and she reminded me why they all get on my nerves. It is true, that many doctors stayed home or refused to enter Covid patients’ rooms during the pandemic. I would like to read this story from the ICU nurse perspective, or a more experienced doctor who actually worked in the Covid ICU, and not simply one who copied and pasted a bunch of administrations emails into a full-length “memoir.”

[Bonnie Goldberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy pub day to this important book. Four years ago this week our world changed forever.

I clearly remember reading Dr. Griggs' Op/Ed in the New York Times early in the pandemic and was keen to read this expanded version of her experience on the frontlines of the pandemic in a New York City hospital. Griggs, a pediatric surgeon, was in the last year of her decade-long training, when Covid overtook her hospital. While some of what Griggs recalls will be familiar to anyone paying attention (lack of PPE, exceedingly sick adults and kids, the sheer terror of the unknown), The Sky is Falling offers an incomparable and intelligent compendium in real time of what happened during the first six atrocious months of 2020. Griggs layers her unique perspective as a pediatric surgeon with her insights as a medical trainee during the crisis, as a mom of two young kids whom she parked with her folks in another state, as a spouse of a surgeon who himself was recovering from an illness and living in Boston, and as an ally to the social movements that occurred in the spring of 2020 as well. Highly recommend for readers of medical non-fiction and memoirs. Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery books for E-ARC

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Griggs' beautifully written account of the COVID pandemic is harrowing, captivating and inspiring. I was so enthralled with her experiences that I devoured the entire book in one sitting. Dr. Griggs was finishing her pediatric surgery residency in New York City in the spring of 2020 when the COVID pandemic up-ended the city. In addition to rigorous medical training, Dr. Griggs was also navigating parenting two toddlers while her husband was a physician in a different city. During this time, Dr. Griggs kept a journal and was active on social media documenting the realities of the emergency room and intensive care unit in New York City.

There are so many things that I loved about this book. As a working parent, I was moved by Dr. Griggs' dedication to her young children and the challenging decisions that she made to keep her family safe. In many instances in the book she highlights the very important role that nurses play in front line health care with great appreciation. Additionally, Dr. Griggs covers the important socio-political backdrop of 2020 in a very authentic way recognizing the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on communities of color. After the pandemic Dr. Griggs pursued additional training in public health. She is early in her career and I am excited to see how she continues to serve her patients and the community.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for an inspirational story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the opportunity to read the advanced reader copy of this manuscript in exchange for an honest review.

[Blythe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening, inspiring, validating, and heart breaking.

[Michelle Greiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Greynomad · Rating 2 out of 5]

just an incredible time in our live's.................of course you all could drink bleach

[lorena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I normally don’t read these types of books but it was recommended by people magazine. I downloaded a sample and I was hooked. I read in one day. The author basically pulled back and exposed everything that was happening at the hospital. She chose to continue the work that so desperately needed to be done even at the expense of losing precious times with her children. She gives an honest portrayal of life in the hospital during the pandemic. A real eye opener.

[Fay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Gallery Books for my #gifted copy of The Sky Was Falling!

Title: The Sky Was Falling: A Young Surgeon’s Notes on Bravery, Survival, and Hope
Author: Dr. Cornelia Griggs
Pub Date: March 12, 2024

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

I can’t believe it’s been almost four years since our worlds were turned upside down. When I started reading this book, I had no clue the author was the same doctor who wrote a viral op-ed piece in The New York Times that I remember reading and sending to others.

The Sky Was Falling, written like a diary, provides an emotional look at the life of a young pediatric surgeon and mother on the front lines at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic at a NYC hospital. This book brought back so many emotions as I read and recounted what I remember seeing on the news and the changes we had to take to protect ourselves and our loved ones. This book reinforced the respect I have for health care professionals, who truly put their lives at risk for their patients. This book is emotional and raw and a must read memoir about bravery and hope.

“Bravery is feeling your children while holding on to your last bit of sanity during quarantine. Bravery is what essential workers did in showing up to work to keep the fabric of society intact. Bravery is social distancing from frail or elderly relatives for months or even years at a time, because we love them.”

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems practically like another and distant past when we were so worried about Covid and what it really was and could do. Nowadays we are numb to the very real threat that Covid was in those early days. So it is important that we don't forget or gloss over this period in history. Dr. Griggs was wise enough to realize--in the moment--how important it would be to record her experiences and now we have them in the form of this book.
The book itself captures both the reality and the fears of that period in New York City. It is a book that should be read by public health officials and the public itself because we need to learn from the past. It reads smoothly and is actually hard to put down. I wonder what my grandchildren in years to come will think when they read this book. I am glad that it exists so that they might know what was happening during those days when they were home from school.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It's an important one!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really incredible memoir, written by a pediatric surgeon who was training at the time of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a pediatrician working in a hospital, this really brought me back to the many fears and anxieties we felt as people caring for children, the extremely hard life many front-line workers experienced, and the feelings of helplessness. Dr. Griggs is extremely insightful, not just regarding her own expertise, but also the pandemic's impact on marriage, children's mental health, social unrest and the political climate at the time. I would highly recommend this book for people who want to hear the experience of a highly articulate and empathetic health care worker in New York City (the epicentre of the pandemic at the time).

[Donna Schoening · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a super interesting medical memoir about when Covid hit New York City in March 2020. What this young doctor witnessed was nothing short of a war zone. I enjoyed her medical terminology while also explaining what was going on in non medical language. Having 2 daughters in health care, I well remember what they went through even here in Iowa. I sure hope & pray nothing like this ever happens again!

[Sarah Blitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 quick read and a really clear example of how much people in healthcare sacrifice to do what they do. I loved how she told other peoples stories and amplified their voices like about George Floyd or the sacrifices of nurses. She constantly makes comments about her privilege and struggling with feeling deserving of being exhausted or even writing this book. For some of the other reviews to call it tone deaf feels wild and makes me pretty mad. Although that’s probably because she feels relatable to me (peep the pages about why she became a surgeon to get why). I can’t imagine what it was like being in surgical training at that time. Not a light beach read but so good!

[Ann Nahigian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent
It has been a long time since I have read a book that I literally could not put down.
The epicenter of the beginning of Covid in the US…NYC…when Drs had no idea of what they were dealing with or how to treat it.
A pediatric surgeon…who encountered children’s lungs literally exploding from clotting and bleeding over and over again.
A fascinating first hand account.

[Ann Nahigian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

It has been a long time since I have had a book that I literally could not put down. But we lived through this time.
This is a first hand account of the effects of COVID in the very epicenter of COVID in the US….NYC…when the Drs had no idea of what they were treating.
Wow.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Very well written; a riveting read and a quick read overall. I liked how she shifted time to give some back stories to her career and life which made it more of a memoir than just a diary- like retelling of her early 2020 pandemic experiences. I was just left with wanting more at the end; especially some reflections on her experiences or lessons learned or something more. I loved reading it until it ended and it just felt a little flat but did it do what it intended to do- yes! And was it well-written- yes!

[Aleesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

While this brought up some awful memories and anxieties that I struggled with during the pandemic, it was so enlightening to get a glimpse into the lives and minds of those who were on the front lines.

Beautifully written and visceral. I got teary eyed multiple times.

[Ismah Alam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love reading and understanding the POV of a doctor in the hospital during the pandemic

[Roe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Good book. I just hated reliving Covid.

[Jayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a devastating very real story about the COVID crisis. It is too medical for me but I can imagine that others cannot put it down. It is a page turner, but I couldn’t finish it.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sky was Falling: A Young Surgeon's Story of Bravery, Survival, and Hope
by Cornelia Griggs
5 out of 5 stars

Dr. Cornelia Griggs was a surgeon during the Covid pandemic. This is her story of the events with a look into what it was like to work in a hospital during a world-wide crisis while still being a wife and a mother.

It's funny how we, as individual humans and as a society, forget so quickly the things we lived through. This book reminded me of several events that happened in just a few short months:
-Women were not allowed to have a support person during labor and delivery. My oldest daughter was pregnant during this time. I remember watching the news, hoping that she would be allowed to have someone with her by the time she delivered. My grandson was born in late May, and we met him via video call. I remember sleeping with my phone on my pillow that night, knowing we would get a call when he was born. Fortunately, she was not alone, as her boyfriend was able to be at the hospital by then, as long as he didn't leave once they checked in. Pictures of my daughter include her laboring with a mask on.
-School closures and teachers being heroes for a short time. I remember holding my newborn grandson while teaching a student to read on Google Meets. I also remember the wait to hear if school would resume in-person on the first day of the next school year. Teaching and learning in masks, cleaning desks four times per day, and teaching on-line students while also preparing in-person lessons was all just part of what we needed to do to keep students learning.
-Patients at the end of their lives saying goodbye to their families via video chat
-Distancing ourselves from our loved ones because we loved them too much to get to close
-Lack of PPE for healthcare workers
-Refrigerated trucks being used as temporary morgues
-Drive-through testing centers and pop-up tents being used as emergency overflow at hospitals
-George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests
-Nightly curfews in cities across the country

Although this book goes into much more detail about her experiences as a healthcare professional, I think everyone will be able to relate to one story or another. Her candid questioning about if she is doing the right thing as a mother was an important part of the story. I think we all asked ourselves what was right during that time.

At the end of the book, Dr. Griggs states, "I do like to think that our capacity for human compassion and empathy expanded during the pandemic." While I agree that it did for a short time, I wonder why we so easily let go of that compassion and empathy that allowed us to come together during a time of crisis. Now, five years later, we are such a divided nation and world again.

This book was not an easy one to read. Several of the memories brought tears to my eyes. But it was a great reminder that, as Dr. Griggs says, "I know I can do hard things."

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys non-fiction/ memoirs and who is ready to remember what might have been the scariest time in our lives. I would include a warning that if you aren't ready to relive those moments, this is not the right book for you at this time. Dr. Griggs is a talented writer with the ability to bring out the emotion of the moment.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Stark Reminder

Being human, it's part of our nature to adapt as new situations arise and need our attention. Usually, they are fairly mundane such as having to leave the office an hour early for a toothache and your dentist who can "squeeze you in" if you leave work immediately. Other times, situations arise where there is much more stress and change because the stakes are higher and there is more to lose. That was the situation Dr. Cornelia Griggs, a pediatric surgeon, finds herself in when covid 19 reached the New York area threatening patients, her family, friends, co-workers and strangers across the globe. What do you do when going to work puts your very life and those of your family at risk? And if you survive, how do you cope in the aftermath?
This book covers all of these things. Along with so many others, Dr Griggs did as she was trained to do. She showed up each day at work, was on call many nights, operated on sick and vulnerable little ones and along with many, was pulled to work in other departments such as the E.R., or the I.C.U treating people very ill with covid, lacking enough sleep and running short on masks and other protective equipment and worrying about the separation from her precious young children whose lives were also disrupted when they had to go stay with their grandparents in Connecticut for several weeks as their parents worked on patients who kept coming. Some passed away despite every effort to save them. Others were eventually able to recover and go back to their lives. End of story, right? Wrong! When you toss a rock into a pond, watch the water ripple outward -- long after that rock has settled on the pond floor. This was a traumatic experience world wide and five or six years later, we feel some lingering effects. How could we not?
This book captures the reader's attention and draws you in with a down to earth writing style and maintaining professionalism. It is well edited. And as you read one can't help but remember our own experience and that of our loved ones. Usually if we were lucky, much less dramatic then the experiences of patients and health care professionals! We may still find ourselves wondering from time to time, "What if it happens again?" Unfortunately, another pandemic is obviously likely at some point. We, like Dr Griggs and her co-workers, can only do our very best to protect ourselves, our families and community. Hopefully we have learned some things that will help us if we should face these challenges again!
A very good book!

[Robert Yokoyama · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sky was Falling is an insightful memoir about how a young pediatric surgeon navigates through the first 6 months of the COVID pandemic in 2020. This memoir is bleak. I can certainly relate to these scary moments because of my own experience with COVID but Cornelia Griggs tempers this bleakness with a glimmer of optimism by using two literary allusions from famous books by Albert Camus and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Dr. Griggs writes about losing a female coworker to COVID because of suicide and being separated from his children and husband while working in a different state. Dr. Griggs writes about how scary it can be to witness a patient having a vagal response. I learned that a vagal response is when a patient experiences a drastic drop in blood pressure and heart rate. She also writes about painful it is to lose a child to the pandemic. Cornelia captures the mood of the country perfectly. She describes the fear and uncertainty brought on by the pandemic. The scramble to get personal protective equipment and social distancing resonates with me in my own experience. There are still 20,000 new COVID cases a day with 250 deaths. In the midst of this gloom and doom, Griggs gives the reader optimism in the form of two classic books.

The two literary illusions Griggs uses in this book come from a book entitled The Plague by Albert Camus and The Great Gatsby by F, Scott Fitzgerald. These two allusions urge people to treat adversity with dignity and fortitude. The word dignity is used in the book The Plague, and the word fortitude is inferred in the line in the Great Gatsby. It has been a long time since I have read these books, but the allusions by Dr. Griggs makes want to read these books again to find the optimism in them.

[Dana Clinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: The Sky Was Falling: A Young Surgeon's Story of Bravery, Survival, and Hope (Dr. Cornelia Griggs). I recently picked up a couple of books dealing specifically with the horrible months when NYC became the epicenter of Covid because my daughter, a nurse, lived through this period there.. spring of 2020 is not all that far away, but the national amnesia of this new pandemic and the horrifying reality of ravages (death just part of that) of the time seem to be forgotten and those who first had to deal with it face to face, mostly our health care workers, seem to have been relegated to the dustbins of history. Cornelia Briggs was in her final year of residency in pediatric surgery when the crisis hit; nine years of hard work suddenly became even harsher. Her husband was in Boston, her two young children left the city to shelter in Connecticut with her parents. This book is a journal she kept in order to cope with the unfolding dramas. It hits hard, and her insights are significant, especially how the underprivileged paid a much higher price than those who could leave the epicenter and shelter safely elsewhere. The health system was woefully underprepared for this event, and she fears things have not only not improved, but grown worse, with nurses especially leaving the profession in droves, underpaid and underappreciated. We are all happy the worst seems way behind us, yet, as the saying goes, those who don't remember history..... anyway, this tome received many appreciative reviews and was often riveting.

[David V · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book covers less than six months during the pandemic as Dr. Griggs, a pediatric surgeon, documented her experience in a NYC hospital.

This inside look at the day-to-day challenges that she and other essential workers faced, while generally known, was still riveting to read. Dr. Griggs made the decision to separate from her young children during this time, but was fortunate enough to have a strong support system in place to care for them. Reading this book and the impact on someone who could at least make choices with regards to care-giving, finances, and living arrangements really drives home the impossible situation faced by essential workers without those options. I certainly would be interested in reading a similar book from those front-line workers.

The book speaks about the the general dysfunction of our healthcare industry, and touches on the politics around COVID, race, and the potential long-term effects of the pandemic. There will be those who feels she speaks from an ivory tower (i.e., place of privilege), but I don't think that diminishes the truth in much of what she says.

Overall, this is one person's story, told with warmth and vulnerability. Dr. Griggs is obviously passionate about her career and clearly, even more so after having a front-row seat to the pandemic.

[Vanessa Olson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started off strong and could have been so good. While the point of the book was supposed to be a doctor's experience during covid, there are some big caveats that make it not what you would expect when picking up a nonfiction book about a doctor in NYC during the COVID surge:
- The author was at the time a pediatric general surgery fellow
- There are only 2-3 specific stories about cases/patients
- This is more of a personal memoir about the author's mental health, how she missed her kids and husband, etc. than expected

The biggest issue for me was that more than share actual stories from the hospital at the time, the author ended up spending a huge amount of time talking about what she felt was unfair to people like herself during the pandemic. She complains about normal people, specialists, attendings, older doctors, local government, national government and even co-workers with no respect for the fact that we were all simply doing the best we could with the limited information we had at the time.

I will say, she is certainly a talented writer on a technical level, the story remained engaging and was well written. The structure and chronology were easy to follow.

[Sarah Ewald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book popped up when I was searching for something else, and it piqued my interest.
Reading this brought me back to that horrible year 2020 when there was so much uncertainty about this virus. We were wiping down groceries, when we should have been wearing masks to prevent this air borne disease. I have read several books of this genre, and they always, both, enlighten and frighten me, seeing how the crisis was responded to. So many mis-steps...

Written from the perspective of one in a hospital in one of the most affected cities, NYC, she tells of even the uncertainty that came from the hospital administration. The PPE shortages, the ventilator shortages, the people dying and the refrigerated trucks brought in. The exhaustion of everyone on the hospital staff in the face of a losing battle.

We saw how the Trump administration botched the response to COVID (who thought that it was a good idea to toss the precaution manual created during the Obama administration? Could have used the information it contained but no, they knew better?)

Bird flu is right around the corner, and Trump enters office again....

[Richard Moneymaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A first person account of how Covid rocked the world in 2020. It's scary as hell, compelling, and a warning to be better prepared for the next time one of these pandemics rolls around. We may all be assured that there will indeed be another one, two, or many more. The massive failure of our country's leadership, especially the most worthless president possible helped lead to over a million deaths. It didn't have to be that way. Of course, the overall health care system in the US was not anywhere near ready, despite well documented studies showing our level of preparedness was far below what it could have (and should have) been. There are many heroes to credit, especially the front-line nurses who took on the lion's share of the burden caring for the millions who suffered. They saw more death and destruction of lives than any of us will ever see, it it did take a toll on them as well as many other brave folks who stepped into the breach in a huge act of compassion, selflessness, and a dedication unknown to most all of us.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a hardcover edition of The sky was falling from a goodreads giveaway. And I could not wait to read the book.

The sky was falling talks about 6 months of Cornelia Griggs life during 2020. She also writes about her husbands heath problem in 2014 and a scare with a virus when she was pregnant with her daughter a few years after her husbands illness, she also talks about how she decided to become a pediatric surgeon.

I had never considered what it took to be a surgeon before I read the sky was falling. in 2020 Cornelia was 37 years old and about to finish her training as a pediatric surgeon. That is a long time after graduating high school. I never knew that being a surgeon could take so long.

I thought the stories of the patients and her colleagues in The sky was falling were interesting and made me want to keep reading the book. After reading the sky was falling I certainly know more about what it was like to be a surgeon in an New York city during a global crisis.

[Gayle Cappelluti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Griggs was a pediatric surgeon in a NYC hospital during the early months of the pandemic, a horrific time in our nation's history. ASs a native New Yorker, who escaped the city and moved to my country home, as the only member of my family who has never, to this day, had Covid, reliving thesetreacherous times was heartbreaking, all over again. To go back over these events and times reminded me of all the grief we have gone throuh. To see where we have landed, separated, red from blue, North from South, Black from White, and everything in between, makes it all seem just so long ago. How have we come to this>

The Sky Was Falling is an important book, well written, and a snapshot of a time best looked at in our rear view mirror.

[Kam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I worked on the front-line in the ED before COVID, during, and after. I wanted to read about someone else’s experience to see how my trauma compares and if how I felt was also how someone else felt. But this story just didn’t give me what I was looking for.

I wanted more details of the front-line, Griggs was a little removed from the front, so I think I set myself up for a let down by not reading something by someone who was in the ED or ICU.

I appreciated the critical assessment of the US healthcare system, but I didn’t quite understand the side tangent to the BLM movement. I understand the two events ran parallel to one another, but they are separate events. Kind of lost me there.

Ultimately, not a must read for me.