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Stress Test: A Memoir
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 22, 2024
This memoir by American doctor, Kay White Drew, is a fascinating look into the early forays of 'allowing' women to train as doctors from the late 60s onwards in America. Starting in 1968 when the author was just seventeen, the book tracks her progress through medical school and onwards.
One of the things that becomes obvious fairly early on is just how honest the author is about her personal life. She lays bare how she felt about life after her mother died from cancer and her father's subsequent remarriage. But she's also very honest about her sexual relationships (and even her attraction to a female friend, at one point). The author holds nothing back albeit that this is no sleazy Mills and Boon novel. She doesn't give us the intimate details of her love-making but she gives pretty much everything else.
There's quite some mixed moralising here. On the one hand, the author enjoyed the fruits of sexual liberation and enjoyed having varied sexual encounters and causal relationships. On the other hand, she often quickly dips into resentment with her male partners for expressing the exact same sexual liberation. These are men who are up-front right from the beginning about what they do and don't want and she enters into these relationships with eyes open, yet simultaneously ends up judging them for not entering into a loving committed and monogamous relationship with her. The implied accusation is that of sexism and of using her.
And, to be fair, she is writing about a time when there was plenty of that about. She writes, early on, about the various forms of sexism she encounters - from having it made clear by superiors that she was 'taking the place of a deserving man' on her course, to being treated as inferior by teachers, students and even patients alike. At least two of the men she sleeps with were, in my book, borderline predatory as professionals who had responsibility over her. She defends one of them but the other she sees more clearly as overstepping the line. This all makes it a little difficult to read.
From about halfway into the book we start to get more medical biography rather than merely sexual. Once the author starts placements, we start to hear of actual interesting cases and the love-life side dies down a little. Nevertheless, despite long hours and gruelling shifts (made no easier by misogynistic and oft uncaring superiors) she manages to find time to make, what increasingly looks like, poor choices for lovers.
At the same time, it becomes more obvious that Kay White Drew was no natural genius at medicine. She struggles with passing exams and struggles even more with patient care. It is to her credit that she perseveres on - I would have given up while still at med school. Given her mental health being shaky (needing therapy while studying) and coming to terms with grief, while dealing with daily prejudices, there would have come a point where I would have said enough is enough. But this author is made of stronger stuff than that.
Her honesty is possibly the strongest pull of this book. Dealing with depression, failing love life, barely staggering medical career and more - this is stuff most of us prefer to keep locked away and admitted only to a few close loved ones. She opens herself up to criticism - by people exactly like me! - but then, Kay White Drew has faced criticism all her adult life. I guess that, in a sense, is the point.
That said, I felt the closure wasn't quite adequate. Having spent the entire book reading of her failures in love, we never get to meet the man who will eventually become her husband. This was truly disappointing. Clearly, Kay White Drew has had a long and successful marriage and notes her partner as the 'love of my life' in the acknowledgements at the end. It seems bizarre that he never gets a proper entry in the book. I would have liked to know just how he was different to all the ghastly lovers she'd had during her training.
Stress Test is not an informative or funny book the way Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt is. It is a gentle but intimate nostalgic look at the kind of world American women training as doctors in the 70s faced. By extension, it probably rings true for many western women working in 'a man's world' from the 60s through to 80s. While it isn't a perfect biography, Stress Test offers plenty for those interested in the personal lives of medical professionals. If nothing else, it adds to the wealth of literature that gives us insight into just how hard it is to wear one of those white coats.
One of the things that becomes obvious fairly early on is just how honest the author is about her personal life. She lays bare how she felt about life after her mother died from cancer and her father's subsequent remarriage. But she's also very honest about her sexual relationships (and even her attraction to a female friend, at one point). The author holds nothing back albeit that this is no sleazy Mills and Boon novel. She doesn't give us the intimate details of her love-making but she gives pretty much everything else.
There's quite some mixed moralising here. On the one hand, the author enjoyed the fruits of sexual liberation and enjoyed having varied sexual encounters and causal relationships. On the other hand, she often quickly dips into resentment with her male partners for expressing the exact same sexual liberation. These are men who are up-front right from the beginning about what they do and don't want and she enters into these relationships with eyes open, yet simultaneously ends up judging them for not entering into a loving committed and monogamous relationship with her. The implied accusation is that of sexism and of using her.
And, to be fair, she is writing about a time when there was plenty of that about. She writes, early on, about the various forms of sexism she encounters - from having it made clear by superiors that she was 'taking the place of a deserving man' on her course, to being treated as inferior by teachers, students and even patients alike. At least two of the men she sleeps with were, in my book, borderline predatory as professionals who had responsibility over her. She defends one of them but the other she sees more clearly as overstepping the line. This all makes it a little difficult to read.
From about halfway into the book we start to get more medical biography rather than merely sexual. Once the author starts placements, we start to hear of actual interesting cases and the love-life side dies down a little. Nevertheless, despite long hours and gruelling shifts (made no easier by misogynistic and oft uncaring superiors) she manages to find time to make, what increasingly looks like, poor choices for lovers.
At the same time, it becomes more obvious that Kay White Drew was no natural genius at medicine. She struggles with passing exams and struggles even more with patient care. It is to her credit that she perseveres on - I would have given up while still at med school. Given her mental health being shaky (needing therapy while studying) and coming to terms with grief, while dealing with daily prejudices, there would have come a point where I would have said enough is enough. But this author is made of stronger stuff than that.
Her honesty is possibly the strongest pull of this book. Dealing with depression, failing love life, barely staggering medical career and more - this is stuff most of us prefer to keep locked away and admitted only to a few close loved ones. She opens herself up to criticism - by people exactly like me! - but then, Kay White Drew has faced criticism all her adult life. I guess that, in a sense, is the point.
That said, I felt the closure wasn't quite adequate. Having spent the entire book reading of her failures in love, we never get to meet the man who will eventually become her husband. This was truly disappointing. Clearly, Kay White Drew has had a long and successful marriage and notes her partner as the 'love of my life' in the acknowledgements at the end. It seems bizarre that he never gets a proper entry in the book. I would have liked to know just how he was different to all the ghastly lovers she'd had during her training.
Stress Test is not an informative or funny book the way Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt is. It is a gentle but intimate nostalgic look at the kind of world American women training as doctors in the 70s faced. By extension, it probably rings true for many western women working in 'a man's world' from the 60s through to 80s. While it isn't a perfect biography, Stress Test offers plenty for those interested in the personal lives of medical professionals. If nothing else, it adds to the wealth of literature that gives us insight into just how hard it is to wear one of those white coats.
June 8, 2024
I really enjoyed this book and especially the fact that it was a medical school journey of a female doctor. Oftentimes books about medicine and the medical journey are from a male perspective which isn’t hard to rationalize as the profession is made of predominantly males. This was a breath of fresh air.
Kaye Drew weaves her story of education with her personal life which includes themes of love and mental health. She holds nothing back when it comes to her past which makes this read feel intimate; you experience the ups and downs with her.
At first I felt a bit put off by the writing style as it was very down to earth and causal. However I soon came to appreciate the style as it directly opposed the seriousness that accompanied her medical school experiences and the patients she highlights.
I would have given this book all 5 stars however I did feel as though about 2/3 through the book the writing and events became monotonous for a period of time. I read the first 2/3 in one sitting but hit a wall around this point in the book which included a few weeks hiatus. I will say I’m genuinely glad that I picked it back up again and pushed through. This would not be a deference for me to reading any of her other works.
An insightful read that allows us to see into the world of medicine from school to hospital through the eyes of a woman.
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.
Kaye Drew weaves her story of education with her personal life which includes themes of love and mental health. She holds nothing back when it comes to her past which makes this read feel intimate; you experience the ups and downs with her.
At first I felt a bit put off by the writing style as it was very down to earth and causal. However I soon came to appreciate the style as it directly opposed the seriousness that accompanied her medical school experiences and the patients she highlights.
I would have given this book all 5 stars however I did feel as though about 2/3 through the book the writing and events became monotonous for a period of time. I read the first 2/3 in one sitting but hit a wall around this point in the book which included a few weeks hiatus. I will say I’m genuinely glad that I picked it back up again and pushed through. This would not be a deference for me to reading any of her other works.
An insightful read that allows us to see into the world of medicine from school to hospital through the eyes of a woman.
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.
July 9, 2024
I've never really had the desire to become a doctor, so I have a lot of respect for those who do choose medicine as a profession. Especially women, and especially women in the 70's. I can maybe relate a *little* as a female engineer, but this book was called Stress Test for a reason and boy, there is stress.
Not just from the job (which was a window into a world I don't know much about) but also from the author's personal life situation. It seems like things just pile on top of each other, and just when it starts getting better, life happens again--nothing is a straight line.
Overall, this memoir was a very honest account of what it's was like to become a doctor when female doctors were few and far between (yeah, yeah I know we're not there yet but there's been progress). There was a lot of vulnerability, and I must say that I was nowhere near as knowledgeable about myself in my 20's as the author was.
Lots of insight into relationships, sex, power struggles, grief, depression, suicide, overachieving, sexism, disappointment, and to top it all off there are lives hanging in the balance.
Recommended for people interested in becoming a doctor, memoirs with trying times, and happy endings.
Not just from the job (which was a window into a world I don't know much about) but also from the author's personal life situation. It seems like things just pile on top of each other, and just when it starts getting better, life happens again--nothing is a straight line.
Overall, this memoir was a very honest account of what it's was like to become a doctor when female doctors were few and far between (yeah, yeah I know we're not there yet but there's been progress). There was a lot of vulnerability, and I must say that I was nowhere near as knowledgeable about myself in my 20's as the author was.
Lots of insight into relationships, sex, power struggles, grief, depression, suicide, overachieving, sexism, disappointment, and to top it all off there are lives hanging in the balance.
Recommended for people interested in becoming a doctor, memoirs with trying times, and happy endings.
June 11, 2024
Content warning: this review discusses sexism and racism.
Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Mindbuck Media Book Publicity in exchange for an honest review.
It’s always interesting to learn about history from the ground up. What do I mean by this? Simply, I enjoy hearing stories about regular people dealing with important events and changes in history. Take for example: "Stress Test" by Kay White Drew. It’s a memoir which details the author’s – a neonatal physician – experiences as one of the first women to go through medical school in the 1970s. It stressed me out in a good way because of what she had to endure and how she balanced becoming a doctor with her personal life.
To read more of this review, click on this link: https://chick-who-reads-everything.co...
Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Mindbuck Media Book Publicity in exchange for an honest review.
It’s always interesting to learn about history from the ground up. What do I mean by this? Simply, I enjoy hearing stories about regular people dealing with important events and changes in history. Take for example: "Stress Test" by Kay White Drew. It’s a memoir which details the author’s – a neonatal physician – experiences as one of the first women to go through medical school in the 1970s. It stressed me out in a good way because of what she had to endure and how she balanced becoming a doctor with her personal life.
To read more of this review, click on this link: https://chick-who-reads-everything.co...
December 16, 2025
Stress Test is an apt title for this book that describes the difficult challenge of becoming a medical doctor in the 1970s, when women doctors were still rare. Kay White Drew details her pre-med years in college, the difficult course of study in med school itself, and life as a first-year resident back in the days when women doctors had to wear white (!) skirts. Drew doesn't shy away from describing the sexism she saw and experienced in the medical system, nor the depression she suffered from and the therapy that helped her come through it. Along the way she also explores what it was like to be a young woman in that era, when birth control was readily available and women were allowed to acknowledge their sexual desires openly.
March 1, 2024
This book was great! I really liked learning about the experiences of a medical student, something I didn't really know anything about. It was super interesting to see what life was like several years ago and how things have changed and improved now! I loved seeing how she was able to learn about herself and what she needed to be happy and successful, even in a time when she was a pioneer in what she was doing.
May 24, 2025
From my friend Kay!
July 2, 2024
It's been a while since I've read a memoir and I really enjoyed reading about the author's time as a medical student and resident in the 1970s. I was drawn to her emotional journey of self-discovery. Read my full review at Girl Who Reads.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews